Leeds Rugby League Heritage Podcast

7. Leeds' first Australian Dinny Campbell

A podcast from Rugby League club Leeds Rhinos which sees members of the club's Heritage Committee bring stories from the Rhinos past into the present, including key players and figures, as well as major events in the club's history.This episode Heritage Committee Chair Phil Caplan speaks to Lyndall Nairn, the great niece of legendary Leeds player Dinny Campbell, heritage number 266. Known to everyone as ‘Dinny’, the first Australian to sign for the club became one of its greatest ambassadors back home. Leeds sourced their agent in NSW to find ‘a good back’ and the recommendation was Penrith-born former three-time Wallaby international Campbell, who originally signed from Easts for three years, for £350 and a £2 match fee, but stayed three times as long.

6. Wally Lewis on Kangaroos, Queensland and playing at Headingley

On this episode of the Leeds Rugby League heritage podcast, we caught up with the legendary Australian and Queensland player Wally 'The King' Lewis when he visited AMT Headingley at the end of 2025. Lewis chatted to Jamie Jones-Buchanan about his memories of playing at AMT Headingley for his state and country alongside his recollections of his time playing England with Wakefield Trinity.

5. The Californian who came to Leeds

This episode recalls the remarkable story of the American All Stars Rugby League team that toured to Australia, New Zealand and France in the 1950s and their star back, Californian Al Kirkland, who impressed so much that he got the chance to play for Parramatta and Leeds despite never having played Rugby League before his first game for the national US team. We are joined by the author of No Helmets Required: The remarkable story of the American All Stars, Gavin Willacy for this episode to tell us more about the team and in particular how Kirkland came to play for Leeds, scoring on his debut.

4. Challenge Cup, Bridgend and the snow

A podcast from Rugby League club Leeds Rhinos which sees members of the club's Heritage Committee bring stories from the Rhinos past into the present, including key players and figures, as well as major events in the club's history.This episode recalls the time when Bridgend came to Headingley on a famous, bitterly cold afternoon on 27th January, 1985. Leeds thrashed Welsh side Bridgend 68-6 in heavy snow at Headingley but the scoreline was just a footnote on a remarkable taleAustralian star Eric Grothe scored a hat-trick in memorable, challenging conditions that saw the Welsh team arrive late and play almost immediately and include their bus driver on the subs bench to make up the numbers.

3. The Ashes

In this episode of the Leeds Rugby League Heritage podcast, we are joined by Prof Tony Collins to mark the return of the Rugby League Ashes to AMT Headingley this Autumn as England and Australia clash in the 3rd Test. Tony talks about the unique place Headingley has in the history of the most famous clash in the sport and why returning to AMT Headingley will be so special for the Kangaroos.