R.I.P. Wilf Rosenberg-The Flying Dentist : Tue Jan 15, 2019 12:11 pm
The Death was announced today of Wilf Rosenberg who passed away aged 84 in Israel. A Springbok international, Wilf was a magnificent player who switched codes to join Leeds in 1959 and scored 73 tries in 81 appearances, before he moved to play for us for two seasons from 1961-62. He touched down 42 times in 86 appearances for the FC before returning to South Africa in 1964.
My first real hero, in a dark time when the great Hull team of the 50's had all but melted away as a lad aged 11 I watched him score two tries on his debut at the Boulevard against Bramley (a game in which Clive Sullivan scored a hat trick on the other wing on his debut as a trialist) he was for his size one of the most courageous and brave players I have ever seen.
Wilf was mobile with the ball lightening fast but perhaps his most memorable feature was the fact that whether he was being pursued or not he would always take off on one leg about three yards out and perform the most spectacular of diving finishes anyone had ever seen. The acrobatics of modern wingers at the corner flag were unseen back then except when Wilf was scoring. In the encircling gloom of winter Saturday afternoons A knot of cameramen would crouch with flash bulbs ready to try and capture him flying horizontal to the ground about three foot in the air as he dived into the corner as the flash bulbs popped to give Arthur Keegan another tough conversion to attempt!
A Dentist by profession with a practice in Leeds he was also one of the first players to wear a gumshield in the game but as he regularly ran 80 and 90 yards to score hugging the touch line as he went, what a player he was and what a legend those dives made him.
I have carried his name on my replica shirts and used it to write about the team he played for over many years. His death is a real watershed for me and its a sad day for Rugby League and for Hull FC.
R.I.P. Wilf Rosenberg.