Augustus "Gus" John Ferdinand Risman (21 March 1911 – 17 October 1994) was a Welsh 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 who played in the 1920s through to the 1950s,
and
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
ed in the 1940s through to the 1970s.
A devastating three-quarter who also played at , and
stand-off, Risman was born in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, brought up in
Barry Barry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name
* Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...
where he went to Barry County School, and played
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
in
South Wales as a schoolboy before being offered a trial by
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
.
He made his début for Salford on 31 August 1929 and went on to enjoy great success with the club. He won 17 caps for Great Britain and finished his career at
Workington Town
Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria.
Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team.
They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...
, remarkably leading them to Rugby League
Challenge Cup glory as
player-coach
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...
at the age of 41 in 1952. He retired as a player in 1954 after a career spanning 25 years. Risman captained the
1946 Great Britain Lions tour
The 1946 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team of Australia and New Zealand which took place between April and August 1946. The tour involved a schedule of 27 games: 20 in Australia including a three- ...
of Australia's "Indomitable"s side.
Risman later coached
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It i ...
,
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...
and
Bradford Northern
The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is pre ...
, and was inducted into the
Rugby League Hall of Fame
The Rugby League Hall of Fame honours the leading players of the sport of rugby league. It was established by the sport's governing body in the UK, the Rugby Football League, in 1988. Players must have been retired for at least five years to be ...
in 1988. Gus Risman's son,
Bev Risman
Augustus Beverley Walter Risman (born 23 November 1937) is an English former rugby union and rugby league player and rugby league coach. A dual-code international, he played rugby union for England and the British Lions, and rugby league for ...
also became an accomplished rugby league footballer. As a tribute, one of the newly created streets in
Workington
Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207.
Locat ...
's regenerated town centre is named Risman Place.
Playing career
During the period before signing for Salford, Gus Risman was also courted by association football clubs. Tottenham Hotspur offered Risman terms. However, in those days football did not have the huge initial gravitas it enjoys today. During the 1920s, signing for a rugby league club was more financially rewarding. Signing-on fees were restricted or capped in football, whereas in rugby league such fees could be a year's worth of work and playing wages combined.
Les Diables Rouges
Gus Risman was one of the players who successfully toured in France with Salford in 1934, during which the Salford team earned the name "
Les Diables Rouges", the seventeen players were;
Joe Bradbury,
Bob Brown
Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944) is a former Australian politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a senator and the parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the Australian Senate on the Tasma ...
,
Aubrey Casewell,
Paddy Dalton,
Bert Day
Hubert Charles Day (8 May 1908 – 27 June 1977) was a rugby hooker who played rugby union for Newport and rugby league for Salford. He was awarded five caps for Wales under union rules and was part of the Welsh side that won the 1931 Five Na ...
,
Cliff Evans,
Jack Feetham
John "Jack" Feetham (birth unknown – death unknown) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He played at representative level for Great Britain national rugby league team, Great Britain an ...
,
George Harris,
Barney Hudson
Bernard "Barney" Hudson (birth registered first ¼ 1906 – 1971) was an English rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Horden Rugby Football Cl ...
,
Emlyn Jenkins
Emlyn Jenkins (1 December 1910 – October 1993) was a Welsh cinema manager, trainee teacher, landlord of a public house, rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s, and coached rugby league in the 1 ...
,
Alf Middleton
Alfred "Alf" Middleton (birth unknown – death unknown) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and England, and at club level for Salford ( cap ...
,
Sammy Miller
Samuel Hamilton Miller, MBE (born 11 November 1933) is a Northern Irish championship winning motorcycle racer, in both road racing and trials. He was appointed an MBE in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2013, Miller was named an FIM Legend for ...
,
Harold Osbaldestin
Harold Osbaldestin (20 February 1909 – September 1955) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. He played at club level for Salford, as a .
Background
Harold Osbaldestin was born in Whelley, Wiga ...
,
Les Pearson
Leslie "Les" Pearson (birth unknown – death unknown) was a professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s. He played at club level for Salford and Oldham RLFC ( Heritage № 470) as a wartime guest player, as a , i.e. number 2 o ...
, Gus Risman,
Billy Watkins and
Billy Williams.
International honours
Gus Risman won
cap
A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...
s for
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
while at Salford 1931…1945 18-caps, won a
cap
A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...
for
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
while at Salford in 1934 against France,
and won
cap
A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...
s for
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
while at Salford in 1932 against Australia, New Zealand (3 matches), in 1933 against Australia (3 matches), in 1936 against Australia (2 matches), New Zealand (2 matches), in 1937 against Australia (3 matches), and in 1946 against Australia (3 matches).
Wales and England
Only four rugby league footballers have played initially for Wales, and then subsequently for England, they are;
Emlyn Jenkins
Emlyn Jenkins (1 December 1910 – October 1993) was a Welsh cinema manager, trainee teacher, landlord of a public house, rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s, and coached rugby league in the 1 ...
, Gus Risman,
Jim Sullivan and
Les White
James Leslie White (9 September 1890 – 27 April 1927) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Essendon Football Club, Essendon and St Kilda Football Club, St Kilda in the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL). ...
.
Championship Final appearances
Gus Risman played
left centre
The Left Centre ( hu, Balközép) was a political party in Hungary in the 1860s and 1870s led by Kálmán Tisza and Kálmán Ghyczy.Vincent E McHale (1983) ''Political parties of Europe'', Greenwood Press, p505
History
The Left Centre finished s ...
in
Salford
Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
's 3–15 defeat by
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...
in the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
Final during the
1933–34 season at
Wilderspool Stadium
Wilderspool Stadium was a rugby league stadium in Warrington, England. The ground was Warrington RLFC's old ground before moving to the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
History
In 1898, Warrington RLFC moved to the Wilderspool Stadium. A 10-year lea ...
