L. Roy Francis is a Welsh former rugby union and rugby league footballer and coach. He was the first black, British professional coach in any sport. After a playing career with Brynmawr RFC (RU), Great Britain, Wales, Wigan, Barrow, Dewsbury (Guest), Warrington and Hull, he became a coach with Hull, Leeds, North Sydney, and Bradford Northern. Renowned for his innovative coaching methods, he was regarded as a visionary. He led Hull to title success before going on to win the Challenge Cup with Leeds. He then broke further ground by moving on to coach in Australia with North Sydney before another brief stint at Leeds, and then Bradford Northern. Roy Francis was a Sergeant in the British Army during World War II.[1]
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Francis was also a highly accomplished player, scoring 229 tries in his 356 career games, chiefly as a winger. He came from Tiger Bay, Wales. He played for Brynmawr RFC rugby union club before joining Wigan as a seventeen-year-old [2] on 14 November 1936. He made his Wigan debut on 26 March 1937. He moved to Barrow in January 1939 but then served in the Army during the Second World War. He played rugby union in the Army and also made guest appearances for Dewsbury before returning to Barrow after the war. He joined Warrington for £800 in July 1948. He moved to Hull in November 1949 for a fee of £1,250.
He represented Great Britain but was controversially overlooked for one Ashes tour to Australia for political reasons, the organisers fearing the ructions that could be caused by travelling to a country with an infamous bar on non-white people.
Roy Francis played Centre for Northern Command XIII against a Rugby League XIII at Thrum Hall, Halifax on Saturday 21 March 1942.[1]
He played his last game on Boxing Day 1955 before switching to coaching, a field in which he was to make an even greater impact. His man-management, coaching methods and use of psychological techniques were considered years ahead of their time. He was the first coach to embrace players' families and offer them transport to games.
He left Hull for Leeds in 1963[3] and oversaw their victory in the 1968 'Watersplash' Challenge Cup final at Wembley. He moved to North Sydney in 1968 and stayed until 1970. From 1971 to 1973 Francis was Hull FC's team manager.[4] He won a Premiership title back at Leeds in 1974, and then coached Bradford Northern from 1975.
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