Maurice Bamford (20 April 1936 – 23 May 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 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 ...

. He also went on to write several books on rugby league.

Early life

Bamford was born in

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 ...

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 attended Sacred Heart Roman Catholic School in Leeds. He was introduced to rugby league in 1945 when he played for his school immediately after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Playing career

He signed professional forms for Hull F.C. in 1953, but never played in the first team. He was transferred to

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

in 1957. His professional playing career was cut short due to injuries, eventually retiring in 1963.

Coaching career

Club level

After retiring as a player, Bamford moved into coaching. In 1972, he joined

as assistant coach to

Tommy Smales Thomas Smales (born 19 December 1938) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at club level for Wigan, Barrow and Featherstone Rovers as a , an ...

, and was part of the coaching staff when Dewsbury won the championship in the 1972–73 season. Bamford was appointed as head coach when Smales left the club in 1974, but was only in charge for a few months before being replaced by

Alan Hardisty Alan Hardisty (born 12 July 1941), also known by the nickname of "Chuck", is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and coached in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level ...

. After spending time at

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

as an assistant to Peter Fox, he joined Halifax in March 1978, who were bottom of the Second Division and hadn't won a game all season. He dramatically turned around the club's fortunes, missing out on promotion by one point in the 1978–79 season. In the following season, Halifax finished second in the league, winning promotion to the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

. The club also reached the Yorkshire Cup final, but were defeated 15–6 by

. Bamford left Halifax in May 1980 to join

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 ...

for the 1980–81 season, taking them to a 5th place finish in the Second Division. He then coached

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 ...

during the 1981–82 season, who had just returned to the First Division after being relegated two seasons ago. After the club finished in 11th, five points above the relegation places, Bamford was sacked and replaced by Alex Murphy. Bamford was then appointed head coach at Bramley. Between November 1983 and February 1985, he was coach at Leeds, and won the 1983–84 John Player Special Trophy 18–10 against

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 1985, Bamford was the first ever appointed full-time Development Officer for rugby league in the UK when he served for the Leeds City Council Leisure Services for two and a half years. He returned to Leeds for a second coaching spell between December 1986 and April 1988. He reached the final of the John Player Special Trophy again in the 1987–88 season, but were this time beaten finalists, losing 14–15 to St Helens. In his later years, he had additional spells at Dewsbury and Bramley, as well as coaching

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 ...

, Prescot Panthers and Lancashire Lynx.

Great Britain

His career also included a three-year stint as

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 ...

coach between 1984 and 1987 with test series against

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. His term as coach of the national side also included the formation of the Great Britain under-21 team. He was succeeded as Great Britain coach by Mal Reilly. During the 1986

Ashes series The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, i ...

between Great Britain and Australia on their

1986 Kangaroo tour The 1986 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France was the sixteenth Kangaroo tour in which the Australian national rugby league team (known as the Winfield Kangaroos due to sponsorship) plays a number of tour matches against British and Frenc ...

, Bamford came in for heavy criticism from a number of former Great Britain and England internationals for his selections of both the first and second test teams. After the Lions lost the first test 38-16 at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, many expected mass changes to the team for the second test. However, the only change came when centre

Ellery Hanley Cuthwyn Ellery Hanley (born 27 March 1961) is an English former rugby league player and coach. Over a nineteen-year professional career (1978–1997), he played for Bradford Northern, Wigan, Balmain, Western Suburbs and Leeds. He won 36 ca ...

was ruled out with injury and was replaced by St. Helens winger

Barry Ledger Barry Ledger (born 19 January 1962), also spelled as Barrie Ledger, is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and England, and at club level ...

. The Lions lost the test and the series as the Kangaroos ran riot, running in six tries to one in a 34-4 hiding at

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

Garry Schofield Garry Edward Schofield OBE (born 1 July 1965) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and is a member of the British Rugby League Hall of Fame. At the time of his retirement he was the most- ...

scored the only try for the home side which came when Michael O'Connor dropped a low pass from fullback

Garry Jack Garry Jack (born 14 March 1961) is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. He was a representative in the Australian national team and star player with the Balmain Tigers. Jack was a for the Tigers during the late 1980s, and ea ...

. At no other time in the game did the Lions look like scoring. Five changes were made to the team for the third test 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 ...

with the result being closer than many predicted, though the Australians completed a clean sweep defeating Great Britain 24-15. Many English fans believed that French referee Julien Rascagneres giving a penalty try to Australian winger

Dale Shearer Dale Shearer (born 25 July 1965), also known by the nickname of "Rowdy", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representativ ...

as well as allowing a contentious try to Kangaroos captain

Wally Lewis Walter James Lewis AM (born 1 December 1959) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He became a commentator for television coverage of the sp ...

midway through the second half ended any hope of the Lions snatching an unlikely victory.

Media work

After retiring from coaching, Bamford made regular appearances on radio and television, and wrote a column for the ''

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...

''. He also wrote a number of books on rugby league, including biographies of former players

Geoff Gunney Geoffrey Gunney (9 November 1933 – 7 June 2018), also known by the nickname of "Mr. Hunslet", was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and Coach (sport), coached in the 1970s. He played a ...

, Arthur Clues, Jeff Grayshon, Vince Karalius, Jim Mills and

Frank Myler Frank Myler (4 December 1938 – 27 March 2020) was an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and coached in the 1970s and 1980s. A Great Britain and England national representative or , h ...

. Bamford died on 23 May 2019, aged 83, after being ill from cancer for some time.

References

External links

Coach statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bamford, Maurice 1936 births 2019 deaths Bramley R.L.F.C. coaches Chorley Lynx coaches Dewsbury Rams coaches Dewsbury Rams players English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team coaches Halifax Panthers coaches Huddersfield Giants coaches Hull F.C. players Leeds Rhinos coaches Liverpool City coaches Rugby league players from Leeds Wigan Warriors coaches Workington Town coaches 20th-century English sportsmen