Valentine "Val" Cumberbatch (14 February 1911 – 23 January 1973) 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 1930s and 1940s. He played at representative level for

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

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 ...

, and at club level for Barrow and

Liverpool Stanley Liverpool Stanley was a semi-professional rugby league club from Liverpool, England. It was renamed Liverpool City in 1951, but was otherwise unrelated to the Liverpool City (1906) (rugby league), original Liverpool club of the same name. The c ...

, as a . Cumberbatch was inducted in to the Barrow Hall of Fame in 2019.

Background

Val Cumberbatch's death was registered in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

, England.

Playing career

International honours

Val Cumberbatch 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 Barrow in 1938 against France.

Challenge Cup Final appearances

Val Cumberbatch played on the in Barrow's 4-7 defeat by

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

in the 1938 Challenge Cup Final during the 1937–38 season at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on Saturday 7 May 1938.

County Cup Final appearances

Val Cumberbatch played on the in Barrow's 4-8 defeat by

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

in the

1937 Lancashire Cup Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...

Final during the 1937–38 season 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 ...

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 ...

on Saturday 23 October 1937.

Testimonial match

Val Cumberbatch'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 ...

es at Barrow were shared with Bob Ayres, John Higgin, William Little and Dan McKeating, and took place against Swinton on Saturday 27 April 1946, and against

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 ...

on Saturday 27 January 1947.

Career records

Val Cumberbatch is seventh in Barrow's all time try scorers list with 134-tries. Three players jointly hold Barrow's "most tries in a game" record with six tries, they are; Val Cumberbatch against Batley on Saturday 21 November 1936, Jim Thornburrow against

Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is on the coast of the Solway Firth and lies at the northern end of the former Cumberland Co ...

on Saturday 19 February 1938, and

Steve Rowan Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen. Notable people A–D * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Abel (born 1970), New Zealand politician * Steve Adams (disambiguation), se ...

against Nottingham City on Sunday 15 November 1992.

Contemporaneous article extract

''"The local intermediate League produced Val Cumberbatch, now with Liverpool Stanley, having been transferred during the war. Still an entertaining player to watch. A Lancashire County winger. Signed by Barrow in 1932."''

Personal life

Val Cumberbatch was the brother of the rugby league footballer James Cumberbatch.

References

External links

Val Cumberbatch at cumberbatch.orgVal Cumberbatch (Barrow's First Wembley Cup Final & Barrow Testimonial Game for "Big Five") at cumberbatch.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumberbatch, Val 1911 births 1973 deaths Barrow Raiders players Black British sportsmen England national rugby league team players English people of Barbadian descent Sportspeople of Barbadian descent English people of Manx descent English rugby league players Lancashire rugby league team players Liverpool City (rugby league) players Place of birth missing Rugby league wingers 20th-century English sportsmen