Christopher Sanderson (27 July 1954 – 24 April 1977) was an English 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. He played at club level for

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

Juniors and

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

, as a or .

Playing career

County Cup Final appearances

Chris Sanderson was a substitute in

' 15-11 victory over

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challenge ...

in the

1975 Yorkshire Cup It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. Ha ...

Final at

Headingley Stadium Headingley Stadium is a stadium complex in Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, comprising two separate grounds; Headingley Cricket Ground and Headingley Rugby Stadium, linked by a two-sided stand housing common facilities. The ground ...

on Saturday 15 November 1975, and was a substitute in the 16-12 victory over

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rovers are one of the last "small ...

in the

1976 Yorkshire Cup Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

Final Headingley Stadium on Saturday 16 October 1976.

Club career

Chris Sanderson's Leeds début came against

Halifax Halifax commonly refers to: *Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada * Halifax, West Yorkshire, England *Halifax (bank), a British bank Halifax may also refer to: Places Australia *Halifax, Queensland, a coastal town in the Shire of Hinchinbrook *Halifax ...

on 8 September 1971, and he played in the

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 a ...

matches during the 1974–75 season against

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is pr ...

and

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, and the semi-final defeat by

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The populati ...

Death

During Leeds' match (with the score at 5-2 to Leeds, subsequently abandoned, and not replayed) against

the Willows The Willows may refer to: Places * The Willows, El Paso, Texas ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to l ...

on Sunday 24 April 1977, Chris Sanderson collapsed following a

tackle Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking ...

in the eighth minute, he died later that day at a nearby hospital.

Testimonial match

Leeds'

1976–77 Challenge Cup The 1976–77 Challenge Cup was the 76th staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup. The final was contested by Leeds and Widnes at Wembley. Leeds beat Widnes 16-7 at Wembley in front of a crowd of 80,871. The winne ...

victory was dedicated to Chris Sanderson. Chris Sanderson's

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

at Leeds on the Thursday 12 May 1977, was a match between

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, it was attended by 11,000 people and raised £7,000 for his family.

References

External links

* (archived by web.archive.org
Chris Sanderson Remembered
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanderson, Christopher 1954 births 1977 deaths English rugby league players Leeds Rhinos players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Sport deaths in England Rugby league players from York