We have been asked to keep fans updated on the activities of our former player Mickii (his spelling) Edwards, the St Helens-born scrum-half-turned-prop, who scored six tries in 22 first-team games for Roughyeds in the late 1990s.
Stats alone, though, don’t tell the whole story of Mickii, who was a stalwart of the ‘A’ team for several seasons and was a larger-than-life character who was a key member of the side, coached by Shane Tupaea, which went through a season unbeaten, winning every game bar one, which ended in a draw,
Now aged 50, and owning and running a bar in Great Harwood, near Blackburn (it looks to be more suited to downtown San Francisco or waterfront Auckland than in the suburbs of a former Lancashire mill town), Mickii has devoted his life after rugby to things like helping the NHS, raising money for charity, organising day trips for the elderly and for under-privileged children, and generally helping anyone who has hit hard times.
“I’ve been there myself and it’s not a good place," said Mickii, who has just come back from Ukraine after taking a lorry load of long-life food, blankets , clothing, medical supplies etc to the people of that country who have been under attack for more than 12 months from Russia.
“I’ve seen some horrible and shocking things going on out there," said Mickii, who has run many marathons for charity, but whose latest challenge is to take part in a swimming race across the English Channel.”
Sky have helped Mickii and other former Rugby League players, like Dennis Betts, Mick Cassidy, Kevin Brown, Jason Critchley, Cliff Eccles, Francis Maloney, to put together a documentary called ‘Turning The Tide’ which is all about their Channel race against a star-spangled swim team of former Rugby Union players.
Added Mickii:
“It took us a year to make the documentary which is being shown on Sky Arena. I can’t run any more, so now it’s going to be swimming. I certainly don’t want my lifestyle to end yet,”
