Bert Holcroft was an English former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer, coach and writer on rugby league coaching.

Military service

Bert Holcroft joined the Royal Navy at aged 18 and was 20 when he served aboard the HMS ''Petunia''. On 6 June 1944, HMS ''Petunia'' was among the naval force that took part in the invasion of Normandy, and on D-Day. HMS ''Petunia'' was an escort vessel for one of the assault convoys. During the assault the ship received a " mayday" from an American

tank landing ship Landing Ship, Tank (LST), or tank landing ship, is the naval designation for ships first developed during World War II (1939–1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto shore with ...

that had struck a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

. Holcroft was among those who saved 60 of the soldiers from the tank landing ship. In 2016 Holcroft was decorated with the

Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

by the French government - an award Holcroft dedicated to the men saved on D-Day.

Rugby league

After the war Bert Holcroft played rugby league for amateur team Wigan Road Working Men's RLFC as well as the reserve team of

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

. He also coached the B and Colts junior teams for Leigh. In the 1960s Holcroft and his wife, Bridget, moved to Australia where he coached junior side Murwillumbah Brothers to successive premierships in the Tweed Rugby League in 1961 and 1962. Holcroft also coached the Bundaberg representative team where he introduced new training techniques relating to diet and weight training. Holcroft was appointed as coach of

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership in 1965. Easts were not a strong side at the time and under Holcroft they only won three games of the 32 played in the two seasons he was in charge; in 1966 Easts became the most recent () premiership team not to win a game during a season. Over the years Holcroft has developed his training and fitness techniques into a series of books for rugby and football. Holcroft died on August 17, 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holcroft, Bert 1925 births 2021 deaths English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Rugby league players from Leigh, Greater Manchester Sydney Roosters coaches Recipients of the Legion of Honour