Frank Kitchen ( 1931 – December 1992) 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 1950s as a . He played at club level for

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 ...

, and 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 ...

, where he was part of the 1954 Rugby League World Cup winning team.

Background

Frank Kitchen's birth was registered in

Prescot Prescot is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. It lies about to the east of Liverpool city centre. At the 2001 Census, the civil parish population was 11,184 (5,265 males, 5,919 femal ...

district,

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 ...

, England. During his later years, Kitchen was an accomplished

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

player, and competed regularly throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Kitchen died in December 1992, with his funeral taking place in St Nicholas Church, St Helens.

Rugby league career

Club career

Kitchen played in

's 22–5 victory over St Helens in the

1952–53 Lancashire Cup The 1952–53 Lancashire Cup was the fortieth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup competition was held. Leigh won the trophy by beating St. Helens by the score of 22–5. The match was played at Station Road, (historically in the county of ...

Final during the 1952–53 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 29 November 1952. After returning from the 1954 World Cup, Kitchen only made sporadic appearances for Leigh, as the injury he suffered during the tournament was revealed to be more serious than it was first thought, requiring a cartilage operation. However, he was unable to fully recover from the injury and was eventually forced to retire.

Representative career

Kitchen won two

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 Leigh in the 1954 Rugby League World Cup. He played and scored a try in Great Britain's 28–13 victory over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the first group match at

Stade de Gerland The Stade de Gerland (known for sponsorship reasons as Matmut Stadium de Gerland and otherwise known as Municipal de Gerland or Stade Gerland ) is a stadium in the city of Lyon, France, which serves as home to Top 14 rugby club Lyon OU. It has a ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

on Sunday 31 October 1954, and scored two tries in Great Britain's 26–6 victory over

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in the third group match at

Parc Lescure Stade Chaban-Delmas is a sporting stadium located in the city of Bordeaux, France. It was the home ground of FC Girondins de Bordeaux. Since 2011, it has also hosted matches of Top 14 rugby team Union Bordeaux Bègles. Until 2001, the stadium's ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

on Thursday 11 November 1954. Due to a leg injury which occurred in the New Zealand game, Kitchen did not take part in Great Britain's 16–12 victory over

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the 1954 Rugby League World Cup Final.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitchen, Frank 1930s births 1992 deaths English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players Lancashire rugby league team players Leigh Leopards players Rugby league players from Prescot Rugby league wingers 20th-century English sportsmen