In Memoriam: Doug Laughton

Doug Laughton began his playing career at Knowsley Road and went on to become one of the game’s all-time great players for club and country, and also found fame as a leading coach.

Born in Widnes, on 13^th May 1944, it was no surprise that two budding rugby league stars lived close by: Frank Myler and Vince Karalius. Doug idolised Vince in particular, who captained Saints at Wembley in 1961 and he wanted to model his game on the former ‘Wild Bull of the Pampas’.

Initially, he wanted to play for his hometown team, the Chemics, but things didn’t work out for the former Fisher Moore pupil. When Saints came in for him, the appeal of playing in a team with the likes of Alex Murphy and Dick Huddart proved irresistible and he signed in 1962 for a £500 fee, plus a further £500 when he had played 6 senior games.

After a grounding in the A team, he made his debut in the league match against Featherstone Rovers on 16^th November 1963, Saints drew 11-11 with their Yorkshire opponents, with a disappointing crowd of 4,454 at Knowsley Road.

Seen as the ideal replacement for the out-going Bill Major in the number 13 jersey, Doug soon showed the power, vision and ball-handling ability that was to make him a regular in the Saints’ line up, winning a Western Division Championship medal at the end of his first season. He enjoyed a superb season in 1964-65, when Saints went unbeaten from the start of the campaign until early November, 18 matches in all. Doug won a Lancashire Cup winner’s medal against Swinton, although the team was defeated by Halifax in the Championship final at the end of the campaign.

He also followed his idol, Vince Karalius into the Lancashire squad and played in both county matches, against Cumberland [with team-mates Peter Harvey and Keith Northey] and Yorkshire. Doug also represented Great Britain Under 24s in a 17-9 success against France in Toulouse with his fellow back-rower Mervyn Hicks.

Doug played part of the way through the famous Four Cups season in 1966 before a serious knee injury essentially brought his Saints’ career to a close, after 78 appearances and 14 tries. He eventually joined deadly rivals Wigan with protracted negotiations lasting well until the end of the 1966-67 season. He became captain of the Central Park club and his career blossomed in terms of international recognition, with Doug taking part in Great Britain’s Ashes success in Australia in 1970, when he was the fulcrum of a superb pack of forwards.

He went on to join Widnes for £6,000 in 1972 and won every club honour with the Chemics. A closed season stint with the Canterbury Bulldogs followed in 1974, when he declined to go on the Australian Tour with Great Britain, but he was back in 1979 as captain for the Lions Down Under. Saints’ fans will remember him on the losing side as skipper of Widnes in the Dad’s Army final of 1976, but he was still a fantastic footballer, earning the coveted man of Steel award in 1979.

Doug turned his hand to coaching and was equally successful, especially with Widnes, where he enjoyed three spells and was involved in 18 major finals, including a World Club Challenge success against Canberra Raiders in 1989-90. He coached Leeds in 4 finals, from 1991-1995 and also took the helm with Lancashire.

A popular figure in the game, with a great sense of humour and a penchant for spotting talent, reflected in his signings from the rugby union code. Doug is a man who did virtually everything in the game and more often than not did it very well indeed and with style. Been there, done that and certainly got the T shirt, you may say. Perhaps it is just a pity that his initial stay with St Helens was relatively brief!