Why Ken Davy’s love affair with Huddersfield Giants is everlasting

He will become an octogenarian in July yet talks with the same excited animation as an eight-year old on Christmas Eve.

Cynics would say Davy would need to have such a positive outlook; the West Yorkshire club over whom he has presided for 25 years have not won a league championship since 1962.

With that in mind, it would be so easy for their benevolent owner simply to walk away, especially in these times of Covid and the world in such a delicate financial state.

That will not happen, though; Davy described having to miss some games this season due to isolating as “heartbreaking”.

And, anyway, following the appointment of Ian Watson as Giants’ new head coach, he senses a gargantuan year ahead in 2021.

“I’ve been involved for 25 years now and had some significant successes,” Davy told The Yorkshire Post.

“However, we have not yet achieved the goals that all of us at Huddersfield Giants would like to achieve in particular, of course, winning of the major competitions.

“Ian Watson joining is a really exciting development this year and there is no doubt whatsoever that we are out to win; we don’t want to be also-rans, passengers.

“All of us here are determined to do everything possible to achieve success. Ian has an absolute winning mentality and he knows I share his goals and passion for the great game of rugby league.

“He wants to see Huddersfield Giants at the top of the pile.”

Davy grew up in Filey and left school with no qualifications.

However, he clearly had plenty of business acumen; working as a photographer on cruise ships, he set up a commercial photography business in Huddersfield before joining the life assurance firm Abbey Life.

Davy eventually founded his own independent financial advice company DBS in 1979 which – 22 years later – he would sell for £75m.

Having subsequently thrown so much of his personal wealth into the Giants, has he ever considered is it really worth it?

“I’m a great believer in a positive attitude and always moving forward,” Davy continued.

“Certainly earlier in the year there were some very, very difficult weeks and periods when it was not clear to me that there was a way ahead because Covid was exacting a dreadful toll on us as a club financially and emotionally.

“We had all kinds of issues within the game in respect of how we would manage financially and, yes, I think it’s fair to say at those times it was very difficult to see a way forward.

“There have also been times we’ve suffered some cruel defeats and not just in recent years.

“We lost a number of games in this last season by one point which is absolutely gut-wrenching but go back to years ago, too, to when we had the elation of being promoted to Super League and then the misery of being relegated.

“However, success is a journey not a destination. We have had two Challenge Cup finals, one ironically at Twickenham.

“We won the League Leaders’ Shield (in 2013) but unfortunately fell away in the play-offs and didn’t make the Grand Final.

“But I’m more excited now about the coming year than I was even under Nathan Brown and Nathan, prior to Ian, has probably been the best coach and man-manager that we have had.

“I’m confident that Ian is equal and more.”

The charismatic Australian Brown did certainly breathe life into the Giants during his reign from 2009 – when Giants reached Wembley – to 2012.

Davy is now hoping to see that bright era emulated with Watson – who led unfancied Salford Red Devils to Old Trafford and Wembley in the last two seasons – when Huddersfield reconvene in 2021.

His long-standing love affair with the Claret and Gold continues yet, ironically, he was never even interested in the sport when growing up.

“When I was 19, I was a photographer on cruise liners and I met Russ Pepperell in Sydney,” referring to the former England centre who captained Huddersfield to their last Challenge Cup success in 1953, before coaching the club and then taking over at Manly.

“At that stage, I wasn’t really from Huddersfield and knew nothing about rugby league.

“But he showed me his photographs of him winning the Cup and all of that and I developed a real friendship with Russ.

“So much so that I used to get to Sydney about every three months.

“He was having a bit of a tough time so I’d buy a whole load of steaks and go to his house in Manly and we’d have a barbecue. I’d do that regularly from early ‘61 through to 1963.

“When we were first promoted into Super League (in 1998), I actually flew him and his wife in from Australia and Pat Devery – also a survivor from the 1953 Cup final – and his wife in from the States. They had a wonderful time in Huddersfield.

“But also when I first met Jennifer, my beloved wife of 53 and a half years who sadly passed away three years ago, she was a big supporter of rugby league,

“Even then, we didn’t go down to the matches – which I regret now – as I wasn’t actively interested in sport.

“Jennifer used to go to every match but she stopped when we got married.

“However, I always used to follow the fortunes of the team in the local paper because I’m a great believer in supporting he whole town and Huddersfield has been my home now since 1963; I’ve always been a proud Yorkshireman but I am very proud of Huddersfield.

“I think it is a great town. It has some challenges but it also has a great future before it. And I see the same for Huddersfield Giants.”

Davy, who also took ownership of Huddersfield Town from 2003 until 2009, admitted it has been “very difficult” following the sudden loss of his wife.

“But I’m blessed with a wonderful and very close family including some wonderful grandchildren,” he added.

“Two, in particular, Bex and Barney are great supporters of the Giants and they now come to pretty much every match with me. I don’t think I would have been able to carry on had it not been for their support.”

Davy also re-entered the world of politics when – a year ago today – he stood for the Conservatives at the general election in the safe Labour seat of the West Yorkshire town.

Although he did not win, he managed to achieve his aim of cutting the incumbent MP Barry Sheerman’s majority from 12,000 to less than 5,000.

“My reason for standing last year – my first foray back in frontline politics – is I’m a passionate believer, and still am, in Brexit,” he explained.

Davy first stood for Parliament in 1970 and again in 1974 before stepping away from politics.

Eventually, Huddersfield Giants and their Claret and Gold would take centre stage.

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