The St Helens Saints Miscellany E-Book

Darren Phillips

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 182

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

The St Helens Miscellany is the definitive set text for every fan of the world famous Saints. Packed with facts, fun, gossip, nostalgia and conjecture, it looks back the club's glorious history to celebrate the personalities, victories and controversies of one of the sport's biggest names. Handily pocket-sized to pull out in the middle of those pub arguments over who was the fastest, dirtiest or biggest, this book will not only tell you who scored the most tries, kicked the most goals or won the most trophies, but also well-known events are covered as are some priceless trivia gems - who can claim to have known the club was played its first game against a hospital team, or that the club's original colours were blue and white stripes or even that Knowsley Road has hosted football and been used as a film set? Find out all this and more in The St Helens Miscellany.

Leseprobe

First published 2010

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2017

© Darren Phillips, 2010

The right of Darren Phillips to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7509 8402 7

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

REBELS FOR THE CAUSE

St Helens were one of the 21 clubs which decided to form the Northern Rugby Football Union on 29 August 1895 when a motion to leave the Rugby Football Union was carried at Huddersfield’s George Hotel. The over-eager application of amateur status and, particularly, the prohibition of making up the wages of those who had to take time away from their work with ‘broken time payments’ was a huge issue – though not the sole grievance – to the northern clubs who drew their playing resources from ordinary working men. They thought it fair to pay six shillings compensation in order not to cause hardship and refused to accept this conferred professionalism on their players. Especially as the RFU had allowed others payment. That row had bubbled for almost two years. Fewer problems were encountered in the south where the medical, legal and other well remunerated occupations dominated the playing pool.

However, there was also perhaps an ulterior motive. Clubs from Lancashire and Yorkshire particularly were dominating the sport so measures were put in place to restrict their perceived advantages – and then enforced vigorously. It is notable that shorn of their Lancastrian and Yorkshire contingent, England’s Union team didn’t win the International Championship, now known as the Six Nations, until 1910.

Without doubt inducements were on offer, and to make such disbursements, entrance fees were prime among the measures used to raise funds. But after years of having one arm forced behind their back, the north rebelled. Yorkshire clubs were first to murmur about a split and then Lancashire’s top sides gathered in Manchester and pledged their support. Within 48 hours the game was split across two factions. Only Dewsbury decided to stay, although after three years of withering on the RFU’s vine and winding up their rugby team, they claimed a place within the Northern Union. Draconian action by Union’s governing body had seen bans hit many purely recreational clubs whose only crime was to maintain relations with defectors, even those who remained amateur but did make broken time payments. An inevitable consequence was to increase the Northern Union’s membership.

LICENSED HEADQUARTERS

Like many Northern Union teams, St Helens listed their headquarters as a public house, the club’s hostelry of choice being the Duke of Cambridge, appropriately and by no small coincidence situated on Duke Street. There were very few exceptions to this general rule. The club used the Talbot Hotel for many years after. It would also serve as a changing room ahead of games.

ROYALS AND HORNETS

Regardless of the code, a fairly unrecognisable form of rugby by modern standards formed St Helens’ baptism under RFU patronage towards the end of January 1874. A team consisting of 20 players took on Liverpool Royal Infirmary who were a number of players short but still had the better of exchanges registering five tries to nil. However, as the try earned no points at the time, merely the right for a side to try a kick at goal, the final score was level, the Royals failing to land any of their attempts. The game at the Recreation Cricket Ground at Boundary Road took place a couple of months after St Helens were founded by William Douglas Herman, a chemist at Pilkington’s Crown Glassworks. Mr Herman became chairman by acclaim at a public meeting held at the Fleece Hotel on 19 November 1873 and should have played in that first game as captain. He was forced to miss out due to his move to the town taking place on the same day.

As a Northern Union club, Saints opened up a new era and ultimately the course of a whole new game, entertaining Rochdale Hornets. Winger Bob Doherty who had left Union side Kendal Hornets to gain pay for his talents scored the club’s first ever Rugby League try in the 8–3 win. Intercepting in the final quarter of the field he sprinted through and though the finish was a bit of a tumble, the quality of his play was superb. Lock Peter Dale was the only other home player to cross the line. Billy Cross, another former Kendal man, completed the scoring with a goal. Eventually those pioneering players drifted away from the club or went into retirement. The last to call it a day was Billy Briers in 1912 at the ripe old age of 37. Alternating between backs and forward line, he clocked up 515 appearances.

