David Watkins

2025-12-04T11:20:31+00:00

I was playing rugby union every Saturday and so, as professional rugby league games were still mainly played on a Saturday, I didn’t get many opportunities to watch Bradford Northern, the club I had supported from being a child. I also didn’t get to see many other live rugby league games as floodlit rugby was also something of a rarity. However, times were changing and Bradford had experimented with a Sunday game as had Leigh, with both clubs reporting healthy increases in their match day attendance. Featherstone Rovers, who were the current Challenge Cup holders, were struggling to attract supporters to their home games despite the Cup Final victory. Half way through the season the average attendance at Post Office Road was just 2,935 and so I suppose when the opportunity arose Rovers had nothing to lose by playing a game on a Sunday afternoon. They had tried on two previous occasions, only to be thwarted by the weather and it was only because of the straw covering the pitch to protect against the frost plus the work of the ground staff and volunteers that the game on Sunday the 7th of January 1968 was able to take place.

Salford, the visitors to Post Office Road on that occasion, were an attractive proposition. They were pushing for a top four spot and had eight consecutive victories under their belt. As well as a successful run of victories they also had in their ranks David Watkins, the biggest signing of the season. Watkins had been signed in a blaze of publicity and I am sure he was expected to be outstanding as soon as he pulled on a Salford shirt. I am not certain how the top name rugby union signings were inducted into rugby league in those days. I imagine that they were told not to release the ball when they were tackled and how to get up and play the ball. The rest was probably left up to the individual player. If he was a back he was expected to fit in very quickly and easily. If he was a forward he would probably take longer to adapt as someone would also need to teach him how to pass, a skill that didn’t seem very important to rugby union forwards in the 1960s.

I had read about David Watkins struggling initially to adapt to rugby league. His first game at home to Oldham on the 20th of October 1967 was fairly successful as he kicked two goals and scored an eighty yard interception try. However, after this successful debut the general view in rugby league circles was that Watkins was struggling to get to grips with the sport. But I went along to Post Office Road on that Sunday with a fairly open mind, hoping to see flashes of the brilliance that I had seen from Watkins when he played rugby union for Wales. It was a very cold afternoon in Featherstone, but, because of the precautions the club had taken the pitch looked just about fit for a game of rugby league even though it was surrounded by piles of straw. There was a larger than usual crowd in attendance, but it was difficult to decide whether it was Sunday rugby, the recent run of good results by Salford or the presence of David Watkins that gave Rovers an impressive attendance of 4,479. In my case it was the presence of David Watkins that attracted me most.

The game wasn’t a great spectacle and there may have been reasons for that other than the state of the pitch. Featherstone had some very tough forwards, Jimmy Thompson, Vince Farrar and Les Tonks to name but three, and an uncompromising style, particularly at home. Also, as reported in the Pontefract and Castleford Express, Dave Kellett, at stand- off, had kept Watkins quiet when Rovers beat Salford 12 points to 11 at the Weaste earlier in the season. The Rovers supporters were also close to the pitch and very vocal, always creating an intimidating atmosphere for visiting teams. Were those factors preying on his mind as David Watkins looked forward to his Sunday afternoon trip into the depths of the West Riding, as it was in those days? After a few minutes of the game it appeared that he wasn’t really enjoying the occasion. When he received the ball Watkins either kicked it or ran laterally, looking as if he was trying desperately to avoid the clutches of the big Rovers forwards and perhaps Dave Kellett. It was a game of two halves, all the points were scored in the first half and as the playing surface deteriorated so did the standard of rugby. Watkins did, however, have the last laugh, as his dropped goal, after three unsuccessful attempts, ensured a Salford victory by 10 points to 9. Salford managed to defend their one point lead for the last forty minutes with neither side looking like they could score!

As I walked away from the ground, probably in common with most of the people who had been at the game, I wasn’t at all convinced that David Watkins was going to be able to make the same impact in league as he had in union. He didn’t seem to have a clear role in the Salford team and I am sure that if the game had been played today with the opportunity of multiple interchanges he would have been taken from the field early on. Fortunately for Salford and rugby league, Watkins was given time to adapt to the game. The club had obviously made a major investment in bringing him from rugby union. It was rumoured that the signing on fee was £15,000, a Salford club record at the time. The club persevered with him at stand off for three seasons until in 1970, with the arrival of Cliff Evans as Salford's coach he was switched to the centre. This change of position suited his game and ensured that David Watkins became a Salford legend. He made 407 appearances for the club scoring 147 tries and kicking 1,241 goals including the World Record 221 goals in season 1972/73. He also played a season for Swinton as well as gaining six Great Britain caps and sixteen Welsh caps.

The vast majority of the crowd at Featherstone on that cold Sunday afternoon in 1968 could not have imagined that the player they saw struggling to get to grips with his new sport would go on to achieve what he did in rugby league. In the game today would a player like Watkins be given the time he was given to adapt to the new code? There are obviously very few players these days that move to our game from rugby union and so it is difficult to compare the situations. However, I have little doubt that modern day clubs would demand a swift return on their investment and would not be prepared to give a new player the time that Salford gave to Watkins in the late 1960s.

The game of rugby league would have been poorer without David Watkins and I for one am grateful that I saw him play live on a number of occasions. I am sure Watkins would probably not recall his first visit to Post Office Road with particularly fond memories. However, that bitterly cold day at Featherstone, is probably, for me, the most memorable of all the games I saw him play. Not because I saw any of the exciting touches Watkins was capable of, but because even outstanding players can, on occasions, give a very ordinary performance and be judged because of it. The reality is that if a player has shown outstanding skills, he doesn’t suddenly lose them overnight. Perhaps what is required, in order for those skills to shine through, is the sort of patience shown by Salford, plus an astute coach like Cliff Evans who recognised that the best way to harness the skills David Watkins possessed in abundance was to play him in a different position.

David Watkins