Syd Hynes, who has died aged 80 after a short illness, gained notoriety by becoming the first player to be sent off in rugby league’s Challenge Cup final. Hynes was captaining Leeds against Leigh at Wembley in 1971 when he was dismissed for allegedly headbutting Leigh’s player-coach Alex Murphy.

The incident has passed into rugby league folklore, not least through the (possibly apocryphal) interpretation that Murphy, one of the sport’s great schemers, took a dive, was stretchered off, and after waiting until Hynes had left the pitch, hopped off the stretcher, combed his hair, winked at the BBC television cameras and ran back on to the field, inspiring Leigh to an unexpected victory.

While there is no video evidence to corroborate this story, Hynes always protested his innocence, immediately calling his parents to insist he never touched Murphy. After the match he told the media: “Alex conned the touch judge and the referee. If I had hit him, he would never have got up.” The rugby league historian John Huxley wrote: “While the rest of us wondered about the facts of the incident, [the referee] Billy Thompson had no doubts and did not hesitate in his decision.” Dave Hadfield, the Independent’s rugby league correspondent, later described the episode as “the story that refuses to die”.

Hynes was a skilful but uncompromising player, sometimes prone to provocation. He was also sent off in the second Test of Great Britain’s series victory over Australia in 1970 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. However, he returned to score the winning try in the deciding third Test at the same venue two weeks later. Fifty-four years on it remains Britain’s last series victory over the Kangaroos.

That same year Great Britain lost in the World Cup final to Australia at Headingley, Leeds. In an ill-tempered game Hynes was dismissed once again – along with Australia’s Billy Smith – as tempers flared at the end of the match.

However, it would be unfortunate if Hynes were to be remembered solely for his vexatious indiscretions than for his otherwise successful playing and coaching career. He was a classic rugby league centre, a robust tackler and a direct, strong runner appreciated by the wingers who played outside him. His speed carved open defences and his accurate passing provided them with numerous try-scoring opportunities.

He became renowned for what was termed the “dummy scissors” move. Hynes bamboozled opponents by running towards the corner, looking as though he was about to pass the ball to a dummy runner heading back towards the centre of the field. But, as defenders moved to cover the dummy runner, instead of releasing the ball he would take on the defence himself and pass to another player running outside him. Even though the opposition knew the move well they seemed powerless to stop it, and so it provided a conveyer belt of tries for Leeds.

At club level he played his entire career at Leeds and won every domestic honour available. Of the 13 finals he played in (including two as player-coach), 11 were won including the 1968 Challenge Cup decider at Wembley, known as the “watersplash” final because of the torrential conditions in which it was played, and also for its startling denouement when Wakefield Trinity’s Don Fox missed a simple kick at goal in the last minute to hand victory to Leeds. More injudicious behaviour had almost caused Hynes to miss the match. He had injured his arm after striking an opponent six weeks earlier and recovered only days before the final.

In 1975 he became the only player-coach in Leeds’s history, but after an injury in a match against Castleford the following year, he took the opportunity to concentrate solely on coaching. Over seven seasons he took his team to seven finals – all of which were won – including back-to-back Challenge Cup final victories at Wembley over Widnes and St Helens in 1977 and 1978 respectively. He retired in 1981.

Born in Hunslet, south Leeds, Sydney went to Bewerley Street school. One of his teachers was Harry Jepson, who would later become club president at Leeds rugby league club. Jepson spotted Hynes’s nascent talent and suggested he play rugby league for the local Hunslet Juniors. From there Hynes moved to the rugby union team run by the National and Local Government Officers’ Association (Nalgo) trade union, for which he worked.

Leeds had been following his progress and he was offered four trial games before signing as a professional in October 1964 and making his first-team debut the following season against Wakefield Trinity. In total Hynes played 366 times for Leeds between 1965 and 1976, scoring 158 tries, kicking 156 goals and 32 drop-goals. He represented Great Britain 13 times, England four times and Yorkshire four times. In 2019 he was inducted into the Leeds Rugby League Hall of Fame, having three years earlier moved to Perth, Western Australia.

His wife, Norma, whom he married in 1964, predeceased him, as did his two sons. He is survived by a daughter.

• Sydney Hynes, rugby league player and coach, born 31 July 1944; died 11 December 2024