IN THE DOCK

Those hard-won points against the Hornets were later forfeited due to one player, Bill Jacques, not having been properly registered ahead of the game. The half-back was still effectively a Hull man. Because of this the club became the first to receive the disciplinary sanction of a points deduction.

HOME SWEET HOME

Until the end of the 2010 season St Helens will have played at their Knowsley Road home for 120 years. They moved from City Road in 1890 and defeated Manchester Rangers in the first match played at the venue on 6 September of that year.

SUPPORTERS LEND A HAND

Many of the first ground improvements at Knowsley Road came with substantial assistance from the supporters’ club formed by Jesse Sneekes. They wanted to build a covered stand down the Popular side. This wooden structure was replaced by a steel and iron construction in 1962 with the old edifice transported down the road to Liverpool City’s Knotty Ash ground. The pavilion, located at the Dunriding Lane end, received a ceremonial opening by the Rugby Football League’s Honorary President, Lord Derby, on Boxing Day 1920. Ribbon-cutting took place prior to a meeting with Wigan and the building remains standing to this day. Originally it housed a board room and administrative offices plus facilities such as a gym, changing rooms and plunge baths. It meant players from either side could now prepare for games at the ground rather than the Talbot Hotel in Duke Street, a hostelry close to the centre of town from which they were transported to the ground by horse-drawn carriages. A tunnel led to the pitch with a move only taking place in the 1990s when the changing rooms were relocated to the Main Stand.

As part of a sponsorship deal, Knowsley Road spent the last two-and-a-half years of its life as St Helens RLFC’s home referred to as the GPW Recruitment Stadium following a sponsorship deal announced in May 2008.

BATS AND BOTTLES – THE NEW ST HELENS STADIUM

St Helens will move to a new stadium at some point in 2011 – even if the venue will not be ready for the start of Super League XVI. The 46-acre site is the long-derelict United Glass Bottles plant and a £25 million development to include not just the stadium but other amenities has been proposed since the early part of the millennium. However, the project has been beset by problems and while the credit crunch slowed construction down, this was just one in a line of hitches.

Demolition work began in January 2009 after planning problems which saw an eventual reference to central government for a final decision and a complication surrounding one of the old plant’s kilns – Cannington Shaw No. 7 Bottle Shop to be precise. Though a dilapidated structure, its preservation and restoration was key to the go-ahead as the building, erected in 1886, is designated Grade II listed and an ancient monument by English Heritage. A plan was needed to ensure conservation to include the tunnels below. In addition, a colony of bats – who also enjoy protection – had made the kiln their home. These problems were eventually ironed out.

Though not exactly a home of rugby prior to Saints’ arrival, ‘UGB’ did have a works side who played in the Challenge Cup. Ray French’s father skippered the side just before the Second World War. Among others Jimmy Stott, a superb goalkicking centre, emerged from their ranks while working at the factory and went on to become a Saint.

ON THE ROAD

Like other Super League clubs, Saints have ceded home advantage at times to spread the gospel of Rugby League. An ‘On the Road’ concept was devised to showcase the new-look, and ultimately rebranded, sport under its new banner. This would be achieved by each club playing one game at a neutral venue, Liverpool Football Club’s Anfield stadium has been used for games. The first was with Castleford in 1997 when, just ahead of the Challenge Cup final, more than 12,000 fans watched a comprehensive 42–16 Saints win. The following season the soccer ground was used again, this time for a game with Warrington, which Saints won 36–14. Although announced and accepted as a triumph, the idea was quickly abandoned. However, from 2006 Millennium and Murrayfield ‘Magic Weekends’ were created to take the game into Union heartlands. Essentially all clubs play a league match over a two-day festival close to the May Day holiday. Local derbies were first preferred until a draw based on the previous season’s finishing positions was used. So far Cardiff and Edinburgh have had a couple of years each. A decision to move games from Scotland back to South Wales was made in 2010.

NATIONAL SERVICE

International teams have played at Knowsley Road as part of tours, with the ground also hosting encounters between other nations. England met Wales back in 1914 though it took more than a decade before another representative game was staged. This time it was England against Other Nationalities in 1930. France were the visitors in February 1939 for the final international played before the Second World War. England only returned in 1951 as hosts to Wales. Two years later the same venue saw England slay the Dragons by quite a heavy score. Great Britain met and defeated France in April 1957 and there were further cross-channel meetings in 1960, 1961, 1968 and 1971. England trounced Wales in May 1978.

St Helens was also one of the venues selected to host World Cup games in 1995 with New Zealand and Papua New Guinea doing battle. Five years later, England hammered minnows Russia 76–4 with Sean Long the only Saints man on a very extensive score sheet. The club last hosted a representative game in June 2006 when 8 St Helens players were in a Lions side which thrashed New Zealand. The new St Helens stadium is expected to get the nod to host matches in the 2013 World Cup.

