David Watkinson (born 1954) is an English former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, and at club level for Heworth,

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challenge ...

and

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...

as a , i.e. number 9.

Playing career

Hull Kingston Rovers

Born in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

, Watkinson began playing

at amateur club Heworth. He was signed by

in 1976, following a successful trial. He made his first team debut in a 25–9 win against

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

in January 1977. Watkinson played in Hull Kingston Rovers' 26–11 victory over St. Helens in the

1977 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrati ...

Final during the 1977-78 season at Craven Park, Hull on Tuesday 13 December 1977. Watkinson won his first league championship with the club in the 1978–79 season. Watkinson played in Hull Kingston Rovers' 10–5 victory over

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and wer ...

in the

1979–80 Challenge Cup The 1979–80 Challenge Cup, for sponsorship reasons known as the 1979–80 State Express Challenge Cup was the 79th staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup. The final was the first Hull Cup final derby, with a ...

Final during the 1979–80 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on Saturday 3 May 1980, in front of a crowd of 95,000. He played in the 9–18 defeat by

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form t ...

in the

1980–81 Challenge Cup The 1980–81 Challenge Cup was the 80th staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup. Known as the Three Fives Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, the final was contested by Widnes and Hull Kingston Rovers at Wembley ...

Final during the 1980–81 season at

on Saturday 2 May 1981, in front of a crowd of 92,496. Watkinson played in Hull Kingston Rovers' 4–12 defeat by

in the 1981–82 John Player Trophy Final during the 1981–82 season at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingl ...

Rugby Stadium,

on Saturday 23 January 1982. Watkinson was sent off playing for Hull Kingston Rovers against the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., Un ...

Australian Tourists in October 1982. In the

1983–84 Rugby Football League season The 1983–84 Rugby Football League season was the 89th ever season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams competed from August, 1983 until May, 1984 for the Slalom Lager Championship. The Second Division was increase ...

, Watkinson won his second league championship with the club, and played in the famous 8-6 victory over Queensland as they toured Papua New Guinea and England in October 1983, but missed out on the second half of the season due an injury sustained while playing for Great Britain. In the 1984–85 season, Watkinson won his third league championship with the club (this time as captain). He also played in Hull Kingston Rovers' 12–29 defeat by

in the

1984–85 Yorkshire Cup The 1984–85 Yorkshire Cup was the seventy-seventh occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held. This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, no new entrants and no "leavers" and so the total of entries remained ...

Final at

Boothferry Park Boothferry Park was a football stadium in Hull, England, which was home to Hull City A.F.C. from 1946 until 2002, when they moved to the KC Stadium. In later years, financial constraints forced Hull City to allow Kwik Save and Iceland supe ...

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from ...

, on Saturday 27 October 1984, and played and captained

in their 12–0 victory over

in the 1984–85 John Player Special Trophy Final at

on Saturday 26 January 1985. During the 1985-86 season, Watkinson played and captained Hull Kingston Rovers in the 22–18 victory over

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centr ...

in the

1985–86 Yorkshire Cup The 1985–86 Yorkshire Cup was the seventy-eighth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held. This season there were no junior/amateur clubs taking part, no "leavers", but one new entrant in the form of newcomers to the league ...

Final at

, on Sunday 27 October 1985, and played and was captain in the 14–15 defeat by

in the 1985-86 Challenge Cup Final at

, on Saturday 3 May 1986, in front of a crowd of 82,134. He also played and captained

in the 8–11 defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

in the 1985–86 John Player Special Trophy Final during the 1985–86 season at

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Premier League club Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the ...

on Saturday 11 January 1986. David Watkinson's

Testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

at Hull Kingston Rovers took place in 1988. He made his final appearance for Hull Kingston Rovers in March 1989 in a 2–26 defeat against Hull.

Later career

In September 1989, Watkinson joined

on a free transfer, where he finished his career.

Representative honours

Watkinson played twice for

. He debuted in September 1980 against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

, and also played against Lancashire in their 26–10 victory in the 1985

War Of The Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the throne of England, English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These w ...

fixture. Watkinson won one

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. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for

while at Hull Kingston Rovers in 1979, appearing as a substitute against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in the 1979 European Championship. Watkinson was selected by

for the 1979 Lions tour, and won his first cap against Australia in the second Ashes Test. In January 1984, he suffered a broken leg while playing for Great Britain against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, ruling him out of selection for the Lions tour later that year. He was capped 13 times for Great Britain between 1979 and 1986, scoring his only try for the team in a 50–4 win against France in March 1985.

Honours

* Rugby League Championship Winner - 1979, 1984, 1985 * Rugby League Challenge Cup Winner - 1980 * John Player Trophy Winner - 1985 * Premiership Trophy Winner - 1981 * BBC Floodlit Trophy Winner - 1977 * Yorkshire Cup Winner - 1985

References

External links

Maurice Bamford column
* (archived by web.archive.org
Hull Kingston Rovers ~ Captains
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watkinson, David 1954 births Living people Rugby league players from York England national rugby league team players English rugby league players Dewsbury Rams players Great Britain national rugby league team captains Great Britain national rugby league team players Hull Kingston Rovers captains Hull Kingston Rovers players Rugby league hookers Yorkshire rugby league team players