Frank Pitchford (1934 – January 1990) 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 and 1960s. 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

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and at club level for

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

and

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 ...

as a . He was born in Leigh in 1934 and played as an amateur for Leigh St Joseph’s before signing for Oldham at the start of the 1952-53 season. He would play for the Oldham club for 10 years, appearing in over 300 games and scoring 105 tries. In 1962 he was transferred to Wigan where he played another season, including appearing in the

1963 Challenge Cup Final Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

alongside another ex-Oldham teammate –

Alan Davies Alan Roger Davies (; ; born 6 March 1966) is an English stand-up comedian, writer, actor and TV presenter. He is known for his portrayal of the title role in the BBC mystery drama series ''Jonathan Creek'' (1997–2016) and as the only permanen ...

Playing career

During his playing career at

the team would come second in League in the 1954-55 season, and then lose in the Championship Final 3-7 to Warrington with Pitchford scoring Oldham’s only try. The team would top the League table in both the 1956-57 season and the 1957-58 season, winning the Championship title in the Play-off Final of 1956-57, beating

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Hull play their home games at the MKM Stadium and compete in Super League, the t ...

Odsal Stadium Odsal Stadium (known as Bartercard Odsal Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a multi-purpose stadium, multipurpose stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium is currently the home of Bradford Bulls rugby league football club and ...

by 15 pts. to 14. Oldham would also win the Lancashire County Cup (see below) three times in 1955–56, 1956–57 and 1957–58, and be champions of the Lancashire League twice in 1956–57 and 1957–58.

Lancashire County Cup Final appearances

Pitchford played in four Lancashire County Cup Finals for

, firstly in their 2-12 loss to Barrow in the 1954 Cup Final 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 23 October 1954; their 10-3 victory over St. Helens in the

1956 Lancashire Cup Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

on Saturday 20 October 1956; their 13-8 victory over

in the 1957 Cup Final at

on Saturday 19 October 1957 in which he scored a try; and finally,

’s 12-2 victory over St. Helens in the 1958 Cup Final at

on Saturday 25 October 1958.

International honours

Frank Pitchford won a

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 ...

for

while at Oldham in 1955 against Other Nationalities, and won

s for

while at Oldham in 1958 against New Zealand, and in 1962 against France.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
RUGBY LEAGUE FINAL 1963Statistics at wigan.rlfans.com

Statistics at orl-heritagetrust.org.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitchford, Frank 1930s births 1990 deaths England national rugby league team players English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Place of birth missing Rugby league halfbacks Wigan Warriors players Lancashire rugby league team players 20th-century English sportsmen