Leeds Rhinos news: death of Olympic sprinter who switched sports to rugby league
An Olympic sprinter who switched sports to play rugby league for Leeds has died, aged 87.
Alf Meakin joined Leeds as a trialist after competing for Great Britain at the Tokyo Games in 1964 where - hampered by injury - he finished sixth in his heat of the 100 metres. He made one appearance for the Loiners, in a 15-3 loss to Featherstone Rovers at Headingley on November 28, 1964.
Not retained by Leeds, he moved to Blackpool Borough where he went on to score 14 tries in 53 games from 1964-67. Earlier this year he was presented with his Leeds heritage certificate, having been the 996th man to play for the club.
Reflecting on his rugby league career in an interview with the Blackpool Gazette, Meakin recalled: “I’d never played the game before, but I could beat people one on one, though I quickly realised there was much more to the game than that and I didn’t stay for very long.”
Before taking up rugby league, Meakin - competing for England - was a gold medallist in the four by 110 yards relay at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia. He won a bronze medal in the same event at that year’s European Athletics Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia).
One of his Great Britain teammates in that competition was Welshman Berwyn Jones, who also converted to rugby league and signed for Wakefield Trinity in April, 1964. That move ruled him out of the same year’s Olympics and opened a space in the team for Meakin.
Jones, who made his Wakefield debut as a trialist under the pseudonym Walker, scored 47 tries in 89 games for Trinity and was capped by Great Britain before joining Bradford Northern. Following his sporting career Meakin made headlines again, aged 75, as the country’s oldest recipient of a bone marrow transplant, after being diagnosed with leukaemia. He went on to make a full recovery.