Terry Clawson and Neil Clawson

Continuing our series of famous Featherstone families, we turn our attention to two former Rovers forwards.

Terry Clawson

Terry Clawson started his Rovers career in 1957 and quickly established a reputation as a no-nonsense loose forward. He was a fixture in the Rovers team for five years, and his tough tackling and prodigious goal-kicking caught the attention of the international selectors. He made his Great Britain debut aged 21 against France in 1962, but then suffered a threat to his life when he contracted tuberculosis. After a long spell out of the game he bounced back and went on to play for a further fifteen years, what a tough character. In a colourful career he played for a variety of clubs after leaving his hometown team in 1965, mixing some notable highpoints such as playing for Leeds at Wembley with some self-admitted low points. He won a total of 14 GB caps though, and kicked two goals in a famous British triumph in the 1972 World Cup final. He was also a Great Britain tourist in 1974. Towards the end of his career Terry came back to Featherstone and had a spell as player-coach in 1978. His record of 483 goals for Rovers in 215 games puts him 6th on Rovers all-time goal kicking list. See here: http://marklaspalmas.blogspot.com.es/2012/04/they-coached-rovers-terry-clawson.html

Terry’s son Neil played some of his junior rugby out in Australia while his dad was playing for South Newcastle, and when the Clawsons came home, Neil signed for Featherstone. Neil started out as a rangy back-row forward, but moved up to the front row when he put some weight on. Father and son managed to create their own little piece of history in November 1978. Terry started in the Rovers front row and Neil came off the bench against Workington and Rochdale, becoming possibly the first ever father and son to play together in the same professional match. Unfortunately Rovers lost both games heavily, Terry soon lost his job as coach and Neil was back in the A team. Clawson junior stuck at it though and went on to make 62 appearances for the Rovers (24 off the bench) mainly between 1984 and 1986 before being sold to Oldham. He gave Oldham four years good service, playing over 80 games in the front row alongside future Rover Leo Casey. He missed out on the 1988 Premiership final against us at Old Trafford. Neil finished his professional career at Bramley.