Ivor Lingard

Where could Featherstone Rovers look for a replacement for the incomparable Joe Mullaney in the number six jersey? The very same village that had produced Joe also produced his successor. Sharlston born Ivor Lingard was signed by Rovers in early 1961. Ivor was immediately faced with the same tough task as a number of talented half-backs had faced at Post Office Road since the early 1950s. How could he break into a Rovers team where Don Fox and Joe Mullaney had a mortgage on those all-important positions for years? The answer was slowly, but surely.

Ivor Lingard

Ivor made his debut within three months of signing for Featherstone, getting three matches to show his worth towards the end of the 1961/2 season as Mullaney was rested. He wasn’t the only player with his eye on that coveted stand-off spot. Roy Bell was another talented youngster hoping for a chance. The following year Lingard picked up more and more games as injuries took a toll on Mullaney’s magnificent career. Roy Bell was sold to Wakefield and by April 1962 Ivor was first choice at stand-off partnering Don Fox at half-back and was part of a team that went to within a whisker of Wembley, losing a tight semi-final to Wakefield. As Ivor had replaced Joe at stand-off, so Carl Dooler gradually replaced Don at scrum-half. Thus those two great Sharlston-born half-backs had been finally replaced by two great Sharlston-born half-backs. They seemed set to take Rovers forward throughout the sixties under new coach Johnny Malpass.
However, after three successful seasons, Ivor took the unprecedented step of emigrating to Australia in January 1964. Then, as in modern day rugby, only the biggest names in the British game could hope to make it at the top level in Australia. For example, James Graham, Sam Burgess, Gareth Ellis and Adrian Morley all made the grade. Plenty more very good British players didn’t make it. Ivor Lingard, some fifty years ago, was an unqualified success. He signed for Parramatta Eels in the NSW Premiership where he spent the rest of his career. In many ways Ivor was ahead of his time as it became very trendy during the 1970s for Aussie clubs to import British talent, with such as Mal Reilly, Tommy Bishop and Mick “Stevo” Stephenson heading out to Sydney.
During his six years in the first team, Ivor was a model of consistency, appearing in 90 games for Parramatta, scoring 20 tries. He was noted down under for his perfect execution of the “Cumberland Throw” tackle, a common enough technique in England, but quite unusual in Australia, the art of using the leg to simultaneously trip and wrestle a bigger opponent to the floor. In 1970 he was an ever present in the first team, playing all 22 games, but by 1972 had retired and started to coach the junior teams at Parramatta. He got as far as head coach for the U23s side in 1975.

Dick Allman

The thirties were a desperate time for Featherstone Rovers, no two ways about it. Despite the impressive conveyor belt of talent continuing to roll out players, this talent was sold on almost as quickly as it was produced. After Wilf Evans and George Johnson were sold, Allen Ward, Ray Hamer, Bill Hughes, George Morgan, Harold Moxon, Nelson Tennant and Cyril Pawson were all tried out at stand-off. When World War Two started, the RFL decided to abandon the Championship and set up a War Emergency League. Some clubs found the going so tough they packed in playing. Each year there were fewer and fewer teams and at the end of the war only 17 clubs were active.  Featherstone Rovers found the wherewithal to continue playing right through. The tenacity shown for decades in the face of financial strife had equipped the club well for difficult times. Perhaps Rovers were also lucky in that many players were, of course, coal-miners. Workers in essential services such as mining were not called up as frequently as was the case with other jobs, and so the disruption to the club’s personnel may not have been as great as other clubs. However, a considerable number of Rovers players did serve King and Country and throughout the period the club was regularly having players called-up for service. At least one former player, Matt Killingbeck, lost his life in the six year conflict.

