BEN GRONOW

Sincere thanks to David Gronow for permission to publish the following article and photographs.

Ben Gronow was born in Bridgend on 3 March 1887, one of a family of nine - Gronow had six brothers and two sisters, he was rugby mad, the thing to be in Bridgend.

From street rugby, Gronow followed the well-worn path through Bridgend Harlequins and on to senior football with Bridgend at the tender age of sixteen.

In 1908-09 he was given the captaincy and went on to make the first of sixteen appearances for Glamorgan County.

The following year he represented Wales in all four rugby union internationals, making his debut on 1 January 1910 against France at Swansea, scoring a try in a 49pts-14 win.

Two weeks later on 15 January, Wales met England in the first international match to be staged at Twickenham - Gronow earned his place in history by kicking off on that momentous occasion.

The Welsh lost to England that day by 6pts-11, however, Gronow played in the defeats of Scotland at Cardiff (14pts-10) and against Ireland in Dublin (19pts-3).

It was not surprising that he attracted the attention of professional clubs and, even though it was the Ebbw Vale NU Club that first approached him, it was Huddersfield who obtained his signature at the age of twenty-two for a fee of £120 on 14 May 1910.

A Stonemason by trade, he was a powerful man standing over six feet tall, wore size 10 boots, had huge hands and elongated arms which enabled him to fire out long passes and force opponents to go just where he wanted them to go and no further!

Ironically, his debut for Huddersfield was against Ebbw Vale at Fartown on 3 September 1910.

By the end of the season he had made 31 appearances, won a Welsh RL cap against England at Coventry on 12 December, and had played in the Huddersfield side which were defeated 2pts-8  against Wakefield Trinity in the Yorkshire Cup Final at Leeds.

In season 1914/15 Huddersfield’s ‘Team of All Talents’ won all four trophies available to them - in his first four seasons at Huddersfield Gronow kicked only 20 goals - it was not until 5 December 1914 that he took over the goal-kicking role in a 34pts-7 win at Bramley, and only because Major Holland was troubled by a groin strain.

Gronow kicked eight goals from eight attempts, and at Fartown against Bradford Northern on 12 December kicked nine goals in a 60pts-7 win.

On 30 January 1915, again against Bramley, he kicked eleven goals in a 79pts-0 rout and had ten goals to his name on 5 April as the Fartowners defeated Barrow  by 59pts to 5.

Gronow kicked 140 goals that season eclipsing Major Holland‘s record, and also accumulated 292 points, by-passing by twelve the total set by Jim Lomas in 1906/07.

During this period, Gronow and Douglas Clark became two of the finest forwards in the world.

In 1919-20, the first full season after the war, he headed the Rugby League goal-scoring charts, kicking 147 goals - to this day a Huddersfield club record of goals in a season which has never been surpassed.

Injury cost him a place on the 1914 Australasian tour, however, he was selected for two Lions tours in 1920 and 1924 - making seven international appearances in all.

On the 1920 tour, alongside Huddersfield team-mates Gwyn Thomas, Harold Wagstaff, Johnny Rogers and Douglas Clark, he kicked 65 goals and scored two tries in sixteen appearances, setting up new scoring  records for a tour.

He was thirty-five years of age when he toured in 1924, one of the oldest-ever tourists, injuries restricting him to eight appearances during which he kicked five goals and one try, but was unable to make the Test side.

Gronow played in three Northern Union Cup Finals (all won), seven Yorkshire Cup Finals (5 won) and five League Championship Play-Off Finals (3 won).

He played eight games for Wales RL between 1910 and 1923 and also made two appearances for Other Nationalities against England.

He had a benefit match at Fartown on 8 March 1924, when Huddersfield beat Dewsbury 9pts-3, the gate being 10,099, with receipts of £493.

In June 1925 he left for Australia where he took up a position as Player/Coach to the Grenfell club - the first and only player from an English club to play for an Australian club between 1908 and the following 50 years.

He returned in August 1927, playing mainly for Huddersfield reserves during 1927-28.

His last game for Huddersfield was at York on 1 September 1928, kicking 2 goals in a 10pts-2 win.

He had brief spells at Batley and Featherstone Rovers before having turned forty, he finally retired.

He served for many years on the Huddersfield Football Committee and a few months before he died on 24 November 1967, was made a Honorary Life Member of Huddersfield Rugby League Football Club.

He was one of the initial 21 players inaugurated into the Huddersfield RL Club Players Association Hall of Fame at The McAlpine Stadium on 22 April 1999.

HUDDERSFIELD

Debut: 3 September 1910 v Ebbw Vale (h)

Last Game: 1 September 1928 v York (a)

BATLEY

FEATHERSTONE ROVERS

TESTS (7)

Note: 

Test match rugby league kicked off on Saturday 25 January 1908 when The Northern Union defeated

New Zealand 14-6 at Headingley.

Since then the British National XIII has gone under the guise of  The Northern Union (1908-1922),

England (1924-46) and Great Britain (1947-2007)

WALES (8)

CAREER RECORD

* Excluding Tests

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