Wales Rugby League pay tribute to former captain Bill Francis
He passed away this weekend at the age of 76
Last updated 18th Feb 2024
The Wales Rugby League has paid tribute to the former national captain, Bill Francis, who has passed away at the age of 76.
Bill was the 30th person to captain the squad - leading Wales six times, with the first being back in 1977 against France, when he deputised for Dai Watkins.
The Featherstone-born player was also the first ever heritage player to captain for Wales, a side he qualified to play for thanks to the grandparent rule.
In total, Bill won 19 caps for Wales, and included starring in the famous “Battle of Brisbane” in the 1975 World Championship.
He also played in three tour matches for Wales in 1975 before being appointed as an interim joint head coach of Wales, alongside John Mantle, in 1978 for one game, where they also played.
He capped four times for Great Britain - those were twice in 1967 against Australia, and then in the 1977 Rugby League World Cup against New Zealand and Australia.
He made appearances for Great Britain in five tour matches down under that year, and he also made eight appearances for Yorkshire.
Bill grew up in Normanton and was first spotted as a player during his televised Sunday afternoon inter-town youth matches in the early 1960s.
He then became a member of Featherstone Rovers U17s and played in the Castleford and District side.
Whilst playing for this side, he was discovered by Wigan scouts.
He signed for the club in March 1963 for £1,500, which was a record Wigan fee for a junior at the time.
Bill made 400 first-class appearances for Wigan, where he won Lancashire League, Lancashire Cup and BBC Floodlit Trophy winners medals, scoring 159 tries and kicking 43 goals in the process.
He went on to play for St Helens, where he made 73 appearances, scoring 22 tries, then Oldham, where he was player-coach in 1979-80 before finishing his career at Salford.