Armavinit wrote:
I’m going out on a limb here and I hope what I’m trying to say is taken correctly. You say should FC not honour Roy more but it’s my opinion that he was accepted as a great player and future thinking coach and his colour didn’t come into it. I was brought up in Hull and had black friends, you just took it for granted. It would be great for the club to celebrate his achievements as a MAN not because he’s black. Sully had a Road named after him that links West and East for his achievements playing for Hull and Rovers, incidentally, the only player to win a Challenge Cup winners medal with both clubs. Didn’t Roy achieve more success whilst at Leeds? Basically what I’m trying to say is they’re both remembered fondly for being outstanding not being black, honouring them for being black highlights a difference.
I must say that the attitude of the Aussies at the time shocked me. Also the bigotry of The Welsh RU but that was carried over to Rugby League in general, David Watkins being a prime example.
Before starting I should say that Roy Francis was a friend of my father who worked for Roy when he had a hotel/pub in east Hull. I met Roy at that time and caught up with him in Sydney in 1969 shortly after my dad died and my arrival in Australia in 1968.
I started watching Hull FC in 1946 and Roy arrived in 1949 as the player/coach and I went to almost every home game until I left Hull in 1960. The 50's decade was for me the greatest period in Hull FC's history which included appearing in 3 consecutive League Title finals and winning 2, reaching 4 Yorkshire Cup finals(3 in succession), being at Wembley for 2 consecutive CC finals and winning the first(and last) European Cup. A truly great memorable period to be a Hull fan.
Roy achieved a CC win at his 3rd attempt when coaching Leeds. He sent my dad a ticket for that Wembley game but dad died suddenly a week or so before the final and having come back from Aus.for the funeral, I went in his place.
Race relations in Aus. shocked me too and I had just completed a 2 year contract in an apartheid South Africa. The" White Australia" policy had wound down but the race problem remained. Also Roy was on a hiding to nothing in coaching the North Sydney Bears as they had never been near a premiership title. He was the first British coach for an ARL club.
He told me that he took the opportunity partly because of his disappointment with being left out of the 1946 Ashes tour and it would enable him to visit Aus. In the end he didn't enjoy his time here and was glad to leave.
In my brief association with Roy Francis I found him to be a humble man who had a brilliant rugby brain. He loved people and was an ideal coach and manager. He copped so much racial flack but carried on regardless. The first time I saw him play was at the Boulevard the season before he came to Hull. I was only 10 and my dad came with me mainly to watch Brian Bevan but another player at centre also took the eye with dad saying that he was a player he would like to see play for Hull. It was Roy Francis and of course he received the racial abuse but Warrington won the match.
Finally for me it is heart warming to read the comments below the video about Roy. He lives in my memory and he will remain there forever.
