Rugby history is put to paper (From Crewe Guardian)

Rugby history is put to paper

12:08pm Tuesday 9th September 2008 in Lifestyle By David Morgan

WHEN two sports enthusiasts started collaborating on a series of books on the history of Warrington Rugby League Club their goal was clear.

Daily Telegraph sports journalist Gary Slater and photographer Eddie Fuller wanted to chronicle the town’s sporting past as a lasting tribute and a reference point for WIRE fans, old and new.

Gary, 47, a former deputy sports editor of the Warrington Guardian, said: “If you go into a bookshop in Warrington, you can buys books about Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton and you should be able to buy books about Warrington as well.”

The pair, who have been following Warrington’s progress for longer than they care to remember, had their first book – Warrington Rugby League Club 1970-2000 – published in 2000 which was a pictorial history of that period.

They followed it up with 2002’s 100 Greats, which listed what they considered to be the top players throughout the years.

However, this year’s third volume – So Close To Glory (an intimate guide to Warrington Rugby League Club between 1919 and 1939) – presented the biggest challenge to Gary and Eddie.

"It's important to understand where a club has come from to be able to appreciate where it stands now."

Warrington Guardian sports editor Mike Parsons

In between his commitments at work, Gary spent hundreds of hours trawling through old programmes and 20 years’ worth of Warrington Guardian papers at the British Newspaper Library in north London.

Gary added: “The first time I went to the library, I asked the librarian for every copy of the Warrington Guardian from 1919 to 1939 and half an hour later she emerged with a huge bound volume.

“Back then, the season ran from August to May so I was able to skip some of the months but I was often sidetracked by items of local news from that era.

“What I enjoyed the most was finding out things that I didn’t know before. I thought I knew the history of the club but there were little snippets of information that were new to me.

“It is what made the project worthwhile because if I hadn’t heard about them, other people probably haven’t either.

“I also learnt about 10 Warrington players who were killed in the First World War so I was a bit taken aback by that.

“All three books have been a labour of love, particularly this third one which has involved hundreds of hours of research, leafing through old copies of the Warrington Guardian to unearth nuggets of long-forgotten episodes in the club's history.”

So Close To Glory is the story of how the team, in their famous primrose and blue colours, helped the club grow in size and popularity in the years between the wars.

In this period, the team played in three Challenge Cup Finals and three Championship Finals as well as winning the Lancashire Cup four times and the Lancashire League once.

The book’s title is a reference to all the near misses that peppered an otherwise prosperous time for the club.

Eddie, 75, a former Warrington Guardian photographic manager who has been capturing Warrington Rugby League matches on camera for 26 years, said: “Town Hall civic receptions on winning the Lancashire Cup four times and the League title were only scant consolation for Warrington when you think of what might have been.

“Three Challenge Cup finals and three Championship finals were lost, most of them in unfortunate circumstances but with so many exciting players attracting large crowds to Wilderspool, the club prospered.”

Between 1919 and 1939, Warrington Rugby League was certainly a different club to the one it is today.

Teammates played in all the mud, rain and snow of the winter and injuries caused during the rough and tumble were much more of a serious matter.

For example, in 1930, player William Dennett died at the age of 25 following an injury to his knee.

Tragically it was the days before antibiotics and tetanus.

But Eddie said one of the biggest differences back then was that matches were played without substitutes – and this had a significant impact on Warrington’s fortunes.

In 1928 in the Challenge Cup Final at Wigan, WIRE were beaten by Swinton 5-3. The team were down to 12 men with Billy Kirk stretchered off and to add insult to injury they had a good try disallowed.

At 6’3” and 16 stone, ‘big’ Jack Arkwright made an instant impression. That is when he was on the pitch, that is, as the player was renowned for being sent off twice in one match.

In the 1934 season he arrived from Saints at a fee of £700. In the same season in the Championship Final against Swinton, WIRE lost 14-3 due to Nat Bentham being sent off for striking an opponent and an injury to Billy Holding, reducing the team to 11 men.

Miner Nat Bentham was one of the best hookers to play for Warrington and played for Great Britain 10 times.

But in his last match in the Championship final against Swinton the following year he had another bad day and was sent off leaving Warrington with 12 men to lose another final at Central Park.

“There were so many times they failed simply because there were no subs,” added Eddie.

But that is not to say the book dwells in what could have been. Despite poverty, economic hardship and mass unemployment, these two decades saw some happy times for the town and the Warrington Rugby League Club gelled the town together thanks to heroes like Jack ‘Cod’ Miller and Tommy ‘Tubby’ Thompson.

Eddie said: “This was the start of the build-up of the team and it was the characters that made it interesting.

“It will appeal to all true fans of the WIRE.”

Warrington Guardian’s current sports editor Mike Parsons added: "It's important to understand where a club has come from to be able to appreciate where it stands now.

"And the diligence shown by Gary and Eddie in bringing about their third book allows the reader to be as fascinated by the 1919 to 1939 period – and its heroes – as they obviously are."

So Close To Glory also paints a vivid picture of other sports stars with Warrington roots such as Channel swimmer Sunny Lowry, FA Cup winning footballer Freddie Worrall and athlete Chris Vose.

Gary and Eddie are now considering putting together a book about Warrington Rugby League Club before the First World War – an area Gary said has not been covered in much detail.

“That could be next in the pipeline,” he said.

“But they take so much time and effort that we are taking a break at the moment.”