DON Fox was a great rugby league player who deserved better than to tread the fine line between fame and infamy.
The Great Britain internationalist from Yorkshire is best remembered by the outside world for one moment of misfortune, rather than th
e countless tries and kicks he contributed to his two club teams, Featherstone Rovers and Wakefield Trinity.
In the Challenge Cup final of 1968, in front of 87,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, Fox had the opportunity to kick a conversion in the last minute of the game to seal an unexpected victory for Wakefield over Leeds.
Trinity had been trailing 11-7 until Ken Hirst crossed the Leeds line to bring the score to 11-10. Two more points from an apparently straightforward kick and Wakefield would have won. But the pitch had been soaked by torrential rain and, as Fox ran up to take the conversion from directly in front of the posts, he slipped and the ball squirted wide.
Eddie Waring's BBC commentary of the moment became a nationally recognised soundbite: "He's missed it, he's missed it... the poor lad."
Fox felt he had let his teammates down and would never truly recover from the spurned opportunity. He was presented with the Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match but couldn't hide his dejection.
One of Fox's oldest friends, Joe Mullaney, who also had a successful career in the form of rugby favoured in the north of England, believes Fox should never have been asked to take the fateful kick, as he was, bizarrely, far more reliable at scoring from an angle.
Mullaney also recalled in the Yorkshire press this week how their shared love for the game was formed.
Born in the pit village of Sharlston in 1935, Fox left school at 15 to work as a joiner at Sharlston Colliery, where he remained until retiring upon its closure 35 years later. As a child, he and neighbour Mullaney would run around Nostell Priory looking for crab apples and chestnuts, which they would then pass, kick and chase through the woods and fields. Back in the village, the boys would hone their game with a "ball" consisting of a rolled-up jumper.
Both of Fox's brothers, the elder Peter and younger Neil, enjoyed considerable success in rugby league – Peter went on to coach Great Britain and Neil holds the world record for points scored in a career. But scrum-half Don was a high achiever in his own right, and no Featherstone player has subsequently matched his aggregate of 162 tries.
He toured with the British Lions in 1962 and was capped by GB against Australia a year later, scoring a try and two goals in a victory. When he retired in 1971 he had compiled 1,755 points in 500 matches.
In later life Fox suffered from severe depression. An inquest into his death was launched after he had reportedly suffered a fall while visiting hospital a week earlier, suffering head injuries.
He is survived by his wife, Mary, a son and a grand-daughter.
The full article contains 533 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
