SO sad to read of the untimely death of Stuart Evans, who through rugby league I had known for more than 40 years.

His dedication to York RL club is illustrated in an anecdote told to me by Dave Rippon who was a York player at the time. York were playing an evening midweek fixture up in Cumberland in the depths of winter, and the players on the coach noticed a motorbike following behind them all the way, with the last part of the journey made in falling snow.

That bike rider was Stuart, who looked like the abominable snowman when the players peeled him from his bike, with his arms frozen stiff in the handlebars holding position.

They don’t make ‘em like that any more.

Geoff Robb, Hunters Close, Dunnington, York