We are sad to report the passing of Geoff Yeomans, who died last week at the hospice in Inverness, where he had lived for the past decade.
‘YoYo’ came to Pock quite late as a rugby player; but he made an immediate and major impact in his half a dozen seasons here in the 1980s. He was in his mid-30s when he moved to Full Sutton, and arrived at Percy Road with a distinguished career already behind him at Rowntrees as an electrician and rugby player, and as a forward with York.
He played a handful of 1st XV games for Pock, but mainly made considerably mark in the Panthers and Pilgrims, who he captained. He was an ebullient character, hard-working lock and gregarious tourist; but he was particularly noted for his prodigious leaps in the lineout. YoYo was just on six foot, but his spring heels saw him consistently outjump far bigger opponents.
He left in December 1988 to live and work in Bermuda where he joined Mariners RFC. If Pocklington rugby came late in his career, an international debut followed even later. The Atlantic island was host to the Bermuda Classic – an annual world championship competition for veteran international rugby teams. It attracted hundreds of star names from across the globe, but when Scotland Vets suffered a couple of injuries in 1989, YoYo was signed up in a local bar as an honorary Scot and performed with distinction in the front row of a star-studded Scotland pack, later bringing his ‘international’ shirt back to the club on one of his visits home.
YoYo was never short of a quip or reply, and was a master of one liners. Some 20 years ago he was a contestant on ‘The Weakest Link’ TV quiz, introducing himself as “Geoff Yeomans, Electrical Engineer”. Host Ann Robinson, always on the lookout for a put down, replied sarcastically, “So Geoff, can you tell me, what’s the difference between an electrical engineer and an electrician?” She was left totally nonplussed by Geoff’s prompt response of: “Yes Anne, about £7,000 a year.”
RIP YoYo.