Dick Allman

In September 1941 a local lad called Dick Allman made his debut against Keighley and bagged a try in his first game. He followed that with two more in the next game at Halifax and two more in the next at Bramley. If he had kept that rate up, he’d have been Rovers most prolific try scorer ever. As it was, he went on to become a very useful member of the Rovers backline for the next eight years. Originally signed as a centre, Allman played in the three-quarters that first year but the following season he had a run-out at stand-off. By the beginning of the 1943/4 year Dick was installed as first choice stand-off where he shone for the next five seasons, despite missing half a year injured in 1945/6. He made a total 164 games, 113 at stand-off and scored 32 tries. A serious ankle injury finally forced him to quit in 1949. Cyril Gilbertson had been signed from Dewsbury with a view to taking over from Allman, but he had to wait for an extended run in the team. After Dick’s retirement a number of players were tried at six, including Fred Church, Ken Brookes, Bob Jarvis, Stan Shaw and Ray Cording. The latter two both played stand-off in our Wembley year of 1951/2, Shaw in favour before Christmas, and converted winger Cording picked throughout our famous Cup run and in the final itself. The following year Johnny Heritage looked a very promising prospect before injury struck.

George Johnson, Wilf Evans, Ray Hamer

Billy Stott was sold to keep the club alive financially and Rovers had to find more local talent to fill the gaps in their rapidly depleting team. One youngster who stepped forward was Wilf Evans, the oldest of three brothers who started a family dynasty at Post Office Road. Wilf was a talented back who played mainly at stand-off but also at scrum-half during a productive eight year career spanning a total of 199 senior games with 29 tries. He formed notable halfback partnerships with Billy Hayes, Allen Ward and Ray Hamer. Wilf’s younger brother Joe was a scrum-half who made his debut in 1932 and went on to play 22 games over three seasons, most of them partnering his brother in the halves. Their youngest brother was another half-back. Ray Evans signed for Rovers in 1951 and played 73 games in four seasons before being sold to Rochdale. Ray’s son Barry also played as a scrum-half in the early seventies and Barry’s son Danny had a long career as a loose-forward at Featherstone and of course is our assistant coach today. 

George Johnson Junior

Another player who featured in the thirties was the son of Rovers’ founding father and club president. Despite his father controlling the club, George Johnson junior had to battle his way into the team the same as any other player. Fortunately he was good enough to dispel any hint of favouritism. On the field Rovers had a pretty grim time of it throughout the thirties, but Johnson did his best to lighten the gloom with some classy touches from stand-off. He played 103 games for Rovers, managing six tries and 50 goals. Ten of those goals came on the same day against Bradford in October 1931. That record tally stood 33 years until Don Fox beat it. In January 1935 George Johnson became one of the first British players to play rugby league in France when he was involved in a series of exhibition games playing for a British Empire XIII. As club captain in 1935 his portrait appeared on Ogden’s cigarette cards that year, a mark of fame in those days. Inevitably Rovers’ financial problems led him to be sold, and Hunslet came in with an offer where Johnson linked up with former Rovers team-mates Ernie Winter and Cyril Plenderleith.

Once Johnson had left, and Wilf Evans’ career with Featherstone was coming to an end, Rovers used Ray Hamer at stand-off as well as Bill Hughes and George Morgan. The latter, one of many players with that famous surname who have played for Featherstone over the years, actually played 42 games for us at stand-off but left very little trace in the history books. For a couple of seasons after the outbreak of the Second World War Hamer and future head coach Harold Moxon became a relatively stable half-back combination.

Billy Stott

Billy Stott in the colours of Broughton Rangers

Local youngster Billy Stott got the chance to fill Jimmy Williams’ shoes, and there can be no doubt that if he had stayed at Featherstone for a little longer in his career, he would have gone on to become one of the club’s great players too. Originally signed as a seventeen year old from our own junior set-up, Billy made his debut in March 1930. He had quick feet, good hands, a kicking game and a great step. He was obviously destined to become a very good stand-off indeed. Thrown straight into a struggling first team as a youngster presented no problems for Billy and he stood out as a future star. In his first full season he partnered the veteran Charlie Annable at half-back and managed 10 tries and 22 goals from 37 matches. The following season Rovers tried a new half-back combination with Wilf Evans partnering Billy Hayes. Billy simply slotted into the centres and continued to develop his game there. In the summer of 1933 after another successful season, Featherstone fans wondered how long they could onto the prize asset that Stott had become. Manchester giants Broughton Rangers moved in and offered Rovers a (then) mammoth £750 and our club was in no position to turn down that kind of money. No sooner had he left Featherstone than he was rewarded with his county cap, the first of seven appearances he made for Yorkshire.

