Roy Francis was the first Black British professional coach in any sport and can lay claim to being one of the greatest coaches produced by Wales in any sport. His coaching career came on the back of a highly successful career as a player in Rugby League, during which time he scored 229 tries in his 356 career games.
Born in Cardiff, but raised in Brynmawr, he played on the wing for his local club before heading ‘North’ to Wigan in 1936 while still a teenager. He scored nine tries in 12 games for Wigan over a two year period before moving on to Barrow in 1939. With the outbreak of WW2, Francis became a Sergeant in the British Army and played rugby union for the Army.
He also made guest appearances for Dewsbury throughout the war and featured in three successive Championship finals Eddie Waring’s side beat Bradford and Halifax, but then lost to Wigan in 1944. He returned to Barrow after the war and won international honours for both Great Britain and Wales.
He won five caps for Wales and scored a vital try in a famous 13-10 win over England at Salford in the 1946 European Championship. He marked his GB debut against New Zealand with two tries in a 25-9 triumph at Bradford in 1947, becoming the first Black player to play for GB.
It was the colour of his skin that forced him to be controversially overlooked for the 1946 Great Britain Ashes tour to Australia. He was excluded for political reasons as the organisers feared that it may cause problems as Australia had in place at that time an infamous bar on non-white people.
He joined Warrington for £800 in July, 1948 and featured in their defeat by Huddersfield in the 1949 Championship Final at Maine Road, Manchester. He then moved to Hull in November, 1949 for a fee of £1,250. He became the player-coach at Hull and made his final appearance as a player on Boxing Day, 1955, before totally immersing himself in coaching.
Under his expert guidance Hull won the Championship in 1956 and 1958 and also reached the Challenge Cup final at Wembley in 1959 and 1960. He left Hull in 1963 to join Leeds and turned the ‘Loiners’ into a real powerhouse. They topped the Rugby league table in 1967 and 1968, won the Yorkshire League in 1966 and 1968, reached the Yorkshire Cup final in 1965 and famously won the 1968 ‘watersplash’ Challenge Cup final at Wembley in 1968.
He revolutionised the way the game was played with his expansive style and was one of the first coaches in any sport to introduce video analysis and many other innovations that are now standard at all professional sports clubs.
After his Challenge Cup victory, Francis left England to take over Australian side North Sydney, He transformed the side from an easy-beat team into a strong, mid-table outfit over his two seasons in charge.
His influence during his spell in Sydney sparked a coaching revolution which was to revitalise the Aussie game and make their national team all-but unbeatable over the next three decades. He was widely regarded as coach well ahead of his time.
He left Australia in 1971, once again due to a colour issue, and returned to Hull to become their team manager from 1971 to 1973. He later won a Premiership title back at Leeds during the 1974–75 season, before finishing his extraordinary coaching career with Bradford Northern from 1975.
Roy Francis (Rugby League player & coach) Born in Cardiff on 20 January, 1919; Died in Leeds in April, 1989
