Stats -

STATS WITH ST HELENS
Signed for Saints: 06/07/1990 Signed From: Castleford
Career: 1990 to 1992 Era: 1990s
Debut Match: 26/08/1990 Opponents: Trafford Borough
Last Match: 9/4/1993 Opponents: Wigan
Left Saints: 9/4/1993 Retired
Appearances: 86 Sub: 3
Tries: 8 Goals: 0 Drop Goals: 0 Total Points: 32

Biography off the Saints Heritage Society website - By Dave Dooley

Kevin Ward.

If you could identify and clone the characteristics of the ideal rugby league prop forward, the resultant manifestation would be very similar to Kevin Ward. This hard, rugged and skilful gem had tormented Saints on many occasions before moving to Knowsley Road for a most glorious Indian summer in the twilight of his career. Kevin could scatter any opposition as he drove the ball into the defensive line, then just before the tackle was complete he would either deliver a beautiful over-arm offload to a supporting player or spin and feed any colleague hanging behind the attack. In defence he was as solid as a rock, furthermore he was pacy with nimble feet for a player in his position. Kevin signed for the Saints in the summer of 1990 as Mike McClennan attempted to bring in some experience in the pack to complement the young talent on the Saints' books at the time. Kevin Ward fitted the bill perfectly as he had bags of experience and was still a current seasoned international prop forward. Moreover, he was still as fit as a fiddle at the ripe old age of 33!

Kevin could not have picked a gentler introduction to life at Knowsley Road as he stormed out on the 26th of August, 1990 to face Trafford Borough in the first round of the Lancashire Cup. Saints cantered home by 56 points to 24 and 'Fred' (nicknamed because of his ever so slight resemblance to Fred Flintstone) celebrated his debut with a blockbusting try. Kevin added a second in his first season with the Saints against Hull. Throughout the season the Saints rattled up the points unfortunately the side was defensively stretched in many games and 11 losses in the league left Cooper's men in sixth position. After a fabulous 19 points to 2 semi-final win over Widnes in the Challenge Cup semi-final when Kevin played a blinder and bullied the Widnes pack, Kevin's dream of a Wembley winner's medal was only eighty minutes away. Sadly, Saints fell at the final hurdle as Wigan held on to a handy half time lead to prevail by 13 points to 8. Many felt that Wigan were there for the taking on that day and this made the club even more determined to bring some silverware to Knowsley Road. A loser's medal was all on offer that day.

Kevin's thirst for winners' medals was soon fulfilled in the following campaign as the Saints had a blinder against Wigan in the Lancashire Cup semi-final. Kevin was the bedrock of the pack as the Saints six dominated the Wigan pack team as Saints magnificently overcame the old enemy. Ten days later Kevin led the pack as Saints ground out a 24 points to 14 win over Rochdale Hornets in the Lancashire Cup Final at Warrington. He scored three cracking tries that season against Trafford Borough, Widnes and his old team Castleford. His durability and fitness were there for all to see as 'Fred' played in 35 matches during the campaign. The Saints also settled down that season and finished a comfortable second position in the league but still somewhat adrift from Wigan at the top.

Saints and Kevin made a cracking start to the 1992/3 season wining their first ten games on the bounce and easing their way to the very last Lancashire Cup Final at Knowsley Road. In a bruising battle in front a packed house, the Saints and Kevin were edged out by the men from Wigan by 5 points to 4. Nevertheless, Saints and Wardy continued their great form up to Christmas. An injury during the Castleford match meant that Kevin missed one of the team's finest displays ever in the Boxing Day match against Wigan in 1992. The Saints whipped the boys from Wigan by a fabulous score-line of 41 points to 6. Everyone felt that the balance of power was finally shifting westwards over Billinge Lump after that game. Kevin returned to the side in mid- January but another injury against Wigan in the Challenge Cup loss on February 13th, 1993. put the big Yorkshireman out till the end of March. The derby clash against Wigan on the 9th of April was set up as a title decider. In a tense thriller the teams were locked together when disaster happened. Kevin burst through and was tackled in the midfield. Immediately the players and crowd knew 'Fred' had suffered a horrendous broken leg. The injury dampened the remainder of the match and the 8 points all drawn final score meant that at the end of the season Saints lost out to Wigan on points difference at the top of the table. Some consolation came however in the last match of the season as Shane Cooper captained the team to the 1993 Premiership Final win over Wigan by 10 points to 4. Kevin Ward witnessed the victory as a spectator on crutches. The seriousness and complex nature of the injury meant that this was the end of the playing career of one of the greatest ever British prop forwards.

