FORMER professional rugby league player and submariner Alfred 'Ginger' Burnell came up trumps with his portrait of the Queen Mother.

The former captain of Yorkshire's rugby league side was inspired to paint the portrait of the royal centenarian by a photograph on the front page of a national newspaper.

And on Friday in Pool-in-Wharfedale, at a party for the over 60s to celebrate the Queen Mother's 100th birthday, the portrait was raffled off to raise money for Old Pool Bank Village Hall.

Mr Burnell, 76, from Old Pool Bank, played professional rugby league for 17 years until 1958, captained Hunslet and Yorkshire and also played for England and Great Britain and was part of the GB side that toured Australia in 1951.

A scrum-half, Mr Burnell took up professional rugby league after the 1939-45 war during which, as a young submariner, he was dispatched to Australia on the first British submarine attached to a United States task force.

At his peak in the 1950s, Mr Burnell says today's rugby league players have lost the killer instinct of 50 years ago.

"The first time I played professionally I got £3 and when I played for England, I think against France at Headingley, you got £8 for a win, £7 for a draw and £6 if you lost.

"I think we were more dedicated then because we were chasing the money, they just don't have the viciousness now.

"I watch it now on the television and don't think there is the dedication there used to be. It is a game of physical contact and it must be played physically, if you're playing rugby league football, you've got to play hard."

Despite his own Hunslet side never playing in a final, Mr Burnell played many times for his country and captained the British Empire side in 1951 in the Festival of Britain.

Mr Burnell, who is married to Mary, has two grown-up children and spent more than 30 years running pubs in the Hunslet area. He has painted as a hobby all his life and warded off comments from his fellow rugby league players by painting their portraits.

"There was a picture of the Queen Mother wearing a pink hat with a brim on the front of The Sun and I thought I'd paint it, it only took me three hours which is a lot quicker than usual," he said.

l Pool party picture - Page 5.