This book is dedicated to my son, Jason Wilson Pollard who passed away in 2011 after a short illness

In sport, as in life, being in the right place at the right time is so important. Prop forwards mature in the later part of their rugby lives, and Keith Pollard was no exception.

His career at Hull Kingston Rovers probably faltered because the time was not right. 

During his time as a young player with the Robins, there were a number of other forwards competing for the prop positions, and Keith’s face perhaps just did not fit.

After learning more about his trade from Mick Clarke at Keighley, he went on to play his best rugby on the other side of the world, where he was truly appreciated.

But despite the fact that his time at Craven Park was not as successful as he would have hoped, he has retained his love for the club and has remained loyal to it. He cares deeply for the club and for the game in general, and has forthright opinions on both.

Keith is now a valued member of the Rovers’ Heritage Group, where he is always prepared to give his time to its varied activities, sharing his knowledge, views and memories across its audiences. Through this group, I have been privileged to enjoy his friendship and company over the last few years. 

Roger Pugh
Hull KR historian and author of ‘The Robins’

I have never been a famous superstar or celebrity. I was quite well known in the relatively small world of local rugby league in Kingston upon Hull in the 1960s, but I have never been rich, handsome or slim! Those who have known me may think I was not too bad a player or a mate, whilst one never knows what those that pretend to be friends really think. Whatever, I have enjoyed my life to the full, and have always wanted to tell my story. My memories not only from rugby, but a life working and living in both England and abroad.

Now I am retired, with not a great deal to take up my spare time and every day is a Saturday, I have found time to put together my story, and some of the tales I have gathered during my chequered career. To be honest, when you have stopped working you are at least at the age when you have had a life and a story to tell.

As a keen reader with an interest in biographies, I have read those of famous actors and sportsmen, including some from my own sport of rugby league, and I’ve often been disappointed as some of them have been quite boring, based only on facts and statistics and with sycophantic quotes from people who knew them.

I want my story to reflect my life as it was, and to be an account that most of us ordinary people can identify with. It is based on true experiences, as far as my memory allows but I have altered some names, to protect the innocent as it were! Of course, life has not all been a bed of roses. As with us all, there have been ‘ups and downs’ and even some very dark days at times.

If you are wondering about the title of the book, the phoenix as most of you will know is a bird from Greek mythology that is associated with the sun, that obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. According to some sources, the phoenix dies in a show of flames and combustion, although there are other sources that claim that the legendary bird dies and simply decomposes before being born again. According to some texts, the phoenix could ‘live’ over 1,400 years before rebirth. Anyway, the phoenix was the emblem of Boulevard school that I attended over sixty years ago. It was a strong rugby league area and most of the boys were Hull FC supporters, or the ‘Black and Whites’ as they were called. Their main rivals, on the other side of the city, were Hull Kingston Rovers – the ‘Red and Whites’ – but they were never mentioned in this part of Hull, not by schoolboys anyway. Well, I did not die, but I rebelled and was ‘reborn’ as a Red and White, and Hull Kingston Rovers play a very big part in my story.

I hope you enjoy my book and perhaps at the end you might feel encouraged to do the same and to tell your own story. I know there are many other people out there who have great stories to tell. Reliving moments that are embedded in your memory is a wonderful journey, one that often brings a smile to your lips and a tear to your eye as you think back of days gone by. I hope this story might stir some memories for you, and I thank you for taking the time to read it.

I am releasing my book as a second edition after selling out my first one to people far and wide.

As with my first edition, all net proceeds will be going to the Alpha-1UK Support Group helping them to bring awareness to this terrible disease which took the life of our son Jason.

Unfortunately not enough is known about this disease.

Keith Pollard
February 2021