In all Kevin made 89 appearances for the Saints, scoring 8 tries in the process. Kevin's rapport with the crowd was always first class and any Saints fan who had to pleasure to witness Kevin play would speak in reverential terms about this amiable giant of the game. In the year 2003 Kevin returned to Knowsley Road with copies of his autobiography aptly entitled "No pain, no gain" written in conjunction with Dave Sampson. It is a well written, fascinating insight into the life and times of Kevin Ward and a great read.

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Review Of Kevin Wards great Rugby League Book, "No Pain, No Gain"
Synopsis

In 1979, Kevin Ward made his rugby league debut for Castleford and embarked on a remarkable career, which earned him recognition as one of the all time great forwards in both Great Britain and Australia. In 1987 he joined Manly Sea Eagles in Australia for a summer season and again, he received recognition for his massive impact and added a Grand Final winner's medal. Joining St Helens in 1990, he was a huge hit with the fans until a horrendous broken leg ended his career in 1993. No Pain, No Gain is the biography of one the quiet men of rugby league who amassed numerous trophies, 15 Great Britain caps and immense plaudits from fans on both sides of the world.

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A review of Kevin's Book found whilst surfing the net

The Life of a Legend!!!, January 31, 2005

Reviewer: jackie greenall from Southampton, Hampshire United Kingdom

This is a fantastic book, describing the life and career of one of the most respected prop forwards in rugby league. 'Wardy' will always and forever be a legend in rugby league circles, especially in Castleford and St.Helens, and this book goes a long way towards showing why. From his work-horse performances on the pitch, to the day when his career was horrendously cut short-this is the story of a great guy who always gave it his all.

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Wardie was a legend, what a player and tough as nails!

On Ward, I don't think anyone was going to take away the title from us in 1987 but Wardies performance in the GF really sums up his footy career....clinical, tough, at times unstoppable and when he tackled you, you knew it big time!

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The finest player of my lifetime and a top, top bloke to boot.

Went to watch manly v Souths 3 yrs ago and the cabbie on the way home found out I was a cas fan and immediatley mentioned Kevin ward - we spent the whole journey back to the hotel discussing him!!

Top website mate!

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Ward should have won the Clive Churchill Medal in the 1987 grand final - he was far and away the best player on the pitch

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I remember being at the Cas home game that took place a few hours after Manly had won the Oz Grand Final in 1987. Before the match, the tannoy announcer gave out the result (8-2?) and the crowd burst into a good chant of "Wardy, Wardy". Even from 12,000 miles away, he could still get a crowd going.

I've only been watching RL 20 years but he remains the best player I have seen live. Whenever he got the ball, the hairs would stand up on the back of your neck. You knew there was going to be a collision and you knew who was going to hurt more at the end of that tackle, and it wasn't going to be Wardy.

A game I went to in the mid-80s saw Wardy on the bench (just 2 subs in those days). He was coming back from a long injury. Maybe time has been kind to the memory but I seem to remember the crowd being a bit bigger than normal because Wardy was on the comeback trail. There was a buzz in the crowd when he left the bench to warm up on the sidelines and you could almost feel a crackle of electricity amongst the crowd, such was the anticipation (feel free to give me stick for being slightly poetic). When he got his chance to get on the field, it was like a tank had entered the game. He was awesome that day, the opposition pack couldn't get near him. He turned the game and Cas won.

I was gutted when he left Cas for St Helens. He wasn't at Saints that long but they still remember him fondly there. And any Pom playing in Sydney has probably got to play twice as well as an Australian to get some praise and respect from rugby league folk down under.

His injury was very sad. I wish he'd been around at the start of summer rugby with the increased use of substitutes. If he'd been around and injury free, I'm sure he could have played for years and years with the increased number of substitutions in the modern game. Imagine bringing Wardy on for 10 mins before half time as an impact prop.

Legend is an over used word but it's one that described Kevin Ward perfectly

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I saw him many times - probably more than cas vegas, and I was at central Park when I think he broke his leg and that was that.

