Tributes to fine Barrow rugby league all-rounder

Last updated at 15:28, Tuesday, 24 June 2014

FORMER Barrow RL player Danny Leatherbarrow has died in a nursing home in Lancaster at the age of 82, writes Paddy McAteer.

Danny was a fine all-round utility player who played 64 times for Barrow in two spells between 1954-58 and 1961-62 before being transferred up the coast to Workington.

Although he played in the great Barrow team of the 1950s, who reached three Wembley cup finals and won the Challenge Cup in 1955, Danny never featured in any of those games beneath the Twin Towers.

However, he eventually got to play at Wembley in 1958 in the centre for Workington as they lost the Challenge Cup final 13-9 to Wigan.

Danny was regarded as a good all-round player but found it difficult to break into the Craven Park first team at a time when Barrow boasted an international back division of Jim Lewthwaite, Phil Jackson, Dennis Goodwin and Frank Castle, along with half-backs Willie Horne and Ted Toohey.

He first signed for Barrow after impressing as a triallist from Leigh amateur club St Kitts in 1952, but he had to wait two seasons before making his first-team debut against Bell Vue Rangers. Danny played in 19 first-team games for Barrow in the 1954/55 campaign, scoring four tries, but he failed to make the team that won the Lancashire Cup and the Challenge Cup in that season.

However, he was a member of the Barrow A-team who were crowned Lancashire Senior Competition champions in 1954/55.

He moved to Workington for a fee of £2,000 and made the team for that 1958 cup final against Wigan before returning to Barrow in 1960, scoring four tries in a 39-2 victory over Doncaster.

He then moved on to Blackpool where he played for four seasons before finally retiring in 1966.

A funeral service will take place at St Paul’s Church, Barrow, on Thursday at 11.30am, followed by cremation at Barrow Crematorium.

First published at 15:17, Tuesday, 24 June 2014

Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk

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Article source: http://www.express.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/483900/Weir-kicks-Scotland-to-victory

Tributes to fine Barrow rugby league all-rounder