Saints honour Prescott and Perelini

St Helens have named Steve Prescott MBE and Apollo Perelini in the Hall of Fame Class of 2013.

Perelini, who made 193 appearances for the club, said: “I wasn’t expecting to be inducted into such a prestigious Hall.

When asked for his best Saints memories the dual-code Samoan international said, “My best memory has to be the 1996 Challenge Cup Final.

“We hadn’t won it for a while and when Bernard Dwyer scored for Bradford we were behind the sticks looking at each other. We thought we were done.

“In my mind I remembered we had done a reading from the Bible in the morning. Then Bobbie Goulding made those kicks and I started to believe.

“Later on Vila Matautia turned to me and said let’s finish it off and I asked God to do it through me. I then scored. It was the best occasion of my career.”

An emotional Prescott was just as surprised when he found out he was to be inducted.

“I didn’t expect this to happen,” he said. “I thought I was coming to help open the Lounge. It is a brilliant occasion and to be in the Hall of Fame, I am moved by it all.

“I still have a long battle ahead but I have so many great memories of this club and my career. That game Apollo mentioned, I thought we were dead and buried but we came back.

“I scored two in the first 18 minutes and then got one chance late on – but Simon Booth scooped the ball up in front of me. We really wanted to win that day for the club and fans and I remember jumping on Apollo’s back when he went over.”

Prescott has been fighting a rare form of cancer since 2006, to find out more visit: http://www.steveprescottfoundation.co.uk/