Billy French

OVERALL STATISTICS

BIRTHAGESIGNED ONFROM
19-05-1916
N/A
07-09-1943
UGB ARLFC
DEBUTLAST MATCHLEFT
04-09-1943 v Keighley
Leigh
1946- when he Retired
CAREERAPPEARANCES (SUBS)
1943-1946
62 (0)
TRIESGOALSDGOALSPTS
8
2
0
28

Biography of Billy French



HERITAGE NO : 574
William French, known as Billy was born on 19 May 1916. Unfortunately his career was on hold due to the war years. A tough, durable scrum-half, Billy was a lad from the Lowe House area of St. Helens. He first joined Saints in 1942 playing his first game against Keighley. He was a Glass Bottle Sorter. Billy died in St Helens on the 11th Feb. 1988, aged 71. He was involved with the Saints Past Players Association.

Before joining Saints he represented Lancashire as an amateur and was an amateur international for England v France in 1938.

Billy was interviewed by the SHS in the late 1980s. Here are some of the highlights.

The War Years were certainly not easy for us at Saints. We turned out in some made from flour bags with self-raising on. It was difficult to raise a side, especially travelling away and some players had to be picked up on the way. Players could get leave if they applied for it. But we were a team of young lads and rarely won a game. I played amateur rugby for UGB. I played soccer for a spell and actually had atrial with Stoke. Anyhow, ex-Saint George Lewis was the coach of UGB and there were 13 teams in the league we played in. I worked at Burtonwood and played a bit of rugby union for a spell. I remember we entered a team for a medal competition and as a result of that Saints asked me to sign on for them. I got a phone call from Ronnie Preston. I remember we had Norman Thompson who broke his leg just as he was about to get his first England cap. But in the war years the side varied every week. In 1941 we only won one match. It was against Batley at home. We really did enjoy ourselves in those days and to win a game meant more than winning a cup would mean today. It was a relief from the drudgery of the war years.

I remember Albert Pimblett coming to train with us. He had a leg wound from the war and our trainer, Peter Lyons, got him fit. It was all jog, jog, jog! Jackie Bradbury was our coach after the war, who was a loose forward or stand-off. Joe Ball was a real character. He was a really sturdy player and could kick goals from his own half. He never tackled as such…he body checked more often thyan not…and he bounced Ken Gee a few times too, but he damaged himself doing it. He ended up at Barrow. Sonny Doyle was a flying winger, who lost a few fingers in an accident, but he could really fly…go like the clappers if anyone was chasing him and he was a beautiful tackler. There was Frank Tracey, Ernie Mills and Stan Powell. Jimmy Stott was a superb centre and a Park Roader, who was a PE Instructor in the Army. He ended up playing a few games for Dewsbury, who were managed by Eddie Waring. Their players were stationed at Catterick. Wigan always seemed to get players home on leave. On one occasion Wigan got their players ready by the Friday, but the next day Dewsbury could not get over because of the weather. They asked St Helens for a game because they might not have been able to get those players released again. Saints Secretary Bert Murray scoured the town for players and we ended up playing a friendly at Central Park.

Peter Lyons, the trainer, was a typical Sergeant Major, but ok with me if I did turn up to train. He was from Widnes and areal toff off the field! There were few variations when he conducted training. First there would be one lap round the field at walking pace to get your heart working; then three more laps jogging and we would finish with a sprint down the touchline side. There were a series of exercises next, such as neck rolls, leap frogging and side-stepping. We would go out on the road, usually over the Red Rocks and the session finished with a ball, especially with the backs. We had tick rugby at the end. We also went under the Main Stand for sprinting on the short track there. Our forwards weren’t exactly the best after the war and regularly took a hammering hence they were called the Easy Six. Old Jim Gornall was the trainer in 1940-41 and he got me really fit. We trained twice a week generally. Then there was Jim Carson, the old Recs player, who used to train athletes at Ruskin Drive.

Things brightened up for the Saints after the war and they fared a great deal better but they still had to make up their team on their journeys. For one game at Dewsbury, we arrived with an extra player. It was Jonty Pilkington, a forward and as Dewsbury were short themselves, he turned out for them and they won. He got playing money twice.

There were Directors like Harry Cook, Lionel Swift and the Yearsleys, who were all for the club and the players. It was 30 shillings for a week and 15 for a loss. We were so keen we would have played for nothing. Bradford Northern were one of the best teams after the war…a very good side. Best scrum-half was Tommy Bradshaw of Wigan and Tommy McCue was a great player too. We had a front-rower called Porky Davies who used to tell me he would sort out the opposition forwards for me! He could hold the pack control it, turn it and he was tremendously strong. He used to ask Wigan’s Ken Gee if he wanted it easy or rough. Gee would reply that he would usually want it easy!


