Published at 07:49, Friday, 28 September 2012

The granite grey sky is threatening a further downpour as Jamie Thackray pulls into the pot-holed car park at Derwent Park, before walking through the rusting front gates into Workington Town’s ground, rotting to bits after years of decay and decline, to join his team-mates for training.

Jamie Thackray

The former Great Britain international and Challenge Cup winner was never accustomed to anything other than luxurious facilities during a glittering Super League career.

Storm clouds, on the other hand, he’s more than familiar with.

As hard as he tries, Thackray has still to come to terms with his fall from grace which saw him crash land at Workington Town, another fallen rugby league giant.

“One minute you’re playing in front of 80,000 fans in the Challenge Cup Final, with fireworks going off and Katherine Jenkins singing, and the next you’re playing in front of 700 fans,” said Thackray.

“It’s heartbreaking really because I know it’s all my own fault. Sometimes it makes me bitter and I don’t want to be bitter.”

The 32-year-old was one of the finest Super League props of his generation but his fondness for nights on the tiles cost him his stellar career.

He insists his wild days are behind him but it seems that Thackray will never be able to shake off his reputation as a hell raiser.

An archive search of his life and times leads to well-documented accounts of teenage years spent getting into scrapes with police, and then how his time at Hull FC and Leeds Rhinos was punctuated with frequent clashes with coaches after failing to heed calls to curb his exploits off the field.

His wild days would have been consigned to the past was it not for the fact he is still paying a high price for his behaviour because no Super League club will touch him with a barge-pole despite his best efforts to secure a second chance.

When he surveys his new surroundings, it’s a brutal reminder of how he blew it all.

Joining Workington Town in January gave him a wake-up call and the whole experience has put him on a journey of self discovery which he hopes could see a Super League club take a punt on him.

“When I heard Town were interested I thought I wasn’t going there, no way,” said Thackray, who has played in Challenge Cup finals at both Wembley and Millennium Stadium.

“I’d played against them for Barrow and we’d beaten them 40-0 and they were rubbish.

“I thought dropping down two levels after having been in Super League for 12 years was too much of a drop.

“But, when I met the directors, they were so good to me and they have some really good young local players so I just decided I would give it a go. They’re good people here, with hearts of gold, and I really appreciate how kind they have been.

“I wanted to help them get promoted and I definitely believe there is a place in Super League for a Cumbrian club.

“I remember my first training session a cold, windy night on a field in the middle of nowhere and the ball hit me on my ear and it hurt for five hours afterwards because my ears were so cold.

“But we played in a friendly against Whitehaven and I thought ‘bloody hell, they can play.’

“Super League is much faster and the tactics, wrestling and skill with the ball are much better, but there are a few boys in the Town side like Graeme Mattinson, Brett Carter, Elliott Miller, Brett Philips and Jarrad Stack who, with full-time training, could play at that level.

“A lot of top players would have retired rather than come here because they would think they were too good.

“But, at the end of the day, when you start playing rugby league you don’t think about making loads of money and being famous, you just want to play because you love the game.”

The high spot of his career was Hull’s Challenge Cup final victory over Leeds at Cardiff in 2005 after joining the Airlie Birds from Castleford Tigers.

“I trained the house down that season and played in 35 games and in the Final,” said Thackray.

“I was named in the end-of-season Super League Dream Team. I was 25 and it was the time of my life, but also the start of my troubles.”

Success, fame and money, he openly admits, went to his head, and he went off the rails. While it didn’t affect his performances, his behaviour became a concern for his coach.

“You can buy what you want when you’re earning that kind of money but you don’t appreciate what you’ve got at the time,” he said.

“Even when I was at school, I wasn’t thick as I was used to be in the top sets but I was always getting sent out for mucking about. Yet when it came to sport, I wanted to be up there with the best.

“I didn’t listen to my mum and dad when I should have done.

“When I was younger, I wanted to be out all the time chasing girls and stuff. I would go on stupid benders and not come back until 8am.

“But I never had warnings for missing training or turning up for training stinking of booze. I was always dedicated and worked hard. There were a lot worse players out there than me – and some of them are still playing Super League.

“My name still rings a bell with people and people think they can’t take me because I go out too much.

“I was having relationship problems at the time but I’m now with someone who I wish I had been with five years ago. If I had been, I would still be in Super League.”

With Thackray one of the hottest properties in rugby league, Tony Smith beat Bradford Bulls to his signature when he signed him for Leeds Rhinos.

His dream move to Headingley saw him miss only one of Rhino’s first 28 matches in 2006 and at the end of the year he won his three Great Britain caps in the Tri-Nations Series.

But things turned sour at his home-town club and he ended up being frozen out by Smith’s successor Brian McClennan.

He returned to Hull for a second stint in 2008 and helped them reach Wembley, but this time their injury-ravaged side lost in the Challenge Cup final to St Helens.

Moves to Welsh side Crusaders and Barrow followed, before he joined Limoux in the French Elite One division.

With Limoux facing a financial crisis, he returned to England and the downward spiral in Thackray’s fortunes saw him arrive at Workington Town.

But he’s accepted his fate and knuckled down at Town, where his inspirational performances have helped to carry them to promotion and earned himself a place in the Championship One All-Star team along with team-mates Jason Mossop and Graeme Mattinson.

Last Sunday he had a stormer against Doncaster in the Grand Final eliminator when he left the Keepmoat Stadium with the man-of-the-match award under his arm.

It wasn’t enough to stop Town losing 20-0 and missing out on a Grand Final and a major pay-day, but it was further evidence of Thackray’s impressive rehabilitation. He hopes the road to redemption will eventually lead to another Super League club handing him a second chance.

“As long as I keep myself in good shape, I could play in Super League at 35 or 36,” he said.

“Steve Menzies at Catalan Dragons is nearly 40 but he’s still one of the top players in Super League.

“I still believe now I could play top-level if I was full-time. I’ve always done the business on the pitch. No one has ever questioned that I’m good enough for Super League; it’s all down to off-field problems.

“Everybody grows up at some stage. Everybody knows I play well week in, week out for Town.

“Opponents make it harder for me as they want to prove themselves against me. You can’t just turn up and think you’re going to rip them to shreds.

“I wear my heart on my sleeve and train to win every game. I’d love another chance in Super League – but I think it might take a miracle.”

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