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.

Steve Quinn. 1951 to 2016. Rest in Peace.

The Mighty Quinn

One of the most prolific rugby league points scorers of all-time, Steve Quinn, has died at the age of 64. He was one of Featherstone Rovers’ greatest ever players, a hall of fame member and popular man who has a permanent place in the hearts of all Rovers fans for his exploits in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley in 1983.

Stephen Quinn was born at York on 30^th November 1951 and as a youngster played at Tang Hall junior school, and later Heworth ARLFC. As a teenager he signed for his hometown club York in October 1970. At 6ft tall and a playing weight of 13 ½ stones, he fit ideally into the centre role, and in his second season quickly given the goal kicking duties, he established himself as a first teamer at York. After five seasons and a spell out of the game between April 1975 and February 1976, Featherstone made a move for Quinn and he came to Post Office Road in 1976 in a straight swop for Barry Hollis. He then set about breaking every single club goal and points record over the next 13 seasons in a blue and white shirt. In a team full of local lads, Quinn was often the ‘outsider’ based all his life at York, but such was his dedication that he would always be the first at training.

His first match for Featherstone was Wakefield at home in the Challenge Cup 15^th of February 1976, he kicked 4 goals and Rovers won 23-9.

He won a Championship medal in 1977.

He won a Second division Championship medal and The Second Division Player of the Year in 1980

He played in the Yorkshire Cup Final of 1977.

He won six Yorkshire county caps.

In his Featherstone Career he played 391 games, scored 75 tries, kicked 1,200 goals and 10 drop-goals and scored 2,656 points.

In his Rugby League Career he played 516 games, scored 92 tries, kicked 1,568 goals and 10 drop-goals and scored 3,438 points.

His greatest moment came in the Challenge Cup final in May 1983 at Wembley when his late penalty (his 4^th goal of the game) won the Cup for Featherstone against Hull 14-12.

He was granted a Testimonial season in 1986/87

His final starting match was Widnes away on 13^th of November 1988 and his final appearance was Leeds away on 11th of December 1988.

He was an inaugural member of the Featherstone Rovers Hall of Fame established in 1992.

The Three Musketeers from Keighley

When Peter Fox brought Rovers out of the old second division in 1988, he recognised we needed a few reinforcements to survive in the top flight. Nowadays, this involves ramming your squad full of the maximum quota of overseas imports. Back then, it was possible to cast a discerning eye over the lower division and pick up some talented players capable of taking the step up. Rovers had previously successfully done this with the likes of Karl Harrison (Bramley) and Graham Steadman (York), two players signed from the second division who went on to enjoy international careers.

Terry Manning

 Hoping to emulate this transfer market success, Rovers went on a little shopping expedition to Lawkholme Lane as it was then called and came back with Terry Manning. Terry had started his rugby career at Elland, turning professional in 1987. He played 61 games for Keighley, scoring 29 tries and had the kind of bustling style that Fox saw as the perfect foil to Paul Newlove in our centres. He signed for Featherstone in October 1989 and cost £40,000. Difficult to tackle, with good upper body strength, Terry’s style was not classical but very effective. He formed an integral part of a three-quarter line of Butt-Manning-Newlove-Simpson that was as good as any that the club has put together.

So happy were we with Manning that in a couple of months we were back at Keighley and acquired second-rower Gary Rose. To be honest, none of the typical cliché descriptions of rugby league forwards, “rugged”, “pugnacious”, “tough”, would be quite enough to explain Gary Rose’s impact on a rugby league field. He had been at Keighley for two years, signing from Yew Tree ARLC, and had played 46 games for Keighley. He slotted straight into the Rovers team, and just as quickly into the hearts of Rovers fans. Once his eccentric ball-carrying style had been corrected, he turned into a strong runner and very willing defender, making sure Rovers pack was never intimidated out of any encounter.

Owen Simpson

Within the year, Rovers snaffled up Owen Simpson, the archetypal flying wingman who had been a professional at Keighley just over a year, scoring 32 tries in 38 games. A try on his debut against Castleford gave us an immediate taste of things to come. His lethal combination with Paul Newlove down the left flank was so prolific that the try scoring records soon tumbled.

These three players had cost a total of £110,000, and what tremendous value for money they gave to Featherstone. Terry Manning’s career spanned five highly consistent seasons, chalking up 159 appearances, and managing 46 tries. After Rovers, he served both Doncaster and Hull. Gary Rose was with Rovers four years, and with his swashbuckling style he played 106 games and notched 5 tries. Improbably enough he then signed for Leeds, his uncompromising style never seemed cut out for the game’s snobbiest club. However, he won his spurs at Headingley, and later played for Hull. Owen Simpson graced the Featherstone wing over seven seasons though serious injury curtailed the latter part of his career. In 158 games, he scored 98 tries, finishing just short of that magical ton.

Featherstone's Great Britain Tourists

1966 Tourist Carl Dooler

From 1910 until 1996 Great Britain regularly toured Australia and New Zealand, customarily playing a three test series against both nations, as well as a large number of other games against regional, representative and club sides. Making a Great Britain tour was considered, alongside playing at Wembley, as the pinnacle of any player’s career. They earned the right to be called Great Britain Lions. Featherstone Rovers have supplied 14 such players. Three of these players, Cooper, Dooler and Smales didn’t play in a test match, so never became full internationals.

A further five players, namely Terry Clawson, Arnie Morgan, Mal Dixon, Gary Jordan and Peter Smith won Great Britain caps, but never toured. Morgan and Smith however, as well as Keith Bridges, Jimmy Thompson and Steve Nash, did “tour” with Great Britain in World Cup Tournaments.

 The official list of Featherstone Rovers’ Great Britain Lions is:

1.  Tommy Askin 1928

2.  Gary Cooper 1962 (not capped)

3.  Don Fox 1962

4.  Carl Dooler 1966 (not capped)

5.  Jimmy Thompson 1970, 1974

6.  Keith Bridges 1974

7.  Steve Nash 1974

8.  Steve Evans 1979

9.  David Hobbs 1984

10.         Chris Bibb 1990

11.         Deryck Fox 1990, 1992

12.         Ian Smales 1990 (not capped)

13.         Paul Newlove 1992

14.         Steve Molloy 1996