Remembering Barrow Rugby League stars who earned caps

VAL CUMBERBATCH:

CUMBERBATCH was born in Liverpool in 1915 and signed in at Barrow from St Matthews ARLFC in 1932 at the age of 17, making a try scoring debut at Wigan early 1933 - the result 11-11.

He left Barrow in 1946 for Liverpool Stanley where he retired 12 months later.

He represented Lancashire on two occasions against Yorkshire scoring a try in the first game.His one England appearance saw him cross for a try against France in Paris.

He made 253 appearances for Barrow with 134 tries to his credit, and ran in six against Batley in 1936.

He also played in the 1937 Lancashire Cup Final and the 1938 Challenge Cup final before ending a 13-year stint at Barrow.

DANNY McKEATING:

MCKEATING was born in Workington in 1912 and signed for Barrow in 1932 making his debut at home to Leigh before retiring in 1944.

Regarded as one of the best hookers in the game, he scored his first try after 73 games for the club.

He was the only points scorer with a try as Barrow defeated Streatham and Mitchum in December 1936 (3-0)

In all, Danny played in 301 games with 13 tries to his name.

He played in eight games for Cumberland, and though he never won an International Cap, he once played for the British Empire X111 that won in France.

TED TOOHEY:

TOOHEY was born in Wigan in 1926 where he played for Wigan before moving to Barrow for a fee of £1,000, in 1947 moving on to Leigh in 1956.

It was a shock when Wigan released him as he turned out to be one of the finest scrum halves of the 1950s.

He formed a brilliant half back combination with the master Willie Horne, who he played alongside for Great Britain and played in two 1950s finals, one against his former club (which Barrow lost 10-0) in 1951.

He was a 1955 final winner against Workington, and he played in the 1954 Lancashire Cup Final win over Oldham.

He played for Lancashire, England, and Great Britain and played in all three of the 1952 Test Series with Australia helping GB to win the Ashes captained by Horne.

In all he played in 344 games with 70 tries and three goals.

ROY FRANCIS:

FRANCIS was born in Cardiff and signed for Barrow from Wigan in 1939 before moving to Warrington in 1948 ending his days at Hull where he was a folk hero,and a rugby league legend.

The war years interfered with his early years with Barrow, and he guested for Dewsbury scoring 57 tries in 57 games.

In the war time he played for the Northern Command XIII against a Rugby league XIII.

He played for Wales against France and England.

In 1948 he gained a Great Britain cap against New Zealand and soon moved to Warrington then Hull.

At Hull he became a top coach taking them to two Wembley finals one with Barrow-born George Matthews.

In his time at Barrow, he played in 112 games with 71 tries and two goals.

A top winger in his playing days, Francis was coach of Leeds who won the famous 1968 watersplash final against Wakefield, famously remembered for Don Fox missing a late conversion attempt that would have won the cup

BILLY LITTLE:

Little was born in Great Clifton (Cumberland) in 1911 and signed in at Barrow from Workington Rugby Union Club in 1932.

A top class scrum-half, he was also well at home at loose forward.

Billy is well known for his 45-yard drop goal in the Challenge Cup semi-final defeat of Halifax in 1938.

It was in the dying moments taking Barrow to their first ever Wembley

final

Opponents Salford snatched a 7-4 victory in the final as the clock closed to eighty minutes .

He gained his international Cap for England in 1933, and he played several times for Cumberland.

In 1936 he was a trialist for Great Britain for the trip Down Under, but wasn’t selected.

In 1938, he was a member of the Barrow team that beat Australia 12-8.

In all, he played in 426 games with 45 tries and 42 goals and was a folk hero, and died aged 93.

GEORGE GUMMER:

Gummer signed from Pontypridd in 1934 spending 10 seasons with the club.

He represented the Welsh schoolboys side and came close to winning a full Cap.

Gummer did gain two international Caps for Wales at rugby league, and in all played in 139 games scoring 54 tries.

FREDDIE BENNETT:

Bennett signed from Wigan Highfield in 1931 making his debut against Swinton in the first ever game to be played at the newly opened Craven Park.

He played for Lancashire and the Northern Rugby League select XIII

BOB AYRES:

Ayres signed in from Vickerstown ARLFC in 1933. He played in the 1937 Lancashire Cup Final and the 1938 Challenge Cup Final.

He played for Lancashire, British Empire XIII and England.

In all he played in 459 games scoring 31 tries and two goals.