Cliff Watson
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Clifford Watson | |
| Date of birth | April 26, 1940 | |
| Place of birth | London, England | |
| Height | 5 ft 11.5 in (182 cm) | |
| Nickname | Cliff | |
| Position | Prop | |
| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (points) |
| 1960 - 1971 1971 - 1973 |
St Helens Cronulla Sharks |
373 (171) 39 (27) |
| Representative teams** | ||
| 1963 - 1970 | Great Britain | 30 |
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* Professional club appearances and points |
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Cliff Watson (born April 26, 1940 in London, England) was a rugby league player for the St. Helens rugby football club in the English Rugby League Championship and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia. His position of choice while playing was at prop-forward.
Watson originally played amateur rugby union in England for Dudley Kingswinford in the West Midlands competition before answering a St. Helens club advertisement for "top class Rugby Union forwards". A trial was arranged and in 1960 he was signed to the club for £750 initially and then a further £750 after he had completed six first grade games for the club. However his career first started to gain momentum after the 1961 Challenge Cup final against Wigan; in front of 95,000 fans Watson's defence was instrumental in helping his club gain a 12-6 victory over their rivals and helped keep Cliff a permanent fixture in the team line-up for the next ten years.
After playing out eleven seasons for St. Helens, Watson moved to Australia and signed on to the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks with fellow Great Britain and St. Helens team mate Tommy Bishop. Watson was more often than not instrumental for the Sharks in his three seasons at the club in leading a young and inexperienced pack of forwards always by example. The highlight of his brief tenure at Cronulla became helping to lead the young side to their maiden grand-final in 1973.
Watson also went on to represent Great Britain on thirty occasions becoming known for his physical, tough and all-round fearless style of play. He played for the British between 1963 and 1970 often striking fear into many of his opponents before retiring from first grade and international rugby league altogether after the 1973 season.
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[edit] Childhood and early career
Clifford Watson was born into a working class family in central London on the 26th April 1940; he grew up playing both codes of rugby but slowly began to steer himself toward the amateur game of the day in rugby union. At the early age of seventeen Watson trialled for Dudley Kingswinford rugby union football club where he was quickly signed and placed into the first team at second-row, quickly displaying his natural ability by cementing a regular place in the squad at such a young age.
His career continued to grow in stature when within a year of signing for Dudley Kingswinford, Watson was selected for his first representative role with the Worcestershire and Herefordshire Combined Counties side and playing on several occasions in a new role of prop-forward.
At the end of the 1959 season Watson decided on a switch of codes after wanting to forge a career in rugby league. After viewing an advertisement listed in the Sporting Chronicle by St. Helens offering trials for 'top class Rugby Union forwards', Watson replied offering his services to the club and outlining his statistics and credentials he had accomplished in rugby union. St. Helens quickly replied and a trial was organised for August 2 after which Watson was signed to a six game contract worth fifteen hundred pounds.
[edit] St. Helens
He made his debut for the Lancashire club on August 15, 1960 playing at prop-forward in what turned out to be a loss to local rivals Liverpool City at home. However he quickly adjusted to the new game, slowly establishing himself and garnering a reputation as a tough, resilient and hard working player amongst fellow professionals and spectators alike something which never did never change throughout his career.
Watson played out the six matches as per terms on his original contract and quickly re-signed for the club establishing himself further with each passing game played. After a mere eleven competitive matches for his new club Watson shot to fame in the 1961 Challenge Cup Final against Wigan at Wembley with his quick thinking and often vital defence; although it took Watson a further seven matches to garner his maiden first grade point against Barrow on September 23, 1961.
After the Challenge Cup final Watson became a regular first team member of the Saints side of the 1960's. Watson tasted further success in 1961 with a Charity Cup victory in 1961 and a Lancashire Cup final victory over Swinton.
His career continued to flourish for St. Helens during the rest of the 1960's being first selected for Great Britain in 1963 and winning a further three consecutive Lancashire Cup finals in 1962, 1964 and 1967; the Western division Championship in 1963; the Gallie Cup in 1964, 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970; the Championship trophy in 1966 and a further Challenge Cup in 1966.
Watson played his 373rd and last match for St. Helens in England on May 7, 1971 against Leeds before being enticed to sign with newly formed Australian club the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks by ex-team mate and present Sharks player/coach Tommy Bishop.
[edit] Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
After making his way to the New South Wales Rugby League competition with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, the now international veteran immediately assumed the role of becoming the leader of a young and inexperienced forward pack.
Slowly but surely his lead by example attitude and influence over his team mates around him rubbed off onto them and after success had passed the Sharks by for the 1971 and 1972 seasons, copious amounts of hard work paid off in 1973 with the team making their maiden Grand final appearance. Watson toiled long and hard throughout the length of the match but success eluded him at the Sharks.
At the beginning of the 1974 competition, Watson did not come to terms with the financially struggling club and decided to play in the lower grades seeing out the remaining of his career with Wollongong Souths in the Illawarra competition.
[edit] Great Britain
Cliff made his international debut against the touring Australian Kangaroo side in 1963 and immediately struck fear into the hearts of all the touring players with his rugged, aggressive and often unpredictable style of play. This was seen on more than one occasion such as when he introduced the Australian players and viewing public to the infamous Liverpool kiss in a Brisbane test match on Jimmy Morgans and currently still holding the dubious record of being the only British player to be ever sent off twice against Australia.
Watson featured in another three British tours in 1966, 1967 and 1970 along with his sole World Cup in 1970.
[edit] Career playing statistics
[edit] Point scoring summary
| Games | Tries | Goals | F/G | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 412 | 66 | - | - | 264 |
[edit] Matches played
| Team | Matches | Years |
|---|---|---|
| St. Helens | 373 | 1960 - 1971 |
| Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 39 | 1971 - 1973 |
| Great Britain | 30 | 1963 - 1970 |
[edit] Quotations
"There is only one way to beat the Australians, You have got to get in there and thump them. If you let them run at you, they'll annihilate you. It's always been the same; if you belt them, they don't like it." (Cliff Watson, on how to defeat the Australian rugby league side.)
"I never wore a mouthgard... hated them... too uncomfortable and, besides, you couldn't abuse the referee."
"I came here to play football, not run in a bloody Melbourne Cup." (Watson responding to Tommy Bishop's training methods.)
"It's all right... it's all right. They're not playing yet." (Watson's response to Tommy Bishop as to why he wasn't warming up before the 1973 Grand Final.)
"I've had 12 broken noses, two broken jaws, five broken arms, four rib cartilages, four broken ribs..." (Watson reminiscing about his old footballing injuries.)
"Can you wait while I whip up and tell the wife I won't be home for tea." (Watson after breaking his jaw and then completing the first half against Penrith in round 2, 1972 just before leaving the ground for the hospital.)
