Rugby league's first cheerleader Diane Rhodes thought she was seeing things when she saw an article on the Bradford Bulls' dancers, featuring - Diane Rhodes.

From her home in Cairns, Australia, she was stunned to find her name double was treading in her footsteps 30 years on.

Diane, who grew up in Eccleshill, is now married to former Bradford Northern Aussie star Lionel Williamson.

She read about the amazing coincidence in the Telegraph & Argus after her cousin in Allerton sent her the paper.

The T&A told how the Bullettes - who danced for the team earlier this season - included 16-year-old theatre student Diane Rhodes, from Wibsey.

Now a boarding school house mistress 10,000 miles away, the original Diane said: "At first I thought they must have got the name wrong. I was dumbfounded. It is not a common name and it was exactly the same.

"It was a total blast from the past."

Diane was the country's first cheerleader after being selected from the junior supporters' club to lead the team out in 1965.

She recalls: "I had been going to matches since I was about six months old and had been a member of the junior supporters' club.

"One day they held a fancy dress dance and my mum made me a marching outfit and the directors were so impressed they asked me to lead the team out and that made me the first rugby league cheerleader in the world.

"After leading them out I used to stay on the sidelines and move around the field cheering the team on. Soon other girls joined me and the troupe expanded."

But she admits her role was far different to the routines performed by the second Diane Rhodes. "It was more about marching then. There was no such thing as a cheerleader. We were singers rather than dancers and our aim was to get the crowds singing.

"The outfits were so different too. Later some guys joined us with their stronger voices and really boosted our performances."

Diane's personal highlight was leading out the team which won the Yorkshire Cup at Headingley in 1965.

During her time as a cheerleader, Diane, who was a comptometer operator at English Electric, fell for hunky winger Lionel, who played for the side from 1965-67. They married in 1969.

"When he came across he came to our winter from their summer and I remember he had these fabulous brown legs when everybody else was so white," said Diane.

"We used to go to the Mecca and we were recognised everywhere we went because of Lionel."

The couple settled in Australia and have just celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. They have two daughters and six grandchildren.

Lionel, who played for the Australian World Cup side and was on the 1973 Kangaroo tour, is now a coach at the school where Diane looks after the girl pupils.

She has every Friday afternoon off to watch the Bulls' matches on television. "I put my feet up and watch the telly," she said. "We watch out for their scores."

The younger Diane Rhodes, in Wibsey, said: "It is such a coincidence we have the same name. It's really nice to know."