Published on *Saturday 23 June 2012 05:00* Ron Fisher makes no “bones” about his love of the local football scene in Leeds – and one aspect of the game in particular.
Namely physiotherapy and the treatment of injuries, with a chance meeting with Leeds United backroom legend Les Cocker over 50 years ago changing his sporting course. It’s been a case of “have sponge, will travel” for the popular soccer stalwart since with the 80-year-old having been associated with scores of Saturday and Sunday sides across Leeds, alongside a number of representative teams. Along the way, Fisher has picked up countless gongs, with his most recent arriving when the trainer/physio was presented with a plaque for 16 years of service with the West Riding CFA representative side. And while he may have wound down the physio activities of late, expect him to pop up again on the touchline with his treatment bag in the not-too-distant future. It’s in the blood, after all. Football-daft Fisher, who lives in Halton, said: “All the lads don’t call me by my name. They call me Bones! “My wife says our house used to be like St James’s as I’d have five or six players watching television while I was treating them on the bed! “She also says that I’ll never hang my sponge up and then says: ‘I bet you’ll be back somewhere’! When the county FA recently presented me with my plaque, they said I’m always welcome down there. “I can’t believe where all this time has gone.” Fisher has been treating – and preventing – injuries and whipping teams into physical shape ever since meeting late United team trainer Cocker at a course in the early 1960s, which made a massive impression upon him. Cocker shaped Don Revie’s forces and prepared them for battle throughout the super Leeds years, while also working with the victorious England World Cup squad of 1966, with a posthumous medal awarded to his family after a much-publicised campaign in 2009 – just under 30 years after he passed away at the age of just 55 in October 1979. And Fisher also had plenty to thank adopted Yorkshireman Cocker for as well after being handed a break of the right sort, having started his career as a coach at Market District Boys Club. He said: “That course with Les inspired me to do the physio staff. “Les was a smashing bloke. I remember I was at a coaching meeting and sat at the same table as him and Jackie Charlton. I didn’t know who he was, although I knew who Jackie was as he lived at the end of my street! “I got talking to Les and he said: ‘Who are you with’? I told him I worked with Market District Boys Club and he asked me what I used when players got injured and I just said: ‘A bucket and sponge’! “Les then told me about some courses he was running with some exams at the end of it and I went to Pinderfields Hospital to do them and after that didn’t bother about the coaching much. “I then got a bit more interested in treating players and felt I was getting more out of the game. Les also invited me to come to Elland Road every Wednesday night at about 8pm to show me the ropes and let me watch him while he was treating players. “I remember seeing him working on Bobby Collins while I was down there and he was explaining to me all what had gone on with the X-rays and all that. And I just thought: ‘That’s for me; I’d like to do that’.” Fisher’s house is packed with mementos of his distinguished career in local football circles. They include an FA long-service medal, a wall shield presented by the Leeds and District FA and a gold medal, along with staff and players, for winning the FA Counties Association Youth Cup when the West Riding County FA youth squad won the final for England in 2006-07. On the Saturday and Sunday league front, Fisher has been associated with Market District, East End Park, East Leeds, Whitkirk Wanderers, Hampton Hotel, Fforde Grene Hotel, Burmantofts Libs, Cherry Tree, Seacroft WMC and White Hart Beeston. Not to mention various senior and junior representative teams in the Sunday League, along with the county’s representative side. Dr Michael Benjamin, Community Psychiatrist ------------------------------- myRay: On-line Self-Help CBT http://www.myRay.com http://www.myRay.org ------------------------------ Mental Health: http//www.MyDoctorExplains.com -------------------------------- Auditing || Quality Control http://www.MyDoctorExplains.com/alamo/ -------------------------------- Blog: http://www.DrMichaelBenjamin.com _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] PETE CASS (1962 - 2011) Rest In Peace Mate
