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IF ANYONE can be said to epitomise the great Workington
Town rugby league team of the 1950s, it is Billy
Ivison.
Hailed as one of the best loose forwards ever to
play the game, his legendary status was cemented
in 1952 when he inspired Town to their only Challenge
Cup triumph.
Born at Hensingham, Whitehaven, in 1921, but raised
in Seaton, Ivison's first love was football but
the lack of a team in Seaton led him to rugby league.
He served in the Royal Artillery during World War
Two and during the conflict achieved his dream of
playing professional soccer, appearing three times
as a centre forward for Gillingham.
However, on leaving the army in 1945, he rejected
the chance to play soccer full time for Workington
Reds and opted to sign for newly-formed Workington
Town rugby league club instead. He had already gained
RL honours for England youth.
His 10 year peak coincided with the greatest period
in Town's history, from the late forties to the
late fifties and which included the Challenge Cup
victory against Featherstone Rovers.
Town - led by Gus
Risman - were in control from then
on, the game ended 18-10 in their favour and they
brought the cup back to West Cumbria.
Ivison - who stood 5ft 9ins and weighed 13st 7lb
- was named man of the match and awarded the coveted
Lance Todd Trophy - the only West Cumbrian ever
to achieve the honour.
He was captain of the side that returned to Wembley
in 1955 but lost 21-12 to county neighbours Barrow.
The final was the first ever televised by the BBC,
a fact that can only have added to his growing reputation.
It is said Ivison was a magician with the ball in
his hands and tales of his inspirational play are
part of 1950s rugby league folklore.
Indeed, a Wigan and New Zealand player of the time
called Ivison the greatest player ever after seeing
him singlehandedly destroy his team at Central Park
in 1951. That win was the final league game of the
season and deprived Wigan of top spot.
Town had to return to Central Park for a championship
play-off a week later and all the talk in Wigan
was how to stop Ivison.
And stop him they did - they broke his jaw and he
went off at half-time. Town, though, still won the
match with twelve men and went on defeat Warrington
in the championship final at Maine Road.
Ivison won four full caps for England, one for Great
Britain and was selected for a British Empire XIII.
However, he wasn’t selected for the 1950 or 1954
Great Britain tours of Australasia, a source of
much disappointment to him and controversy in the
wider game.
He also gained representative honours for Cumberland
and scored the county's only try in the 5-4 defeat
of Australia at the Recreation Ground, Whitehaven,
in 1949.
His greatest strength was his exceptional fitness,
supplemented by his day job shifting barrels at
Workington brewery.
He hung up his boots in 1961 after 385 appearances,
a figure topped by only two other players in Town's
history. He scored 63 tries and kicked eight goals.
A spell as coach at the club followed before he
finally retired from the game in 1971.
His legend, though, lives on through the Billy Ivison
Trophy, awarded to the winners of every Workington
Town v Featherstone Rovers match.
He married Marjorie at St John's Church, Workington,
on February 10, 1940 and they made their home in
the town's Gray Street. They had three children,
Brian, Billy and Barbara. Mrs Ivison died in late
1999, a few months short of their diamond wedding
anniversary.
Ivison suffered a stroke in 1983 and subsequently
retired from his job at the brewery.
He died in March 2000, aged 79.
JOURNALIST JIM BROUGH: "What a
man for a big occasion is Ivison. What an inspiration
in those critical 10 minutes before half-time at
Wembley when the Rovers threw everything they could
into wave after wave of bulldozer assaults on the
Town line. "It was Ivison again who, when the scores
were level and Town's stock had dropped to zero,
started raids on his own 25 which provided Mudge's
try and gave Town a lead which they never lost."
Four minutes after half-time, with the scores level
at 7-7, Ivison was the architect of the try that
turned the match in Town's favour - Aussie Johnny
Mudge going over.
BILLY ON BILLY:
"Rugby meant everything in my life. I made no money
out of rugby league but made many friends out of
it and friends are worth more than money."
ANDY KEY,
member of Workington side in 50s:
"He was a one-off, a great talent. He could dummy
to throw a pass and you would think you had it.
I have seen him beat teams on his own, particularly
down at Hull where he was given a standing ovation
by their fans. "Billy was exceptionally fit, helped
by his humping barrels about in the brewery and
he looked a picture of strength when he was preparing
for a game. "But although he was undoubtedly a star,
he was a very humble man, always ready to help any
youngsters coming into the side."
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