Not only are there funny people but there are always players playing pranks on one another, some small ones and some at a much larger scale. Now I have been very lucky to have been a part of a couple of good pranks and they were both performed at Castleford and both involved the same individual. That individual was Welsh International and Cronulla raised Mark Lennon.
Now Lenno is a great mate of mine and a top class bloke but he was a serial pest and a serial liar (I mean that in the nicest way Lenno). Lenno had this angelic face that all mothers love and believed could do no wrong. Mark lived with his cohort and now Bradford Captain Andy Lynch. Lynchy and Lenno (has a dodgy ring to it doesn’t it)at the time were only young blokes and lived together just out of Castleford.
Now when I say Lenno had an angelic face, he did because I believed, for a number of months that he was telling the truth, when I asked him if he had anything to do with all the pranks that had been going on around the place. The pranks included messing with our furniture in our room in Lanzarote, wheels being taken off cars and various other pranks to do with automobiles. In fact one time the two pranksters, jacked up Dale Fritz's car and took his tyre off but in doing so damaged the panel work because they put the jack in the wrong spot.
Once it was realized that Lenno and Lynchy were lying through their teeth a couple of plans were hatched to get payback on these scoundrels. The first one involved Aaron Raper, who was injured at the time, stealing Lynchy's house keys and getting them copied while he trained. We then found out when both lads wouldn’t be home and I Aaron Raper, Michael Eager and Dale Fritz went around to Lynchy's house and took everything from downstairs to upstairs and vice versa, as well as turning it upside down, just for good measure. We then went our separate ways and waited for pay dirt to happen. I received a phone call off Lenno explaining what had happened and he asked if I had anything to do with it. In most my most innocent voice I said "of course I didn’t I had been with the family all day". It worked because they didn’t find out until a couple of years later that I had anything to do with it.
The second prank was a much larger scale and an all time classic. This prank also involved his flat mate Lynchy as well but for a different reason, which I will explain later on. Lenno drove and old bomby car, as most of us did to get to training and it just so happens Mick Eagar and Fritzy had found the same car over at the wreckers across the road from the Castleford ground. We all went over and inspected the car and it was exactly the same as Lenno's bar the different colored seats. We spoke to the owner of the wrecking yard and explained what we wanted to do and with much laughter he agreed with great plan we had.
We pooled our money together and for a few hundred quid we purchased the car and had it crushed. The second part of plan involved Mick Eagar getting Lenno's keys after the last game and stealing his car. This was able to be done when Lenno's counterpart Lynchy, rolled over and joined our team (so much for loyalty). Lynchy got the keys for Mick and he did the rest and took the car to a safe house ( I just added that bit because its sounds so good)
So Mad Monday rolls around and everyone is at the Tiger Bar at about 9am, enjoying a few drinks, when Lenno arrives asking who has got his car. Of course we all plead our innocence and say we know nothing about it. Lenno was pretty good about as he was thinking his car would be returned later and it was just a gee up. Just before 11am, I am supposedly called into see the CEO Richard Wright for something, this is done so that everyone knows I am going into see him, for theatrical purposes. I come back about 10 minutes later and address the players and hold up a set of keys that the police had just supposedly handed in to Richard. I hand them to Lenno and then tell him that his car has been found but there is a problem and he needs to come outside to have a look at it.
The timing was perfect for this prank because just as we get outside, in rolls the truck with a squashed car on the back of it that looks like Lenno's. A picture is worth a thousand words and I wish I had of taken a picture because the expression on Lenno's face was priceless. His bottom lip dropped and started to quiver and he eyes started to tear up as he saw his beloved car, flat as a tack. The players were showing a lot of sympathy for Mark by rolling around on the floor laughing their guts out. If Lenno had of looked closely he would seen the seats were a different color to his but I guess when you have so many tears in your eyes from crying it would be easy to miss it.
It was the best prank I have seen and it was worked to perfection and I have never in all my time seen so many grown men laughing so hard. We didn’t let on to Lenno for a few good hours that it was all a prank. His reaction was that he knew all along.
Now the moral to this story is "young blokes don’t play pranks on older players because they will get you back ten fold". As Lenno and Lynchy found out the hard way. When myself, Rapes, Monkey and Fritzy get together for a drink this prank normally pops up in conversation as it will no doubt do again on Mark's wedding night later in the year.
Cheers
Vowlesy
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