ALAN BRIERS (December 31, 1936 – January 2026)

ALAN BRIERS was a Wembley try-scorer when Widnes won the Challenge Cup in 1964, when Hull KR were beaten 13-5.

The centre was in his first of three full seasons with the Chemics, having been signed from St Helens, who recruited him from amateur side Blackbrook in 1958.

Briers, who completed National Service with the British Army of the Rhine in Germany, played 71 times in a variety of positions in the backs for Saints, scoring 17 tries and setting up a string of scores for star winger Tom Van Vollenhoven.

But he gradually became frustrated by a lack of regular first-team football at Knowsley Road, with the last of his appearances coming early in the 1962-63 campaign.

Having won the title in 1958-59, the season in which Briers made his debut as stand-off in a 37-16 home win over Hull FC (Alex Murphy was at scrum-half) on 14th April 1959, Saints played in the Challenge Cup final of 1960-61, beating Wigan 12-6.

They also featured in the Lancashire Cup finals of 1959-60 (lost 5-4 to Warrington), 1960-61 (beat Swinton 15-9), 1961-62 (beat Swinton 25-9) and 1962-63 (beat Swinton 7-4).

Briers, however, despite forging a reputation as a skilful, speedy player with an eye for a gap, wasn’t selected for any of those showpiece matches, and having played in the centres in the 10-10 home draw with Castleford in October 1962, he briefly drifted away from the game.

Widnes brought him back the following April, and he went on to make 99 appearances with 22 tries before retiring at the end of 1965-66.

To make the 1964 Challenge Cup final, Widnes took a long-haul route, with three matches needed in each case to get the better of Leigh in round one and Swinton in the quarter-finals, while in the semis, Castleford were defeated 7-5 in a replay at Belle Vue, Wakefield following a 7-7 draw at Station Road, Swinton.

Hull KR had been involved in three replays, including a second against Oldham at Fartown, Huddersfield in the semis after the first replay at Station Road was abandoned during extra time due to fading light (the ground didn’t have floodlights at the time).

At half-time at Wembley, only a penalty-goal by Widnes fullback Bob Randall separated the sides, but with hooker George Kemel and loose-forward and captain Vince Karalius influential, the Chemics had won the battle of the packs.

The Widnes back division began to flourish after the break, and twelve minutes into the second half, Briers took Karalius’ pass and went past three defenders before touching down to add three further points.

Four minutes later, his fellow centre Frank Myler scored, and Randall added the goal for 10-0.

Rovers responded with an Alan Burwell try and Cyril Kellett conversion, but prop Frank Collier went over two minutes from time to cement the Widnes win.

Alan married his wife Pamela in the summer of 1964, and they remained in the same St Helens house in Old Nook Lane for 56 years.

His funeral took place on Friday, January 16, at the St Helens Crematorium.