TOMMY DAWES (October 11, 1938 – August 2025)
TOMMY DAWES assured himself of a place in Barrow Rugby League folklore in 1983-84.
For as coach of his hometown club, for whom he had made more than 300 appearances, mainly as a goal-kicking fullback, between February 1958 and September 1970, he led the way to Lancashire Cup glory, then promotion to the top-flight as champions of the Second Division.
It was the second time in as many seasons that Dawes had taken a team to the First Division, for his Whitehaven side had claimed the fourth available promotion spot, behind Fulham, Wakefield Trinity and Salford, in 1982-83.
After that achievement, he elected to drop back into Division Two, accepting what he called a “dream offer” from Barrow, who had been relegated, to succeed long-serving Frank Foster, who then took the vacant job at Whitehaven.
Dawes cut his coaching teeth with a string of local amateur sides and took charge of the Rugby League team at Lancaster University, before having a stint at the old professional club Carlisle from December 1988 to January 1990.
Under him Barrow won 32 of 34 matches to take the Second Division title by a bumper 14-point margin from Workington Town, with Hunslet and Halifax also promoted (to replace Fulham, Wakefield, Salford and Whitehaven.
Fullback Steve Tickle, winger Terry Moore, centre Andy Whittle, stand-off Ralph McConnell, scrum-half David Cairns, captain Alan Hodkinson and fellow prop Mark McJennett, hooker Les Wall, second rower Steve Herbert and loose-forward Steve Mossop were the mainstays.
After victories over Whitehaven, Salford and in the semi-finals, holders Warrington (19-18 at Wilderspool), Dawes’ charges claimed a fourth top-flight scalp in the Lancashire Cup through their 12-8 victory over Widnes in the final at Wigan’s Central Park.
McConnell scored his side’s sole try, centre Ian Ball contributed three goals and a field-goal and Tickle also landed a one-pointer as Barrow upset the odds, partly through shackling a Widnes side packed with internationals, with Hodkinson and Herbert leading the tackling stints.
The victory maybe went some way to making up for Dawes’ deep disappointment at missing Barrow’s 1966-67 Challenge Cup final appearance (they lost 17-12 to Featherstone Rovers at Wembley), due to a serious back injury sustained in the 8-2 first-round win at Whitehaven.
That was in his 290th appearance for his only professional side. After major surgery he was to manage only 14 more over the following four seasons, finishing with a career haul of 41 tries and 398 goals.
Dawes, who worked as a mechanical engineer in Barrow’s shipyards, had signed for the Craven Park club from local amateurs St Mary’s in January 1958 as the side who had reached the 1956-57 Challenge Cup final, losing 9-7 to Leeds, started to break up. He had a benefit season in 1967-68.
With Barrow failing to strengthen after promotion in 1984, many saw his sacking in the February of the following season, in which relegation was the outcome, as being very harsh.
As well as his later spell coaching Carlisle, he returned to local amateur scene before returning to Barrow in the mid-nineties for a spell in charge of the ‘A’ team.
Away from Rugby League, he worked as a mechanical engineer in the Barrow shipyard and he had many hobbies, including deep-sea fishing, while he also became a proficient golfer after his retirement.
Dawes, who was inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame in 2016, was a life-member and remained a popular regular at home matches.
Tickle told Barrow newspaper The Mail: “Tommy was a nice bloke and well respected. He did the business as a coach and was very meticulous and well organised in his training sessions.
“He let us play our own game and was very sensible with us. There was no ranting and raving.”
He is survived by his wife Jean and his children John, Angela, Jayne and Stephen.
His funeral will be held at St Mary’s Church, Duke Street, Barrow on Wednesday August 20th.