ARNIE MORGAN (September 19, 1942 – December 14, 2025)
ANOTHER member of the celebrated Featherstone Rovers 1967 Challenge Cup-winning side has been lost in former England and Great Britain international and Yorkshire forward Arnie Morgan.
The death of the stalwart second rower at the age of 83 came just two days after that of fellow club Hall of Fame legend Ken Greatorex (89), who played on the left wing as Barrow were beaten 17-12 at Wembley.
It was the first of Featherstone’s three Challenge Cup triumphs, the others coming in 1973 and 1983, and Morgan scored the first try for Laurie Gant’s side, who were underdogs against Barrow, who were player-coached by former Warrington and Great Britain centre Jim Challinor.
The big match, attended by the Queen and Prince Philip, was 29 minutes old with Rovers trailing 7-2 when the former winger took hooker Graham Harris’ pass and used his speed and bulk to brush off two defenders and go across for a try (then worth three points) to which loose-forward Tommy Smales added his second goal.
Two minutes later, scrum-half and Lance Todd Trophy winner Carl Dooler landed a spectacular 40-yard field-goal (then two points) to establish a lead Featherstone weren’t to lose, with right winger Vaughan Thomas crossing and Smales adding another goal, then a try.
Morgan had scored a valuable try in the 16-8 semi-final win over Leeds at Huddersfield’s old Fartown ground, that time taking four opponents over the line with him.
A winger when signed from the local junior game in 1960 who also played prop later in his career, he gained experience with the ‘A’ team, who won the Yorkshire Senior Competition title in 1961-62, the season he made his first-team bow in a 20-6 league win away to Bramley.
It was the first of 235 Rovers appearances (with 49 tries and 21 goals), which included two Yorkshire Cup final appearances, in the 25-12 defeat by Hull KR at Headingley earlier in the Wembley season and the 12-9 loss to Hull FC, also at Leeds, in 1969-70.
At Huddersfield in the final match of the 1967-68 league campaign, Morgan collided with a goalpost while scoring a try and dislodged the crossbar, which had to be put back in place by home forward Ian Van Bellen.
He wasn’t injured on that occasion, but at other stages of his career he did sustain a broken leg, a knee injury which needed surgery and a fractured ankle.
Morgan had a testimonial during his final season with Rovers in 1971-72, when he again helped the ‘A’ team win the Yorkshire Senior Competition, after which he had a stint at York, then coached by Gant.
The 1967-68 season brought his breakthrough at representative level, starting with the first of four appearances for Yorkshire.
Morgan made his Great Britain debut in the 22-13 win over France in Paris and also played in the follow-up 19-8 victory against Les Bleus at Odsal, Bradford, where he scored a try.
His performances sealed selection for the 1968 World Cup, which was played in Australia and New Zealand, and he featured in the 7-2 defeat by France in Auckland (Carlaw Park) and 38-14 win over New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground, scoring a try.
Morgan also figured in the four other tour games, with victories over Toowoomba, Queensland, North Queensland and North West Queensland.
During the 1968-69 season, he played for England in the 24-17 loss to Wales at The Willows, Salford.
His funeral will be held at Pontefract Crematorium on Wednesday, January 14 (11.40am) and afterwards at The Millennium Stadium, Featherstone.