Michael Stanley Lampkowski (born 4 January 1953) is an English former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

, and professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and at club level for

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...

, as a scrum-half, i.e. number 9, and club level rugby league (RL) for

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

( Heritage No. 836), as a , i.e. number 7.

Background

Mike Lampkowski was born in

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A pre ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, England.

Playing career

International honours

Mike Lampkowski made his international rugby union début, and scored a

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's 23–6 victory over

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Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 3 January 1976. see List of England national rugby union team - Results 1976. He played three further rugby union internationals, in the

1976 Five Nations Championship The 1976 Five Nations Championship was the 47th series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competiti ...

against Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Rugby League career (Wakefield)

Lampkowski signed for Wakefield in February 1977 from the

club, making a try-scoring début at Wigan on 20 February 1977, coming off the substitutes bench. He made a further ten appearances that season scoring four more tries, cementing the scrum half's shirt by season's end. The following season he made 29 appearances and finished Trinity's top try scorer with thirteen tries, partnering David Topliss at halfback for most of the season. His tries included braces against Workington, Dewsbury and Wigan. Trinity still had the experienced Terry Hudson on their books and occasionally Lampkowski moved to stand off in the occasional absence of Topliss. The following season saw a Wembley appearance and another 28 appearances and 1979-80 saw another fine season, partnering Topliss, with 'Toppo's sublime skills complementing Lampkowski's strong, powerful style perfectly. This season also saw his one and only try hat trick, against Hull KR in the Yorkshire Cup in the first match of the season. The last three games of the 1979-80 saw him move into the forwards and he cemented the loose forward position the following season with Topliss now partnering Allan Agar in the halfbacks. Trinity had their best season in years, finishing fourth in the league table. Injuries now started to catch up with him and his knee kept him out of many games over the next few years, missing the whole of the 1983–84 season. He eventually retired because of injury playing his last game at Salford on 24 March 1985. His eight-year Trinity career saw him play 162 games, scoring 46 tries, during his time at Wakefield Trinity he scored forty-five 3-point tries and one 4-point try.

1979 Challenge Cup Final

Mike Lampkowski was part of the Trinity side that reached the RL Challenge Cup Final at Wembley in 1979, he appeared in all the four rounds leading up to the final; Featherstone, Oldham, Barrow and a 9–7 victory over St.Helens, at Headingley, in the semi-final. Lampkowski played in

's 3–12 defeat by

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

in the

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

Final during the 1978–79 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

on Saturday 5 May 1979, in front of a crowd of a crowd of 94,218.

Medical procedures

Mike Lampkowski was recognised as one of the hardest and bravest players ever to don a Trinity shirt and, after an accident, was one of the first players to undergo surgery to replace his knee ligament with a

dacron Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods ...

-fibre ligament – a technique which was developed in Japan by Dr. Keiō, who came to Harrogate to perform the operation on Lampkowski after being referred by the club specialist Mr. John Anderson, who was based at Middlesbrough General Hospital and who had already performed the operation on another Trinity player with success. Such was the interest that Dr.

Graeme Garden David Graeme Garden OBE (born 18 February 1943) is a Scottish comedian, actor, author, artist and television presenter, best known as a member of The Goodies and a regular panellist on ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''. Early life and education ...

- aka one of 'The Goodies' - presented a series of programmes on new medical techniques and Lampkowski was one of his guests and discussed the procedure on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

. Without the operation it was almost certain that Lampkowski's playing career would have ended, but he came back and played again with success. Since that time, a number of other players of various sports have benefitted – particularly using the fibre ligament on troublesome shoulders where the original tissue stretches too much and often springs the shoulder bone out of its socket. In that respect Lampkowski's guts and contribution has been invaluable.Former Secretary/Manager of Wakefield Trinity RLFC at that time and whose signature is on Michael's contract when he turned to Professional Rugby League

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Mike Lampkowski Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lampkowski, Michael 1953 births Living people England international rugby union players English rugby league players English rugby union players Leeds Tykes players Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Lincolnshire Rugby union players from Scunthorpe Sportspeople from Scunthorpe Rugby union scrum-halves Wakefield Trinity players