I love the legends of RL and although the thread is about the "Hardmen" I sat next to Roger Millward at the recent Leeds/cas game and he was alegend too.

lads who haven't the size that the big 'uns have are arguably very brave too?

As for today I think Stuart Fielden and Barry Mac have been awesome, Wardy would have had some tussles with them?

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Told to me by Martin Ketteridge who was not a soft lad either. The first game back at Castleford playing for Saints Wardy crashed over for a try and Ketteridge and Beefy England both thought they would slip Wardy one on for his troubles, Wardy stood up gave both of them the famous Wardy stance and glare saying to them " give up you silly cnuts before you get hurt" both players spent the rest of the game asking if he was all right after every time they tackled him.

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I used to deal with the construction dept at British Gas, where one of the engineers remembered working on a job with Kevin.

The company Kevin worked for had to manhandle fair-sized lumps rock from out of a fairly deep trench, where it had originally been incorporated as backfill medium, and then load it into a skip.

The other workers lifted and stacked the rock onto ground level before getting out of the trench for a second operation to load the skip. Kevin just chucked his lumps straight from the trench and into to the skip.

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Wardy was some player.

In 1988 he made "Slammin Sam" Backo look like a pussycat.

Wadell was no slouch either.

I used to hate him when he played against Fev, but he really was the business and for most of his career he had some proper scrummaging to do.

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My best memory of kevin ward is the half break he made in the 1986 CC final and gave that pass to tony marchant....marchant then went in to score a great try...brilliant.

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Wardy was never one to give out the biff, in all the years I watched him at Cas (& Saints & GB) I can't remember him fighting or thumping someone. He didn't have to, he had that reputation & aura about him.

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Underated by who??

The Aussies were $h1t scared of him and he is arguably the best prop forward Saints fans will ever see wearing the red vee.

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i remember seeing a bbc sport report on him, showing him working for Castleford council as a flagger and lifting traditional yorkstone paving slabs off the back of a lorry.

It takes real strength to lift these all day for example yorkstone or granite paving used on streets weighs between 2.5 and 2.7 tonnes per cubic metre.

Now thes flags are generally about 5 cm's thick and about a metre long and wide so 20 flags weigh 2.5 tonnes which means each flag weighs approximately 125kg in old terms 275lbs.

Wardy lifted them with his bare hands off the back of lorries all day then played a game of rugby.

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For me one of the greatest player ever to play in the RED VEE, he was awesome, only played for a few seasons untill his bad injury.......
Challange Cup semi final V Widnes @ central park 91, he was outstanding, handing off jonathan davies into the pitch.....

Legend

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he never got the recognition in the game he deserved ....he was arguably the best prop of his time ....

but in conversations how often does he come up??....hardly at all with the people I discuss rugby league with ....if you think he got the recognition he deserved fine ....to Me he never did .....by the saints fan yes...rugby league as a whole ...never!!!!

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I don t think he was underated,, he had plaudits at both ends of the hemisphere, he is one of only a hand full of British players to be genuine world class in my lifetime.

Ellery Hanley, Martin Offiah and Shaun Edwards to mention three.

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Kevin Ward holds the British RL record for most stud marks imprinted on people's heads as a result of running straight over them. FACT!

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As a Saints supporter I used to hate going to
Castleford, as we never won in the 80's due to mainly Kevin Ward and the
Beardmores - Classy Cas was exactly what Castleford were when the Big Man
got them going....when he signed for St.Helens he was supposedly 'over
the hill' at 33yrs old - he was a breath of fresh air and head and
shoulders above anything we had and probably even up to modern day standards
no-one lives upto Kevin. A lot of games he shouldn't have played in but
ended up taking the field at the last minute and playing a blinder. For
any modern day players who have dodgy temperaments, its worth watching
how Kevin Ward handled himself around the park - he got some stick but
never retaliated once. He would give them a glare and when they next
had the ball they would be fairly crippled in their next tackle....they
wouldn't try anything again !!!

He had an aura about him when he signed for Saints, he was a man who
all players looked up to - he had no airs or graces, just one of the
lads, but he would die for his fellow team-mate and set up the easiest of
tries on a plate....and god he was fit for such a big man, he could run
all day. I've no doubt he would have been an even bigger superstar in
the modern game with interchanges because rarely did he come off the
field - he was dangerous for the full 80 minutes every week !!!