ROUND BALL

Tom Finney is of course a name readily associated with football, but another Tom Finney was on Saints’ books. The scrum-half’s brother Jim was a soccer referee who would have officiated in the 1966 World Cup final if England had not reached the showpiece occasion. Another name those who know the round ball game will recognise is Emlyn Hughes whose father was a Welsh Rugby League international. His brother and uncle also turned professional though enjoyed less bountiful careers than Fred Hughes, or ‘Ginger’ as he was better known during his playing days. He made an appearance for Saints as a second-row forward in a War Emergency League game against Barrow – a club he served with some distinction.

Ted Forshaw had a career as a footballer until his mid-20s with Everton before joining the Saints and gaining half a dozen games as a mobile centre in the 1957/58 season scoring 3 tries and kicking 11 goals. He had failed to make the first team at Goodison Park and his rugby career also tailed off. But, being an innate sportsman he turned to athletics and eventually coached Pilkington Harriers plus a host of individual distance runners. There was an appointment as the Great Britain athletics team’s manager during the 1980s.

Frank Brown not only switched rugby codes during the same season, joining Saints from the town’s Union club, he also played soccer for St Helens Town. It is not unique for a person to play for the League, Union and Association Football clubs, although Brown is the only one to do so in the same season – 1947/48. His time at Knowsley Road was limited. After four first team games and a number of reserve outings over two campaigns he left.

HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS

Saints became the first team to score more than 1,000 points in a season when leading the table at the close of 1958/59. The mark was reached and exceeded by another 5 points in the final game, a 15–14 defeat at Oldham. Tom van Vollenhoven’s 53 tries during the regular season assisted that tally hugely and contributed to an overall total of 206 league touchdowns.

WAR GAMES

Though the league ran for a season during the First World War, the inevitable suspension of the professional game took place in September 1915. Friendlies from which newspapers (rather than the governing body) constructed merit tables, based on the same percentage system the Northern Union had adopted in deciding its league placings when points were tied, decided the table standings. The number of games played by each club was so unequal that there was little consistency until normal competition resumed in 1919. Saints had seen their resources severely depleted from the beginning of the war with 14 players volunteering to serve. Only Runcorn (with 21 men away) sent more of their number. The game’s rules were tinkered with to accommodate the prevailing conditions which included government hostility to the sport. Twelve players were fielded rather than the usual thirteen due to severe shortage of available personnel. Three Saints men paid the ultimate sacrifice – Jimmy Flanagan, who served as a sergeant, was fatally wounded by shrapnel, and the centre who partnered him on the wing, Jimmy Greenwood, also died. Hubert ‘Jum’ Turthill, a London-born New Zealand international, also failed to return.

The attitude to sport was far more relaxed throughout the Second World War with a less stringent War Emergency League competition reinstituted. Saints hosted New Zealand just 24 hours before war was officially declared but measures were already afoot. Just over three weeks later games were back on, although initially restricted to a club’s own side of the Pennines given the travel restrictions in place. There was also the sight of Union men being given permission to turnout in League games for the period of hostilities only. Sides representing each code also played a couple of matches to raise money for the Red Cross. Union rules were applied, though the Leaguers won each contest. Jimmy Stott, or Craftsman Stott as he was known due to service in the Army’s Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers, was the only Saints representative. The distinction between the lowly ranked League men such as Stott and officers who dominated the other code’s representatives was notable. Along with Harry Pimblett, Stott also won England international honours as a Union man during the war years.

CLUB CLOSED

Though rugby continued during the First World War and provided many with a focus away from the conflict, St Helens only operated in the War Emergency League for two-and-a-half of the four-season break Northern Union games took. Having been defeated 22–0 by Widnes on 31 January 1918 the club simply closed its doors blaming a lack of finance for their decision. Only a few months earlier Warrington had paid the expenses of a very young Saints team to travel little more than 7 miles to fulfill a fixture at Wilderspool.

Players turned out for other clubs during what turned out to be an 11-month break when a friendly with St Helens Recs saw the doors reopened on Christmas Day. Saints were ‘nilled’ again with no answer to the 20 points put past them. Only three players who turned out against Widnes returned – Robert Heaton, John Holland and Herbert Hilton. When competitive football returned three weeks later, the Recs were faced again and although St Helens were well beaten once more, they did at least run a try in during the 24–3 defeat.

