DOUG LAUGHTON (May 13, 1944 – March 16, 2025)
IT took ten years – and a turkey dinner – to get Doug Laughton to his hometown club Widnes, but when finally there, he certainly made up for lost time.
A skilful, ball-playing and fierce-tackling backrower who was a Great Britain Ashes winner, World Cup finalist and tour captain, he also played for St Helens, Wigan and Canterbury-Bankstown.
But he is most associated with Widnes, with whom he finished his playing days and transitioned to a highly successful coaching career, which provided plenty of evidence of both his tactical nous and man-management skills.
Laughton, who has died aged 80, had three separate spells at the Widnes helm, and in the second, led his charges to a memorable 30-18 World Club Challenge win over Canberra Raiders at Old Trafford in 1989.
That was one of 19 major trophies earned as a Widnes player, player-coach (in 1978-79), and coach, including three league titles (1977-78, 1987-88 and 1988-89) and three Challenge Cups (1974-75, 1978-79 and 1980-81).
He played for Widnes in six other finals and coached them in five.
Laughton also had four seasons as coach of Leeds from 1991 to 1995, twice taking them to Challenge Cup final and in the last of them, finishing runners-up in the league to the dominant Wigan side of that era.
Having played junior rugby for the St Paul’s and Lowerhouse teams and idolised Great Britain backrower Vince Karalius, who was also from Widnes, he wanted to join the Chemics, but was offered superior terms by St Helens.
He signed for them in 1962, as Karalius was going from St Helens to Widnes, and after a grounding in the Knowsley Road ‘A’ team, he made his debut under Stan McCormick in the 11-11 home draw with Featherstone in November 1963.
He helped St Helens win that season’s Western Division Championship, with overall title winners Swinton seen off 10-7 in the final, and the following campaign figured in the 12-4 Lancashire Cup final victory over the same opposition.
St Helens also won the Lancashire League and League Leaders’ Trophy in 1964-65, and Laughton played in the 15-7 Championship Final defeat by Halifax.
He also made the Lancashire representative side (the first of eleven appearances) and featured for Great Britain Under-24s in a 17-9 win over France in Toulouse.
During the 1965-66 season, which St Helens finished by beating Halifax in the Championship Final, he sustained a serious knee injury in his 78th game for the club (14 tries).
After a lengthy spell out and protracted negotiations, Laughton joined Wigan in a £4,000 deal in 1967, going on to become skipper and play in 7-4 win over St Helens in the 1968-69 Floodlit Trophy final and 15-8 victory over Widnes in the 1971-72 Lancashire Cup final.
He also played in the Challenge Cup final defeat by Castleford in 1969-70, when Wigan won the Lancashire League, and the following season’s Championship Final loss to St Helens after the League Leaders’ Trophy had been claimed.
Full international recognition came in 1970, when Laughton toured with Great Britain, helping them win the Ashes through two victories in Sydney after a first Test loss in Brisbane.
That Johnny Whiteley-coached side remain the last to deny the Kangaroos an Ashes series success, but Laughton and Co were beaten 12-7 by Australia in that autumn’s World Cup final at Headingley (he played in all four of the team’s ties in the tournament).
He appeared 15 times for the Lions in all, captaining them under Eric Ashton, who had been his coach at Wigan, for the 1979 tour of Australia and New Zealand (when he was 35), and also had an outing for England,
After 185 games for Wigan (39 tries), Laughton finally linked up with Widnes towards the end of the 1972-73 season, when he was nearing his 29th birthday and his long-time inspiration Karalius was coach.
The story goes that his move was sparked by a deft interception – in a hotel restaurant.
After playing a match in Yorkshire, the Wigan party always stopped off for a meal as the same place, with the players having a mixed grill and the officials choosing off the menu.
On this occasion, the Chairman picked turkey and all the trimmings, but Laughton got his hands on the plate first, and had devoured most of it by the time the irked club supremo realised and told him: “You’re going on the transfer list.”
Back came the reply “It’s fine by me – if you don’t ask for more than £6,000”, which the Chairman, knowing the player had suffered further knee trouble, accepted.
It proved to be money very well spent by Widnes, because Laughton continued playing for a further six years, making 185 appearances (38 tries) and providing valuable talent and experience to the team while learning his coaching ropes as an assistant to Frank Myler, who took over from Karalius in 1975 and who Laughton succeeded three years later.
In 1974-75, having spent the English close-season in Australia with Canterbury, Laughton helped Widnes win both the Lancashire Cup (6-2 against Salford) and Challenge Cup (14-7 against Warrington), and while injury hindered him the following season, he did make the Challenge Cup final, won by St Helens.
After Widnes won the Lancashire Cup at Workington’s expense (16-11) in 1976-77, there was another Wembley defeat, this time by Leeds, while in 1977-78, Myler’s men won the title, the first in the club’s history.
Laughton then had his season as player-coach, and figured in three of his side’s four final triumphs of 1978-79 – 15-13 against Workington in the Lancashire Cup, 13-7 against St Helens in the Floodlit Trophy, 16-4 against Warrington in the John Player Trophy (which he missed) and 12-3 against Wakefield in the Challenge Cup.
To cap it all, he was named Man of Steel before heading off on the Great Britain tour.
Having hung up his boots, Laughton concentrated fully on coaching, proving adept not just at winning trophies, but also spotting and developing talent, whether from Rugby League or union.
Mick Burke, Andy Gregory and Joe Lydon were brought to the club in his first spell at the helm (up to March 1983) and Martin Offiah, Alan Tait and Jonathan Davies in his second (from January 1986 to May 1991).
In that first spell, Widnes won the Lancashire Cup (11-0 against Workington) and Premiership (19-5 against Bradford) in 1979-80, the Challenge Cup (18-9 against Hull KR) in 1980-81 and the Premiership (23-8 against Hull) in 1981-82. They had been beaten by Hull in a Challenge Cup final replay shortly before.
As well as the two titles and World Club Challenge in Laughton’s second coaching spell, Widnes won three successive Premierships, 38-14 against St Helens in 1987-88, 18-10 against Hull in 1988-89 and 28-6 against Bradford in 1989-90, and in 1990-91, the Lancashire Cup (24-18 against Salford).
His third spell in charge of Widnes was from August 1995 to May 1997, when the club’s star had faded amid financial strains.