William Frank Ashurst (12 April 1948 – 14 June 2022) was an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

ed in the 1980s. He played at representative level for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, and at club level for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

(two spells), the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue (Wakefield), Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier o ...

, and Runcorn Highfield, as a , or , and coached at club level for

, Runcorn Highfield and

Wigan St Patricks Wigan St. Patricks is an amateur rugby league football club based in the Scholes area of Wigan, Greater Manchester. The first team plays in the National Conference League Division One . In 1986, the club was one of ten founder members of the B ...

ARLFC (Under-16s).

Early life

Ashurst was born on 12 April 1948, the son of Frank Goulding and Mary Anne Ashurst. He grew up in

Ince-in-Makerfield Ince-in-Makerfield or Ince is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. The population of the Ince ward at the 2011 census was 13,486, but a southern part of Ince was also listed under the Abram ward (north o ...

, living with his mother and three elder sisters, and attended Rose Bridge Secondary Modern School. Ashurst was first introduced to

at the age of 10 when he watched the television broadcast of

's 13-9 victory over

Workington Town Workington Town is a semi-professional rugby league club based in Workington, West Cumbria, England. The club plays home games at Derwent Park and competes in the RFL League One, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, Briti ...

in the 1958 Challenge Cup Final during the 1957–58 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on Saturday 10 May 1958. During his school years, he represented the Wigan Schoolboys teams in both rugby and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and was offered a trial by

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

before deciding to focus on playing rugby league.

Playing career

Ashurst was signed by

from Rose Bridge in August 1968. Ashurst played at in

's 7-4 victory over St. Helens in the 1968 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final during the 1968–69 season at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

on Tuesday 17 December 1968, played at in the 6-11 defeat by

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staffor ...

in the 1969 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final during the 1969–70 season at

on Tuesday 16 December 1969, played , and was

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

winning the

Harry Sunderland Trophy The Harry Sunderland Trophy was awarded annually to the man of the match in the Super League Grand Final and its predecessors, the RFL First Division Final and the Premiership Final, between 1965 and 2023. Named after Harry Sunderland, who w ...

, in the 12-16 defeat by St. Helens in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

Final during the 1970–71 season at

Station Road, Swinton Station Road was a stadium in Pendlebury, near Manchester, England. It was the home of Swinton Rugby League Club between 1929 and 1992 and was widely recognised as one of the finest grounds in the Rugby League. Swinton moved to Station Road w ...

on Saturday 22 May 1971, played at in the 15-8 victory over

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

in the 1971 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1971–72 season at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road is a former football stadium in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. It was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For ...

, St. Helens, on Saturday 28 August 1971 and played at , and scored a try in the 13-16 defeat by

in the 1977 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1977–78 season at

Wilderspool Stadium Wilderspool Stadium was a rugby league stadium in Warrington, England. The ground was Warrington RLFC's old ground before moving to the Halliwell Jones Stadium. History In 1898, Warrington RLFC moved to the Wilderspool Stadium. A 10-year l ...

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

, on Saturday 29 October 1977.

Penrith Panthers

In 1973, Ashurst was signed by the

for a record fee of £15,000, (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £241,100 in 2013). While he played three seasons in the NSWRL, he became a popular figure with the new club and was notable for his prowess as a goal-kicker. This was partially due to his style of kicking: in an era where most Australian goal-kickers would approach the ball straight-on and use their toe to kick, Ashurst went "around the corner" and contacted the football with his instep, soccer-style. This produced both more power and a higher level of accuracy, and by the late 1980s most native Australian goal kickers (save for

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long ca ...

) switched over to this method. In 2006, Ashurst was named in the Penrith's "Team of Legends".

Wakefield Trinity

Ashurst returned to Wigan in 1977, but was sold to

for another record fee of £18,000 in March 1978, (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £136,200 in 2013). He played at in

's 3-12 defeat by

in the 1979 Challenge Cup Final during the 1978–79 season at

on Saturday 5 May 1979, in front of a crowd of a crowd of 94,218.Hoole, Les (2004). ''Wakefield Trinity RLFC – FIFTY GREAT GAMES''. Breedon Books. He retired from playing in 1982 due to a knee injury.

International honours

Bill Ashurst won

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

s for

while at Wigan in 1971 against Australia, and in 1972 against France (2 matches).

Coaching career

Ashurst coached

while still playing during the 1981–82 season. He then joined

as assistant coach to Alex Murphy. Ashurst also coached Runcorn Highfield between 1987 and 1989. Due to a players' strike, Ashurst came out of retirement to play in a match against former club Wigan in 1988. He was sent off during the game, and made no further appearances as a player.

Honours

Club

Wigan League Leaders Trophy (1): 1970–71 Lancashire League (1): 1969–70 Lancashire Cup (1):

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy The BBC2 Floodlit Trophy (also known as the BBC2 Television Trophy) was an annual knockout competition for British rugby league clubs. Organised by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the competition was open to all professional clubs with floodlig ...

(1):

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

Individual

(1): 1971

References

External links

Statistics at wigan.rlfans.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashurst, Bill 1948 births 2022 deaths English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players Lancashire rugby league team players Liverpool City coaches Liverpool City (rugby league) players Penrith Panthers players Penrith Panthers captains People from Ince-in-Makerfield Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Wigan Rugby league second-rows Wakefield Trinity coaches Wakefield Trinity players Wigan Warriors players 20th-century English sportsmen