TOM BARTON – RELUCTANT TOURIST

When Tom Barton earned his sole England cap, the game being played at Wigan meant he didn’t have to take much time away from work. Great Britain honours would have been added to that tally but for a refusal to join a tour of the Antipodes four years later. After being selected at half-back and attending a photo call with the travelling party, he opted out after the Northern Union refused to make up wages he contributed to his widowed mother. They only paid out the £1 compensation to dependent wives and would not bend the rules. Huddersfield’s Jack Bartholomew, who has notoriety as the uncle of comic Eric Morecambe, took his place but missed each of the three successful Test matches against Australia and New Zealand after breaking his ribs in a warm-up game.

That gesture was typical of the man who as captain in 1915 managed to persuade his colleagues to turn out in the Challenge Cup final despite the disappointment of the team receiving no extra money for their achievement. Barton reasoned that even a loser’s medal was worth £3 – a princely sum – if anyone wanted to sell theirs. Tom was a winger with electric pace who covered 100 yards in 10.2 seconds when timed in championships held in Leigh during 1910. At that point he was 29 years of age. Just how fast he may have been earlier in his career is a fascinating question and made all the more intriguing by the fact he broke an ankle as a younger man and when it failed to heal, he went back to hospital to have the joint rebroken before undergoing more surgery.

As the initial operation implied, many procedures related to the bone did not always go well but without it Barton would have been forced to forget all about his sporting ambitions. He served the club for 17 years, utilising a superb kicking game and tactical acumen while acting at various stations in the backs and in official matches fell just three tries short of reaching a century. A confident goal-kicker he slung 118 efforts between the posts and had it not been for the First World War, would have become the first player to record 100 tries and 100 goals for the club. Unfortunately, none of his efforts in specially arranged competitions during the hostilities counted towards his career statistics.

JUST THE SAINTS

Unlike virtually every other Rugby League team – no matter what the standard of competition – St Helens have declined to adopt a nickname or addition to the club’s original moniker. It is not a unique stance as others have carried the same epithets throughout their histories. Though in terms of those to currently have or once held Super League status, only Workington Town, who played in the debut campaign, stand apart with the Saints. Hull FC had four seasons as Hull Sharks and were initially known as plain Hull.

Very often names have carried through to the club’s mascot which is usually a family-friendly touch in the sport. St Helens have been represented in those stakes with St Bernard and St Bernadette. When retired, the latter was replaced by Boots. Like his predecessors he is a St Bernard dog but somewhat stern-looking.

COACHING REGISTER

Since coaches rather than committees were given more responsibility towards team selection and player deals, St Helens have employed 19 men to take charge of on-field affairs. Alf Frodsham, Alan Prescott, Stan McCormick, Kel Coslett, Billy Benyon, Alex Murphy and Eric Hughes are the only ones to have both played for and coached the club. The most successful in terms of trophies alone is Jim Sullivan who, over seven years, guided the club to a debut Challenge Cup final win, two Championships, four Lancashire Leagues and a couple of Lancashire Cup triumphs. Daniel Anderson crammed a Grand Final win, four minor Premierships, three Challenge Cups and a World Club Challenge into just four seasons.

Alf Frodsham

1945–9

Peter Lyons

1949–52

Jim Sullivan

1952–9

Alan Prescott

1959–62

Stan McCormick

1962–4

Joe Coan

1964–7

Cliff Evans

1967–70

Jim Challinor

1970–4

Eric Ashton

1974–80

Kel Coslett

1980–2

Billy Benyon

1982–5

Alex Murphy

1985–90

Mike McClennan

1990–3

Eric Hughes

1994–6

Sean McRae

1996–8

Ellery Hanley

1998–2000

Ian Millward

2000–5

Daniel Anderson

2005–8

Mick Potter

2009–10

Royce Simmons

2010–

MILLION-POUND GAME

When St Helens met Halifax in the 1987 Challenge Cup final the 91,267 present generated more than £1 million in gate receipts, the first time seven figures had been earned from the sport’s biggest game. Unfortunately, Saints fans were not the ones celebrating on the journey home. A John Pendlebury drop goal was the vital 1-point difference and the same player made a match-winning tackle on Mark Elia 8 minutes from time as the centre – who had already scored an excellent try and had another disallowed – seemed set to dive for a loose ball over the line. Despite looking second-favourite to reach it, Pendlebury got there first. Though decimalisation played its part in large increases of cash banked, Saints also played in the first £50,000 game when 98,536 generated just in excess of that amount in the Challenge Cup final, 21 May 1966.

PIONEER TOURS