Jack "Jackie" Fennell (6 May 1933 – 3 January 2019) 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 Yorkshire Schoolboys rugby league team, Yorkshire Schoolboys (versus Lancashire Schoolboys rugby league team, Lancashire Schoolboys on Saturday 24 April 1948), and at club level for Bagley's Recs (a

pressed glass Pressed glass (or pattern glass)
is a form of glass made by pressing molten glass into a Mol ...

factory in

Knottingley Knottingley is a town in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England on the River Aire and the old A1 road before it was bypassed as the A1(M). Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 13,503, increasing ...

) and

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

as a

goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

-kicking or .

Background

Jackie Fennell was born in

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district in West Yorkshire, England. It lies to the east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

, England. He died aged 85 and his funeral took place at Pontefract Crematorium, Wakefield Road, Pontefract on Monday 28 January 2019, followed by a reception at

RLFC.

Playing career

County Cup Final appearances

Jackie Fennell played in

' 15–14 victory over Hull F.C. in the

1959–60 Yorkshire Cup The 1959–60 Yorkshire Cup was the fifty-second occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition was held. For the first time in fourteen years a new name appeared on the Yorkshire Cup. Featherstone Rovers, who previously won the trophy in the s ...

Final during the 1959–60 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 Headingley ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on Saturday 31 October 1959, and played in the 0–10 defeat by Halifax in the

1963–64 Yorkshire Cup The 1963–64 Yorkshire Cup was the fifty-sixth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held. Halifax won the trophy by beating Featherstone Rovers by the score of 10-0 The match was played at Belle Vue, in the City of Wake ...

Final during the 1963–64 season at Belle Vue,

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

on Saturday 2 November 1963.

Club career

Jackie Fennell signed for Featherstone Rovers during December 1952, and made his début on Saturday 20 December 1952,Bailey, Ron (20 September 2001). ''Images of Sport - Featherstone Rovers Rugby League Football Club''. The History Press. he played in the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

semi-final three times, losing on each occasion; the 1957–58 Challenge Cup during the 1957–58 season,

1959–60 Challenge Cup The 1959–60 Challenge Cup was the 59th staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup. First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final The 1959–60 Challenge Cup tournament ended in a final between Wa ...

during the 1959–60 season, and the

1961–62 Challenge Cup The 1961–62 Challenge Cup was the 61st staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup. First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Wakefield Trinity beat Huddersfield 12-6 in the Challenge Cup Fina ...

during the 1961–62 season, he played his last match for Featherstone Rovers against Batley during April 1965.

Testimonial match

Jackie Fennell's benefit

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

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 ...

took place during the 1962–63 season, including the match against

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

Post Office Road Post Office Road (currently known as the Millennium Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is a rugby league ground in Featherstone, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of rugby league club Featherstone Rovers. The ground's cur ...

Featherstone Featherstone is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, two miles south-west of Pontefract. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 2011 ...

on Saturday 25 May 1963.

Honours

;Featherstone Rovers * Yorkshire Cup: 1959–60

Honoured at Featherstone Rovers

Jackie Fennell is a Featherstone Rovers Hall of Fame inductee.

Genealogical information

Jackie Fennell's marriage to Priscilla J. (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Bannister) was registered during second ¼ 1954 in

district. They had children; the future rugby league footballer; Dale Fennell.

References

External links

Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
->
Search for "Fennell" at rugbyleagueproject.orgWhy I would never have let my great friend take that final kickFeatherstone Rovers legends added to Hall of Fame
*(archived by web.archive.org
Search for "Jack Fennell" at britishnewspaperarchive.co.ukSearch for "Jackie Fennell" at britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fennell, Jack 1933 births 2019 deaths English rugby league players Featherstone Rovers players Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Pontefract Rugby league wingers 20th-century English sportsmen