Visiting Star - Craig Lingard

For a season I contributed an article to the programme called Visiting Star. This was inspired by a former Leigh programme editor and friend Mark Taylor who, during a Leigh season in the old First Division in the early 1990's, used to come up with something similar.

Here is a piece I penned about then Batley fullback Craig Lingard.

VISITING STAR – CRAIG LINGARD


The West Yorkshire village of Sharlston, once a well known mining community on the coalfields, has produced its fair share of rugby players over the years with revered RL Hall of Fame members Jonty Parkin, and points machine Neil Fox amongst their number. In fact Neil’s brothers Peter and Don have also written themselves into rugby league history but their story is for another time.

Today’s Visiting Star has shone brighter than most before him at Batley and it is amazing to think that he is still only 28 years of age. Craig Lingard turned professional from Sharlston Rovers, whose home ground behind a local pub is fondly referred too as “Back o' t' Wall”, in February 1998.

Following in his fathers footsteps (Steve Lingard appeared in 85 games for Batley between 1971 and 1975), Craig put pressure on players in the first team. That first season saw Craig take tentative steps and he appeared four times from the bench.

1999 saw Lingard make his mark. He started seven games and was a substitute in a further seventeen. During the season Craig scored ten tries with his first coming in a 30-0 home defeat of Oldham. He enjoyed an April encounter with Barrow at Mount Pleasant. Not only were the Bulldogs victorious 32-19, Lingard scored two tries. He was again amongst the scorers in Batley’s next fixture as they clinched a shock 17-16 victory over promotion chasing Widnes Vikings at the Halton Stadium. Unfortunately after pushing for a top eight spot for most of the season, six defeats on the bounce saw the Bulldogs finish 12th.

Although the Bulldogs dropped a further four places in 2000, they remained a competitive side. Lingard finished top scorer with 19 tries from 27 appearances, a feat all the more noteworthy because it wasn’t until the fifth game of the campaign that Craig scored his first try. Batley also suffered the embarrassment of a shock 10-0 loss to amateurs Oldham St Annes. Craig scored a try brace in games with Lancashire Lynx, Dewsbury and Doncaster but Batley found wins hard to come by and were victorious in just six of their 28 league encounters. The Bulldogs headed to the close season with seven straight losses but Lingard was in sparkling form, grabbing his first professional hat-trick in vain during a 33-20 defeat at Rochdale and adding 5 tries to his tally during the last three league games.

Hopes were high of progress in 2001 as the Bulldogs started the season under the leadership of Jon Sharp. Unfortunately he left for Huddersfield and former Leeds boss David Ward was re-installed before making way for Paul Storey. The off-field coaching saga put pay to a promising start that saw the Bulldogs shock Hull KR with an 18-16 win. By this time Lingard’s pedigree was growing and he again displayed true finishing prowess with 4 tries in a 70-0 Challenge Cup thrashing of Heworth. Craig was one of two try scorers at Hilton Park as the Bulldogs earned praise for their play despite a 34-8 defeat to Leigh. Lingard went on to claim three try braces during the season, helping the Bulldogs to victories over Whitehaven (18-14) and Sheffield Eagles (23-2). The other came in a narrow 25-16 defeat at Workington. Craig also added another hat-trick to his tally, scoring all three of Batley’s tries in a 14-12 Mount Pleasant derby win over Dewsbury. The game was watched by Batley’s biggest gate of the season and went some way to making sure that Lingard finished the season with 19 tries from 24 games.

A resurgence on the field led by experienced half back pairing Dean Lawford and Glen Tomlinson propelled Batley up the table in 2002. Although the competition was dominated by a rampant full-time Huddersfield, Batley improved immeasurably on previous season efforts. Lingard also finished top of the Bulldogs try scoring charts for the third year in a row with 28 tries, a post war record. It proved to be a record breaking season as Tomlinson rolled back the years to claim 24 tries and overtake the long standing record of 122 tries achieved by “Wattie” Davies.

Craig finished the season with four hat-tricks and five braces and the Bulldogs enjoyed a tremendous run of form, winning 9 of 10 games after bowing out of the National League Cup. For the record, Lingards three try heroics came against Barrow, Hunslet, Hull KR and Doncaster. That Doncaster clash is noteworthy as it was an elimination play-off and the Bulldogs won 27-14.

They quickly became everyone’s favourite play-off underdog and their spirit saw them through tight games with Featherstone (32-30) and Oldham (26-16). Lingard scored a try against the Roughyeds as 2,838 people flocked to Mount Pleasant to see the Bulldogs progress to a Major Semi-Final at Leigh.

Once more Lingard proved a sharp competitor and scored two tries with current hooker Kris Lythe also claiming one but it wasn’t enough and Leigh eventually claimed a 35-28 win.

2003 saw the current National League format adopted and despite being fiercely competitive, the Bulldogs only secured their League One survival thanks to a 36-14 win over Sheffield Eagles in a Qualifying Final. Lingard scored two tries that day, his only brace of the season. It was not a quiet term on the scoring front however as Craig topped the club scoring charts again with twenty touchdowns. Those totals were boosted by hat-tricks against Keighley and London Skolars whilst Sheffield felt the full scoring wrath of him and centre Chris Spurr. The pair helped themselves to a quartet of tries each in a 62-12 win. Highlights that term included an 82-4 rout of London Skolars in which new signing Barry Eaton booted 11 goals, a narrow16-12 win over Hull KR at Craven Park in the National League Cup Quarter Finals and a league double over Dewsbury Rams.

Batley moved up to 7th in 2004 but injury forced Lingard to play a frustrating cameo role. He appeared just six times, scoring four tries whilst Mark Sibson took his number one shirt for most of the season, also assuming the club top scorer tag with 16.

Thankfully, Lingard was able to put those injury problems behind him last season, appearing in 25 of the Bulldogs 29 games. He resumed his mantle of club top scorer with 16 which included a hat-trick in a 34-6 National League Cup away win at Sheffield and braces in exciting 50-30 and 40-18 wins over Barrow. Good support came from halfbacks Neil Roden and Barry Eaton but the Bulldogs were reliant on a play-off to retain their National League one status once more. With local stand-off John Gallagher in good form, Batley edged a superb contest over rivals Dewsbury 28-26.

Lingard began the season with 116 tries to his name and surpassed Tomlinson’s 124 tries with a score in a narrow 24-22 win over Doncaster. The Bulldogs have once again emerged as a play-off dark horse with former Leigh halfback Jay Duffy pulling the midfield strings.

Craig has enjoyed a profitable campaign thus far with 22 tries to his name. These have included try braces against Limoux in the Challenge Cup, York in the league (home and away) and against Widnes and Oldham at “the Mount”. He also claimed one hat-trick in Batley’s 40-8 win over Oldham at Boundary Park and scored the winning touchdown in the Bulldogs shock 14-8 home win over Leigh in June.

Lingard has now written himself into the Batley history books and stands proudly as their most prolific try scorer.