,
Warrington
Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...
on 28 April 1934.
Challenge Cup Final appearances
Gus Risman played
right wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...
and scored two-
goal
A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.
A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ...
s in Salford's 7-4 victory over
Barrow in the
1938 Challenge Cup Final at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, in front of a crowd of 51,243, and played , was the
captain, and scored three-goals in
Workington Town
Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria.
Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team.
They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...
's 18-10 victory over
Featherstone Rovers
Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rovers are one of the last "smal ...
in the
1951–52 Challenge Cup
The 1951–52 Challenge Cup was the 51st staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup.
First round First leg
Second leg
Second round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Workington Town beat Featherstone Rovers ...
Final at Wembley on 19 April 1952, in front of a crowd of 72,093.
County Cup Final appearances
About Gus Risman's time, there was Salford's 2–15 defeat by
Warrington
Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...
in the
1929 Lancashire Cup Final at
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
,
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...
on 23 November 1929, the 10–8 victory over
Swinton in the
1931 Lancashire Cup Final at
The Cliff
A cliff is a vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure.
Cliff, The Cliff or The Cliffs may also refer to:
Buildings
*Cliff Brewery, a former brewery near Ipswich, England
*Cliff Palace, largest cliff dwelling in North America
*The Cliffs, a histo ...
,
Broughton, Salford on 21 November 1931, the 21–12 victory over
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...
in the
1934 Lancashire Cup Final at
Station Road, Swinton on 20 October 1934, the 15–7 victory over
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...
in the
1935 Lancashire Cup
Events
January
* January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims.
* ...
Final at Wilderspool, Warrington on 19 October 1935, the 5–2 victory over Wigan in the
1936 Lancashire Cup Final at Wilderspool, Warrington on 17 October 1936, and played stand-off in the 7–10 defeat by Wigan in the
1938 Lancashire Cup Final Station Road, Swinton on 22 October 1938.
Other notable matches
Gus Risman played centre for a
Rugby League XIII
The Rugby League XIII was an invitation team run along the same lines as the Rugby Union Barbarians team.
Particularly in the Second World War, when international fixtures were restricted to England V Wales. The Rugby League would play representat ...
against Northern Command XIII at
Thrum Hall
Thrum Hall was a rugby league stadium on Hanson Lane in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Halifax for 112 years. The site on which the ground stood is now occupied by a supermarket.
History
In 1878, Halifax, who had just w ...
,
Halifax on 21 March 1942.
Despite turning professional, Risman was part of the 1945 British Empire Forces rugby union team that played France, during a period when the strict guideline between amateur and professional were relaxed. Risman, playing at centre, scored two tries and three conversions in that game helping the British to a 27–6 victory.
Career records
Gus Risman holds Workington Town's "Appearances in a Season" record (with 45-appearances in the
1953–54 season),
and as of 2015, with 4,050-points is fourth on British rugby league's "most points in a career" record list behind
Neil Fox,
Jim Sullivan and
Kevin Sinfield
Kevin Sinfield (born 12 September 1980) is the defence coach for the England national rugby union team. He is a former professional rugby league footballer, captain and director of rugby for the Leeds Rhinos. Sinfield also represented England ...
.
Gus Risman is one of less than ten Welshmen to have scored more than 2,000-points in their rugby league career, and is one of less than twenty Welshmen to have scored more than 200-tries in their rugby league career.
Coaching
Relatives
Gus Risman was the father of the rugby league footballers
Bev Risman
Augustus Beverley Walter Risman (born 23 November 1937) is an English former rugby union and rugby league player and rugby league coach. A dual-code international, he played rugby union for England and the British Lions, and rugby league for ...
and
John Risman
John V. Risman (birth registered fourth ¼ 1944) is the President of Scotland Rugby League, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Wales, and at club level for ...
.
Honours
Risman Place in Workington is named after him.
while Risman House at
Workington Academy
Workington Academy is a mixed secondary school in Workington, Cumbria that was formed in September 2015 as a result of the merger of ''Southfield Technology College'' and ''Stainburn School and Science College''.
History
The former school, St ...
is also named for him. In December 2020 Risman was named as one of three Welsh rugby league players to be honoured with a new statue in
Cardiff Bay, the other two being
Billy Boston and
Clive Sullivan
Clive Anthony Sullivan MBE (9 April 1943 – 8 October 1985) was a Welsh rugby league footballer. A Great Britain and Wales international winger, he played for both Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers in his career, and also for Oldham ( Herit ...
.
References
External links
*(archived by web.archive.org
Gus Risman at wales.rleague.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Risman, Gus
1911 births
1994 deaths
Batley Bulldogs players
Bradford Bulls coaches
Dewsbury Rams players
England national rugby league team players
Great Britain national rugby league team players
Lancashire rugby league team players
Oldham R.L.F.C. coaches
Rugby league centres
Rugby league five-eighths
Rugby league fullbacks
Rugby league players from Cardiff
Rugby League XIII players
Salford Red Devils captains
Salford Red Devils coaches
Salford Red Devils players
Wales national rugby league team players
Welsh rugby league coaches
Welsh rugby league players
Welsh rugby union players
Whitehaven R.L.F.C. coaches
Workington Town coaches
Workington Town players