SEASON STATISTICS

Season (Official Matches)TriesGoalsDGoalsMatches
1943~44 3 0 0 14
1944~45 3 2 0 15
1945~462 0 0 32
1946~470 0 0 1
TOTALS:8 2 0 62
Season (Other Matches)TriesGoalsDGoalsMatches
1943~44 0001
TOTALS:0001

ALL MATCHES

DateMatchPosOpponentsCompVenueFTFTOTGDG
4th Sep 1943 1
L
 7 Keighley WEL H 17 23 VIEW
11th Sep 1943 2
L
 7 Leeds WEL H 5 28 VIEW
18th Sep 1943 3
L
 7 Dewsbury WEL A 16 48 1 VIEW
16th Oct 1943 4
L
 7 Wigan YC1(1) H 9 14 VIEW
23rd Oct 1943 5
L
 7 Wigan YC1(2) A 10 20 VIEW
30th Oct 1943 6
L
 7 Oldham WEL A 8 10 1 VIEW
6th Nov 1943 7
L
 7 Batley WEL A 8 16 VIEW
13th Nov 1943 8
L
 7 Leeds WEL A 0 36 VIEW
27th Nov 1943 9
L
 6 Featherstone Rovers WEL A 0 15 VIEW
27th Dec 1943 10
L
 7 Wigan WEL H 2 7 VIEW
5th Feb 1944 --
L
 7 Wigan * Fr A 5 51 VIEW
12th Feb 1944 11
W
 7 Batley WEL H 13 8 1 VIEW
19th Feb 1944 12
L
 7 Halifax WEL H 9 16 VIEW
4th Mar 1944 13
L
 7 Huddersfield WEL H 6 19 VIEW
11th Mar 1944 14
L
 7 Dewsbury CC1(1) A 7 43 VIEW
2nd Sep 1944 15
D
 7 Huddersfield WEL H 5 5 VIEW
16th Sep 1944 16
L
 7 Castleford WEL A 11 26 1 VIEW
23rd Sep 1944 17
W
 7 Oldham WEL A 27 6 VIEW
30th Sep 1944 18
L
 7 Halifax WEL H 7 21 VIEW
7th Oct 1944 19
L
 7 Dewsbury WEL A 2 31 1 VIEW
18th Nov 1944 20
L
 7 Keighley WEL A 8 15 VIEW
25th Nov 1944 21
L
 7 Wakefield Trinity WEL H 6 14 VIEW
9th Dec 1944 22
W
 7 Dewsbury WEL H 12 0 VIEW
25th Dec 1944 23
L
 6 Wigan WEL A 5 20 VIEW
17th Feb 1945 24
L
 7 Barrow WEL H 8 24 1 VIEW
24th Feb 1945 25
L
 7 Leeds WEL A 14 20 1 VIEW
3rd Mar 1945 26
L
 7 Wakefield Trinity WEL A 7 36 VIEW
10th Mar 1945 27
L
 7 Oldham WEL H 10 21 1 VIEW
24th Mar 1945 28
L
 7 Bradford Northern CC1(2) A 13 34 VIEW
7th Apr 1945 29
L
 7 Bradford Northern WEL A 0 22 VIEW
25th Aug 1945 30
L
 7 Widnes L A 8 20 VIEW
1st Sep 1945 31
L
 7 Widnes L H 2 7 VIEW
8th Sep 1945 32
W
 7 Oldham L A 23 15 VIEW
15th Sep 1945 33
W
 7 Wakefield Trinity L H 15 3 VIEW
22nd Sep 1945 34
L
 7 Workington Town LC1(1) A 8 9 VIEW
6th Oct 1945 35
W
 6 Rochdale Hornets L A 11 4 VIEW
13th Oct 1945 36
W
 7 Rochdale Hornets L H 21 0 VIEW
17th Oct 1945 37
L
 7 Wigan LCSF A 5 18 VIEW
20th Oct 1945 38
W
 7 Hunslet L H 15 12 VIEW
27th Oct 1945 39
L
 7 Barrow L A 13 23 1 VIEW
10th Nov 1945 40
L
 7 Broughton Rangers L H 8 10 VIEW
17th Nov 1945 41
L
 7 Dewsbury L H 7 13 VIEW
1st Dec 1945 42
L
 7 Hunslet L A 5 38 VIEW
8th Dec 1945 43
W
 7 York L H 22 7 VIEW
22nd Dec 1945 44
L
 7 Workington Town L H 5 20 VIEW
25th Dec 1945 45
W
 7 Liverpool Stanley L A 26 3 VIEW
26th Dec 1945 46
L
 7 Wigan L H 3 38 VIEW
29th Dec 1945 47
L
 7 Workington Town L A 8 9 VIEW
1st Jan 1946 48
W
 7 Liverpool Stanley L H 16 8 VIEW
12th Jan 1946 49
L
 7 Salford L H 6 13 VIEW
26th Jan 1946 50
L
 7 Batley L A 0 15 VIEW
2nd Feb 1946 51
W
 7 Swinton L H 7 5 VIEW
9th Feb 1946 52
L
 7 Castleford CC1(1) A 4 10 VIEW
16th Feb 1946 53
W
 7 Castleford CC1(2) H 14 5 VIEW
23rd Feb 1946 54
L
 7 Warrington L H 10 17 VIEW
2nd Mar 1946 55
L
 7 Workington Town CC2 H 6 13 VIEW
9th Mar 1946 56
W
 7 Halifax L H 13 0 VIEW
23rd Mar 1946 57
L
 7 Halifax L A 11 21 VIEW
30th Mar 1946 58
L
 7 Barrow L H 22 30 1 VIEW
6th Apr 1946 59
L
 7 York L A 14 33 VIEW
10th Apr 1946 60
L
 7 Salford L A 5 6 VIEW
13th Apr 1946 61
L
 7 Oldham L H 9 14 VIEW
28th Sep 1946 62
L
 7 Leigh L H 7 11 VIEW
*Unofficial Match. **Non Playing Sub.
WINS : 14 | LOSSES : 48 | DRAWS : 1

GALLERY





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