Eric Evans, (1 February 1921 – 12 January 1991) was the captain of the
England rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championshi ...
from 1956 to 1958.
Early life
Evans was born on Edge Lane in
Droylsden
Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the mid-19th cen ...
and attended
Audenshaw Grammar School. He first played for Old Aldwinians RUFC in the late 1930s and during the war joined
Sale RUFC. After the war he qualified as a sports master at the then
Loughborough College
Overview
Loughborough College is a large general further education college in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It provides both further education (FE) and higher education (HE) courses on a single campus. The colleg ...
, later joining Openshaw Technical College in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
.
England career
Evans was awarded his first England cap in 1948, becoming best known as a
hooker. In 1956 he was named England captain at the age of 34, the oldest player to lead England, and in 1957 led his country to their first
Grand Slam since 1928.
At the end of the 1957–8 season, he retired from international rugby, having been capped 30 times. Under his captaincy England won nine of their thirteen games.
Post international career
Evans continued to play for Sale after his international retirement, finishing his playing career with them in the 1962–3 season. He was chairman of Old Aldwinians RUFC from 1957 to 1959 and president from 1960 to 1966.
In 1967, Evans became the first president of the
Glengarth Sevens
{{primary sources, date=October 2011
The Glengarth Sevens was an annual rugby sevens tournament held at Davenport Rugby Club. The first Glengarth Sevens was held in 1967 at Headlands Road, home of Davenport Rugby Club. Its celebrated its 21st anni ...
at
Davenport Rugby Club, a position that he held for 21 years.
Honours
On 15 June 1982, he received the Member of the Order of the British Empire from Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace. This award was for his career in Rugby Union Football and charitable work for the disabled at the Glengarth home for disabled children.
Blue Plaque for Eric Evans
tameside.gov.uk
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Eric
1921 births
1991 deaths
Alumni of Loughborough University
England international rugby union players
English rugby union players
Lancashire County RFU players
Loughborough Students RUFC players
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Sportspeople from Droylsden
Rugby union players from Greater Manchester
Sale Sharks players
Rugby union hookers
20th-century English sportsmen