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Been following Cas for 20 years now and one thing for certain Kev Ward is the best prop I've seen in a Cas jersey.

I remember the last season that he was at Wheldon road before he went to St Helens,we were stood in the stand facing the seating area and Kev drove the ball down to the Wheldon rd end,one of his legs was strapped yet he ran with such determination you would have thought he was playing his first international,(time clouds the memory but I'm sure )I can remember him going 35 yards,3 opposition players attempted to tackle him before he was brought down.The buzz from the crowd was electric.

When it was published I bought his biography,and it doesn't do him justice!.

The man was one of the last REAL prop forwards before the S/L era.

As a young lad,when my dad bought me my first replica jersey the guy in the shop said what number do you want on it?,I said what does Kevin Ward have on his!

Not too much detail in this mail but I've tried to paint a small picture of the impression 1 player can have on a young(-ish )RL fan

All the best Richard

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As kevin is my uncle it seems strange reading comments and storys about him on the net.

I t is good to know he is still very much talked about in the rugby world as i agree theres not been many if any like him since so i would like to thank all for there comments and storys

It makes me proud to be his nephew.

Kevin himself is is doing fine he is working as a foreman for a construction company and is in good health

I have'nt seen him for a while as i'm living in sydney for a year [and supporting manly of course]but i ve let him know about this website and all the good comments you ve all given so you never know u might see one from him soon.

Cheers,
Damian Ward

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I grew up in Cairns, Far North Queensland and Kevin Ward was my favourite player growing up. He was as hard as nails, fit, could pop a pass and never seemed to have a bad game. He was revered by Manly supporters and he received many paludits from the press in Australia as well as the ordinary fan.

I went to school with a bloke who was drinking with this Pommy bloke in a bar in Cairns the night that the Great Britain team played North Queensland at Parramatta Park. My mate said he was a great fella and bought him a beer, and my mate returned the gesture. Turns out it was Kevin Ward and my mate said he was very humble, polite and totally down to earth.

As much as I hated the Pre Super League Manly, Kevin Ward and Fatty were my heroes. He was an absolute legend.

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No one knew if kevin could fight or not.....they were too scared to find out

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I followed Cas home and away from the early 80's until I moved abroad.

It was a privilege to watch Cas in the Wardy era. The only time I saw him lose his cool was with Kelvin Skerrett (no slouch himself) against Bradford at Elland Road in a Yorkshire Cup game around 87/88.

A fiery 18 year old Skerrett (playing for Hunslet) gave Ward a few punches early on in a Yorks Cup game at Cas in 85 whilst Wardy was lying on the ground after being tackled. Wardy then proceeded to walk all over Skerret for the rest of the game every time he took the ball up.

Ward clearly never forgot what happened and repaid Skerret in kind some years later when a brawl broke out between Cas and Bradford.

Ward immediately went for Skerrett in the brawl and whacked him at least 3 or 4 times and we could see from the stand that Skerrett's face was a mess.

Other than this, Wardy never really got involved in the dirty stuff - he was too well respected, even by the big Aussie guys such as Blocker and Siro.

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If not for the great KEVIN WARD, Manly would not have
won the grand final, wardy was the best player thru out the whole
season....your a legend wardy and I will say that until the day I die.!!


Have a great life.!!

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I have been watching RL for 30 years, Ive never seen a prop forward like Kevin Ward. The most gentlemen rugby player to ever grace the paddock. A burst of speed like no other man his size. Also knowing that if anyone could offload the ball with 4 men on him, it was Kevin. Just a total power house. Castleford would not have been the team it was in the 80s, if it was'nt for Kevin.

I remember the only foul play I ever saw from Kevin, was watching Cas play at Leeds in the 80s and Andy Dannet was putting in sly punches at Kevin all the first half. Eventually Kevin snapped in the second half and landed one on Dannets chin and it was frightening. Ive never seen a man fall to the ground so fast in my life.

One of the best moments in my life was watching Cas play at Wembley in 86, what a day. I remember watching the sides coming on to the pitch, Kevin looked so tuned in to the task ahead. He was absolutely brilliant that day along with the Beardmore twins & Tony Marchant.

Kevin was and still is one of the most honest and sincere people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. I wish him and his family all the best for the future.

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