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Coach: Alf Frodsham

A member of a famous rugby league family, Alf Frodsham had two brothers, Harry and Eric who also played for the club. A talented footballer who could play anywhere in the backline, he was selected for the 1928 Australasian Tour, together with three of his Knowsley Road team-mates, Alf Ellaby, Ben Halfpenny and Leslie Fairclough. Somewhat surprisingly, he joined rivals Recs half-way through the 1929-30 season. He re-joined the Saints later and also played for Liverpool Stanley, before his appointment as trainer-coach at Knowsley Road for the start of the 1947-48 campaign.

His brother Eric had established himself as the first choice in the campaign which ended encouragingly with a 6th place finish, although there was disappointment in the cup competitions. Star centre and Captain Jimmy Stott booted over 65 goals, with flying winger Sonny Doyle scoring 23 tries, with England international loose forward Len Aston a creative force at loose forward. New faces included three Welshmen who would all play their part in the club’s future success: hooker Reg Blakemore, winger Steve Llewellyn and second-rower George Parsons.

The 1948-49 season saw large crowds revelling in the post war revival of competitive sport, with over 28,000 at Knowsley Road for the league match against rivals Warrington. Before the campaign, Frodsham and his assistant, his former Saints’ team-mate Billy Mercer, had attended a coaching course at Headingley organised by RFL Secretary Bill Fallowfield. The team did not achieve such a high place in the league table as previously [11th place, winning 20 matches from 36] and there was disappointment with a Lancashire Cup first round defeat by Wigan and like wise by Bradford Northern in the Challenge Cup. Incidentally both were two-legged affairs. The team did achieve a superb 10-8 success against the Australians on 14th October in front of a bumper 20,175 crowd.

Yet progress had been made in terms of astute team-building, with flying winger Stan McCormick joining from Belle Vue Rangers and loose forward Alan Prescott from Halifax. Others included evasive stand-off Jimmy Honey and Australian winger Lenny Kenny from Leeds. Steve Llewellyn top scored with 23 tries, with the kicking shared by the Stott brothers, Jimmy and Tom.

