Jackie Fennell, rugby league player

Jackie Fennell, who has died at 85, played in Featherstone Rovers’ 1959 Yorkshire Cup final victory against Hull and made 323 appearances for the club.

By The Newsroom

Published 26th Jan 2019, 09:18 BST

During his time at Rovers, between 1952 and 1965, he scored exactly 1,000 points and was only the second player, after Jim Denton, to achieve that milestone.

He also held the club record goal tally, at 455, until it was broken by his former teammates Terry Clawson and Don Fox.

The former club secretary, Ron Bailey, said he had seen Fennell agitated on the pitch but never lose his temper.

“He has been one of an outclassed team, but never despaired. It always seemed that a Featherstone jersey compelled him to give of his best.

“His greatest attribute was a virtue common to all outstanding ball players – his timing,” Mr Bailey said.

Born in Pontefract, Fennell had turned out for Yorkshire Schoolboys, against a team from Lancashire, as early as 1948. He made his debut for Rovers in December 1952 and went on to three Challenge Cup semi-finals.