Last week when former rugby league legend Billy Boston was the first former rugby league player to be knighted, which if I am being honest was long overdue, I was reminded when I covered the sport during my time in the 1990s while I was at the North West Evening Mail in Barrow in Furness in the south-west of Cumbria.

During that time I covered games in my own time as a personal project and I suspect the black and white pics were probably taken during my time covering assignments for the paper. As I recall the colour shots were when we were testing colour film from Fuji with the view of the paper switching from black and white to colour newsprint at some point in the future.

I must admit that my presence at the matches probably upset the regular freelance used by the paper, as we usually had a joint byline, but I have to admit my ulterior motive was to get a sports shot for my final portfolio for my senior qualifications in the photojournalism exams in 1994 and a certain percentage of my portfolio needed to be in colour.

And the colour shot above achieved that as it made it into that portfolio (the other photo was from the indoor climbing championships which were held in Birmingham in 1992). As background information there has always been a fierce rivalry between Barrow and Workington and the clubs faced each other in Barrow in April 1994 which was about a month before my senior exams.

The shot I remember most was of a Workington player (in red) emerging from beneath a pile of Barrow players still clutching the ball with a face full of grim determination.

As I recall the game was held on a Sunday, which reflects the game’s working class roots as opposed to rugby union’s emergence from the UK’s public schools, and the black and white shots were used in the following Tuesday’s edition of the paper. However, because I had to get the colour film developed at the local lab, the shot was later used on a half page of the sports section the following weekend.

As I said the shot made it into my portfolio and I did gain my senior qualification (as far as I am aware I am the only journalist in the UK to be qualified at a senior level in both press photography and as a reporter).

I have to admit rugby league was almost like a religion in Cumbria and other parts of the north of England and playing the matches on Sundays probably added to that impression. See below for a gallery of a few more shots and cuttings from the time.

And yes the inclusion of red and blue in the cuttings was part of the early tests of getting the printing presses ready to handle full colour printing (although this happened some time after I left in August 1996). By the way I am also planning to start work on another uniquely Cumbrian sport starting a new photo project from tomorrow so watch this space for more details.