Nat Silcock was a Rugby League player, best known as Captain of Widnes and as a member of the England team.
Nat, who lost count of the number of appearances he made for Lancashire, was one of the few forwards to go on two tours down under while on the Naughton Park staff.
He toured in 1932 and 1936 and was later followed by 'Big' Jim Mills and Mick Adams who is the only forward to appear in more test matches. Nat, a mountain of a man who had tremendous power and pace, played 12 tests from 1932-37. Adams had 13 appearances but two of these were as a substitute, so perhaps Nat could claim some sort of record as the 'most' capped Widnes forward. In those days there were not the number of tests played in later years. France weren't playing much internationally in those days and many of the south seas islands didn't play at all.
Nat played two Test matches each against Australia and New Zealand in the 1932 tour, all three when the Kangaroos came to England a year later, all three in Australia in 1936 - when he was accompanied on tour by the great Tommy McCue - and two in 1937. He was on a losing side on only two occasions. But the 1936 tour probably resulted in the big man missing out on the most coveted medal of all. In the days of a championship playoff, Widnes lost to Hull whilst Silcock and McCue were on tour. "If we had been playing in the final I'm sure Widnes would have won the title for the first time", he said.
It was, however, against the Australians in 1929 that Nat pulled off a feat that was talked about for years. As the 1930 Wembley souvenir put it in his pen picture: "Combining weight with speed, Silcock has distinguished himself in the new style of forward play. He has some spectacular tries to his credit and the wonderful way in which he overtook the speedy Australian wing three quarter ( Finch ) will long be remembered."
Silcock played in the Second-row in that Wembley Challenge Cup final against St. Helens. It was the first time The Chemics had ever been in the final but they pulled off what is regarded in RL history as one of the greatest Wembley shocks with a 10-3 triumph. The Widnes team of local lads - only South African Van Rooyen was an outsider - beat a star-studded Saints side 10–3, all the points coming in the first half. It took Saints another 26 years before they finally won the challenge cup and at that time Nat's son also Nat Silcock took to the field in a saints shirt having been brought into their squad by Jim Sulivan from Wigan to add some power pace and experience to there pack.
Four years later Silcock had moved to Prop, but his second Wembley trip ended in disappointment as Widnes lost 11–5 to a Hunslet side who played with 12 men for half of the game because of a shoulder injury to Morrel, sustained as he scored a try. Nat had only three years to wait for another Wembley trip This time he went as captain and led Widnes to an 18–5 win against Keighley and put the icing on the cake by getting the fourth try.
Nat regarded that as possibly the greatest moment of his career; it was a career that started in 1922/23 and ended suddenly in the 1938/39 season.
"I woke up one morning before a Warrington match with pains in my chest. The doctor told me I had an internal problem and that my playing career was over". Unfortunately in later life he suffered badly from arthritis. Sadly he reflected: "The conditions we played in were terrible at times. You couldn't get a proper bath and often in cold water. There are times when I wished I had never played the game".
Widnes followers of the 1920s and 30s were glad he did - one of the greatest players of all time.
Nat Silcock is a Widnes Hall Of Fame Inductee.
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