Stott served Broughton well but as the 1930s came to a close they too had financial problems of their own and Billy was sold to Oldham to help balance the books. The story of the decline of professional RL in Manchester continued as they moved to Belle Vue, changing their name in the process. By 1955 the club was defunct. Billy continued to offer Oldham good service, and when the war was on he even found time to come back to his hometown team at Featherstone and play three games as a guest in 1940 and a further two more in 1944. Once the war was over, Billy made his final move, nearer home, when he left Oldham for Wakefield. Now in his 30s and after seventeen seasons in the game, Billy was destined to have his finest hour and write his name into the record books forever. Wakefield won through to the first post-war Challenge Cup final and faced Wigan at Wembley. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Stott scored two tries, converted one of them and then landed a dramatic late penalty to win Trinity the Challenge Cup against the odds. He was named man of the match and was awarded the newly inaugurated Lance Todd Trophy. The list of great players who have won that honour since May 1946 is long and glorious, and there at the top is Featherstone born-and-bred Billy Stott.

Joe Mullaney

Joe Mullaney

When Featherstone Rovers signed Jackie Fennell from Bagley’s Recs in December 1952, they thought they had signed a future star stand-off. Although he was to have a long and successful career at Post Office Road, things didn’t work out that way. A few months later, Peter Fox’s younger brother Don was signed as a scrum-half. And in the summer of 1953 Rovers took on another youngster who had grown up on Albert Terrace in Sharlston who was fifteen months older than Don. Those three signings provided the backbone of one of Featherstone’s greatest sides.

Joe Mullaney played a single game as an unnamed trialist in a charity match versus Wakefield. He was promptly signed and went straight into the first team in August 1953 under coach Eric Batten. Within a month, Joe’s great friend Don had taken over from Tommy Smales and our greatest half-back partnership ever was formed. The following season Jackie Fennell slotted into full-back and the backline structure that was to serve the club so well for so many years was complete.

Joe’s rise to the top was swift. Within a year he had won county honours for Yorkshire. Within two, his England cap. His representative career never really took off though, due to some inopportune injuries and the handicap of playing at an unfashionable club like Featherstone.

Domestically, Featherstone Rovers carried all before them under Batten then Harold Moxon. Season after season of high league finishes were sprinkled with herculean performances in the Challenge Cup which went down in Rovers folklore. Perhaps the most famous of those was in March 1959 when more than 17,000 fans jammed into the ground to watch Joe lead his team to a famous Cup quarter-final victory over St. Helens. Despite their heroics, it is hard to believe Joe never played at Wembley. His record of four Cup semi-final defeats in 1955, 58, 59 and 60 is a travesty. In the Yorkshire Cup he managed to make a final, captaining the side to win the 1959 competition against Hull.

What made Mullaney such a great stand-off? He had pace, wonderful hands, a side-step, a hand-off and an eye for a gap. He also had a very quick mind which could read a game. He was a very solid tackler and never shirked on defence. As club captain, he led by example and was an inspiration to his team-mates.

In total, Joe played 319 games for Featherstone Rovers and scored 85 tries. He had his benefit year in 1963, a joint award with Don Fox, although truth be told both players deserved their own separate years, such was the service they had given. Injuries forced Joe’s retirement in 1965. Affable, well-mannered and modest off the field, he remained a very popular figure long after he had retired. Joe Mullaney died in December 2015 aged 81.

Jimmy Williams

Stand-offs come in all shapes and sizes, and local product Jimmy Williams was your prototype classical stand-off, with good hands for distribution and linking with the three-quarters, a good step for running and an excellent kicking game. He started at Featherstone in 1919 whilst Rovers were still a junior club and comfortably made the step up to the big league in 1921. At stand-off in our first ever senior match Jimmy slotted a drop goal to open the scoring at Odsal and so score Featherstone Rovers first ever points. 95 years and more than 58,000 points later, today’s scorers will always follow in Jimmy’s footsteps. That first year he formed an effective half-back combination with the experienced Joe Kirkham, but his most productive partnership came a couple of years later with Charlie Annable.