Alf’s experience as a player certainly transferred itself into his coaching role and he played his part in the early post-war development of the St Helens club. He was well-liked and it was a surprise to many when he left Knowsley Road at the end of the campaign, before taking up a similar post with Rochdale Hornets for the start of the 1949-50 season.
Coach from : Aug 23rd 1947 to Apr 25th 1949
DateMatchPosOpponentsCompVenueFTFTOTGDG
1947-08-23 1
L
 Widnes L A 8 9 VIEW
1947-08-30 2
W
 Leigh LC1(1) A 15 0 VIEW
1947-09-04 3
W
 Leigh LC1(2) H 31 5 VIEW
1947-09-06 4
W
 Salford L A 12 5 VIEW
1947-09-13 5
W
 Oldham L H 16 2 VIEW
1947-09-20 6
W
 York L A 31 3 VIEW
1947-09-25 7
L
 New Zealand Tour H 5 11 VIEW
1947-09-29 8
L
 Wigan LC2 H 7 8 VIEW
1947-10-04 9
W
 Swinton L H 24 3 VIEW
1947-10-11 10
L
 Wakefield Trinity L A 7 10 VIEW
1947-10-18 11
W
 Workington Town L H 14 3 VIEW
1947-10-25 12
W
 Hull Kingston Rovers L H 14 9 VIEW
1947-11-08 13
L
 Belle Vue Rangers L H 0 9 VIEW
1947-11-15 14
W
 Liverpool Stanley L H 23 8 VIEW
1947-11-22 15
L
 Liverpool Stanley L A 7 10 VIEW
1947-11-29 16
W
 Salford L H 31 10 VIEW
1947-12-06 17
D
 Hunslet L H 13 13 VIEW
1947-12-13 18
W
 Halifax L A 6 2 VIEW
1947-12-20 19
L
 Hunslet L A 5 11 VIEW
1947-12-25 20
W
 Leigh L H 22 3 VIEW
1947-12-26 21
W
 Wigan L H 13 6 VIEW
1947-12-27 22
D
 Wakefield Trinity L H 5 5 VIEW
1948-01-01 23
L
 Leigh L A 3 8 VIEW
1948-01-03 24
W
 Swinton L A 6 3 VIEW
1948-01-10 25
L
 Warrington L H 2 8 VIEW
1948-01-17 26
L
 Hull Kingston Rovers L A 10 17 VIEW
1948-01-24 27
L
 Rochdale Hornets L H 8 9 VIEW
1948-01-31 28
L
 Workington Town L A 0 20 VIEW
1948-02-07 29
W
 Bustlingthorpe Vale CC1(1) H 48 0 VIEW
1948-02-14 30
W
 Bustlingthorpe Vale CC1(2) A 13 2 VIEW
1948-02-28 31
L
 Oldham CC2 A 0 5 VIEW
1948-03-06 32
L
 Warrington L A 3 21 VIEW
1948-03-13 33
W
 Bramley L H 13 7 VIEW
1948-03-20 34
W
 Oldham L A 13 3 VIEW
1948-03-26 35
L
 Wigan L A 11 22 VIEW
1948-03-27 36
W
 York L H 44 10 VIEW
1948-03-28 37
L
 Barrow L A 8 12 VIEW
1948-04-06 38
W
 Rochdale Hornets L A 15 10 VIEW
1948-04-08 39
L
 Widnes L H 8 9 VIEW
1948-04-10 40
W
 Barrow L H 21 5 VIEW
1948-04-17 41
W
 Halifax L H 20 7 VIEW
1948-04-22 42
W
 Belle Vue Rangers L A 21 2 VIEW
1948-04-24 43
W
 Bramley L A 19 11 VIEW
1948-05-15 --
W
 Roanne* Fr H 36 19 VIEW
1948-08-14 --
W
 Barrow* Fr Ward Cup A 38 2 VIEW
1948-08-21 44
W
 Widnes L H 6 2 VIEW
1948-08-23 45
L
 Workington Town L A 11 15 VIEW
1948-08-28 46
L
 Oldham L A 11 15 VIEW
1948-09-04 47
L
 Wigan LC1(1) H 9 24 VIEW
1948-09-08 48
L
 Wigan LC1(2) A 7 8 VIEW
1948-09-11 49
W
 Liverpool Stanley L A 17 0 VIEW
1948-09-18 50
W
 Workington Town L H 8 2 VIEW
1948-09-23 51
W
 Liverpool Stanley L H 41 0 VIEW
1948-09-25 52
W
 Dewsbury L A 14 7 VIEW
1948-10-02 53
W
 Hunslet L H 41 11 VIEW
1948-10-09 54
L
 Barrow L A 12 20 VIEW
1948-10-14 55
W
 Australia Tour H 10 8 VIEW
1948-10-16 56
L
 Warrington L H 4 12 VIEW
1948-10-23 57
L
 Keighley L A 10 12 VIEW
1948-10-30 58
W
 Halifax L H 8 5 VIEW
1948-11-06 59
W
 Salford L H 17 12 VIEW
1948-11-13 60
L
 Rochdale Hornets L A 3 10 VIEW
1948-11-20 61
W
 Dewsbury L H 27 7 VIEW
1948-11-27 62
W
 Oldham L H 28 2 VIEW
1948-12-04 63
L
 Warrington L A 5 15 VIEW
1948-12-11 64
W
 Whitehaven L A 13 0 VIEW
1948-12-18 65
W
 Whitehaven L H 61 0 VIEW
1948-12-25 66
D
 Leigh L A 5 5 VIEW
1949-01-01 67
W
 Leigh L H 12 0 VIEW
1949-01-08 68
W
 Rochdale Hornets L H 3 0 VIEW
1949-01-15 69
W
 Belle Vue Rangers L A 17 5 VIEW
1949-01-22 70
W
 Hunslet L A 11 5 VIEW
1949-01-29 71
W
 Huddersfield L H 20 2 VIEW
1949-02-05 72
L
 Widnes L A 2 6 VIEW
1949-02-12 73
W
 Bradford Northern CC1(1) A 4 3 VIEW
1949-02-19 74
L
 Bradford Northern CC1(2) H 0 5 VIEW
1949-02-26 75
L
 Swinton L H 8 11 VIEW
1949-03-12 76
W
 Belle Vue Rangers L H 18 0 VIEW
1949-03-19 77
L
 Salford L A 6 7 VIEW
1949-03-26 --
L
 Batley* Fr H 10 12 VIEW
1949-03-31 78
L
 Wigan L H 8 13 VIEW
1949-04-09 79
W
 Halifax L A 8 3 VIEW
1949-04-15 80
L
 Wigan L A 5 19 VIEW
1949-04-16 81
L
 Huddersfield L A 0 34 VIEW
1949-04-18 82
L
 Keighley L H 2 4 VIEW
1949-04-23 83
L
 Swinton L A 3 16 VIEW
1949-04-25 84
W
 Barrow L H 16 5 VIEW
*Unofficial Match. **Non Playing Sub.
WINS : 48 | LOSSES : 36 | DRAWS : 3




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