The Ones That Got Away

It’s always nice to see a local lad doing well after leaving Featherstone, one of the latest being Zak Hardaker at Leeds.  The disappointment of losing talented players to top flight clubs has always been something Rovers fans have had to live with, but for me that doesn’t stop us taking pride in their subsequent achievements. Zak’s career with us was brief, but better than nothing. There have been some distinguished rugby league players, born and bred in Featherstone, who never played for their hometown team.

Phil Cookson

Two famous examples of local lads who never pulled on the Blue and White played in the 1978 Cup Final at Wembley. Rovers of course had lost an eminently winnable and desperately disappointing semi-final against Leeds at Odsal, and playing in the Leeds second row that day, and in the final too was Phil Cookson. He signed for Leeds directly from Rovers Intermediates in 1968 and went on to enjoy a long and successful career at Headingley. He won England caps at the 1975 World Cup in Australia.

Bill Francis

In that 78 final Phil was up against St. Helens stand-off Bill Francis, another Featherstone man. Francis signed for Wigan in 1963 from Rovers Under 17 team and made his name as a classy centre during 13 seasons at Central Park. He won four GB caps, and at the afore-mentioned 1975 World Cup was playing for Wales (he qualified through the grandparent rule). He transferred to Saints in 1977 and played his entire professional career in Lancashire. I’d always assumed that Wigan must have had a mole in the Featherstone area scouting system to alert them to available local talent so early. After all, they’d also signed Tommy Smales from under our noses in 1958 with a big money offer that we couldn’t compete with. A recent article in the RL Journal offered an alternative and interesting explanation as to how Wigan found out about Bill Francis’s talent before he’d even turned professional. Apparently in 1963 ITV started covering amateur youth games on TV, the star side being the Featherstone & Castleford district team. This team included Roger Millward and Brian Lockwood as well as Francis, and all three youngsters were able to make a name for themselves as juniors. Wigan liked what they saw and snapped up Francis, to our loss.

Other players we could file under the list of the ones that got away would be Alan Banks’ older brother Barry, who signed for York and later had success at Hull. Jason Ramshaw, son of old favourite Terry, signed from school for Halifax before carving out a long career at Keighley. Martin Wood was another local lad who never played for Featherstone. I’m sure fans can recall one or two other names that slipped through the net over the years. Perhaps at the very top of the list should be world record holder and Hall of Famer Neil Fox, who many people thought would sign for Featherstone as his older brothers had done, but instead went to Wakefield Trinity. The rest, as they say, is history. Very illustrious history indeed.

Footnote: Steve Slater writes:

I can recall Terry Morgan & Steve Cooper (Gary's brother) both signing for York in the early 70's, and a very highly rated youngster from the U'17's called Bob Woodhead signed for Hull KR. Big things were expected of him but I never heard his name mentioned again. And there was Dave Topliss. Although he played for Normanton U'17's, he supported Rovers all his childhood, but Normy players were selected for the Wakefield & District side, not Cas & Fev, and when he came under Trinity's spotlight he signed for them instead. There was another Banks brother, Keith, who was the elder of the three. He was a stand off or centre  in the U17's, and played for Yorkshire schoolboys from Normanton Grammar School, and then Wakefield RUFC when they were a top side. Rovers made him an offer to turn pro but he signed for Wakefield instead, where he was a regular around 1976-77, but then suffered the same fate as Phil Butler; recurring shoulder injuries. He retired from the game prematurely, and the last time I heard he was a very successful Games Master at Airedale High, where he has lead many school teams to the national championsip. Another top Union player was Colin Lambert, Cliff's son, who I played alongside for Rovers Juniors & Cas & District. From there he went on to represent Yorkshire at U19's on the wing. He also played for Yorkshire and England schoolboys at Rugby Union, and athletics as a sprinter. He was courted by every Rugby League club in the country in the very early seventies but opted to play for Headingley RU, and then Harlequins. His ambition was to play for the British Lions, but while he played county RU and was part of the England set up, I don't think he ever made the full England RU side.