Jimmy Williams

Williams’ career highlights undoubtedly both came in the year 1928. In May he played in the Championship final versus Swinton at Oldham. In October he played versus Leeds in the Yorkshire Cup final. Both games were lost, but there was immense pride and satisfaction to be taken from the fact that a newish club with very modest finances and a team full of local lads could scale such heights so early in their senior history.

In all, Jimmy Williams played 211 games for Featherstone, scoring 30 tries and kicking 120 goals. Even today, only Joe Mullaney has worn the number six shirt more times than Jimmy. After his benefit match was played in 1929, he left for York before his retirement as a player. His departure together with the later losses of other mainstays of our Championship final team including the Denton brothers and Ernie Barraclough, signalled a sharp decline in the club’s fortunes.

When the RFL were looking to expand the game in 1936 they set up a fledgling club in Newcastle and Jimmy Williams was appointed trainer. The club only lasted two seasons and folded when the backers pulled out.

Jimmy’s younger brother Billy was a decent player in his time and an all-round sportsman and he served Featherstone Rovers as a physio and conditioner from the 1920s right through to the 1960s. Then Billy’s son Jim (named after his uncle) carried on the role through to the 1980s.

Terry Ramshaw. 1943 to 2017. Rest in Peace.

Ramshaw scores v Australia 1963

TERRY RAMSHAW was one of the most highly respected second-row forwards in the Sixties and Seventies. He played for a variety of clubs, and appeared in four major finals, unfortunately tasting defeat on each occasion. Terry began his career with Castleford Juniors before being snapped up by Featherstone Rovers in 1960. It wasn’t until the 1961-62 season that Terry made his first team debut. His forceful running and aggressive defence quickly triumphed alongside such stalwarts as Cliff Lambert and Colin Clifft in the Rovers’ back-row. He appeared in 15 games in his first season, which was unfortunately cut short by injuries. He built on this solid start and was soon a fixture in the team. An early career highlight was his performance against the touring Australians in October 1963, as Rovers stormed to another famous Rovers victory, Ramshaw marking the occasion with a try. Over the next five seasons he went on to play exactly 100 games for Rovers, scoring a very useful 27 tries. His best return came in the 1964/5 season when he packed down in what must have been a real handful of a second-row for opposition defences alongside Arnie Morgan. That season Terry was awarded a Great Britain U-24 cap. The following year he had a dispute with the club and left for Halifax for £5,000 in October 1965. This was a record fee at the time, showing just how highly he was regarded.

It was at Thrum Hall where Terry next plied his trade, With some eye-catching displays it wasn’t long before Terry was picked for county honours, representing Yorkshire against Lancashire in 1966 and scoring two tries. Terry was by this stage an established star and he was on the move again, this time to Bradford Northern, who he signed for in October 1967. Once again, his raw aggression and hundred percent performances saw Terry quickly become a cult hero during his short stay at Odsal.

Ramshaw at Odsal, Bradford

Wakefield Trinity were next up for the now much travelled forward. Signing for Trinity in August 1968, he made a try scoring debut at Belle Vue as Wakefield defeated Salford by 31-12. After making over eighty appearances for Trinity, Terry was transferred to Salford for £2,000 in October 1971. He made his Salford bow at The Willows against Rochdale Hornets in the 1st round of the Floodlit Trophy. The 1972-73 season brought him another final, The John Player Final. But Terry was denied cup glory again as Leeds defeated Salford 12-7. 

After 41 appearances at The Willows, Ramshaw went to Hull KR. After several seasons there he returned to Lancashire at Oldham. Terry made 34 appearances for the Roughyeds before once more heading back to Yorkshire for the final time. He joined York in 1977 and played for them as substitute in the 1978 Yorkshire Cup Final. Unfortunately for the fourth time in his career he lost a major final. After a career spanning some seventeen years Terry finally hung up his boots at the end of the 1978 season. Considered a gentle giant off the pitch but fearless and uncompromising on it, Terry Ramshaw had a career only few can dream of.

 Thank you to Louise Woodward-Styles for much of the information on Terry's post-Featherstone career.