John "Jackie" Perry (27 May 1924 – 8 January 2018) was an English 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 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. He played at representative level for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, and at club level for

Wheldale Colliery Wheldale Colliery was a coal mine located in Castleford, Yorkshire, England which produced coal for 117 years. It was accessed from Wheldon Road. After closure, the site was used to gather coal-bed methane for conversion into electricity. His ...

ARLFC,

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

Batley Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...

and

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, as a , or .

Background

Jackie Perry's birth was registered in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, England, he was a

Bevin Boy Bevin Boys were young British men Conscription in the United Kingdom, conscripted to work in coal mines between December 1943 and March 1948, to increase the rate of coal production, which had declined through the early years of World War II ...

after retiring from rugby Perry continued to work as he had throughout his playing career, as a miner, he eventually he left mining and became a shopkeeper and publican in Dewsbury before moving to Blackpool where he and his wife ran a boarding house. He retired to North Wales in 2012, and he died aged 93.

Playing career

Wakefield Trinity

Perry signed for Wakefield Trinity in 1943 and made his debut against

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. Playing in 11 games he scored 7 tries and kicked 11 goals as Wakefield topped the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

although they lost to

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...

in the play-off semi-final. The following season Perry was Wakefield's top try scorer with 23 as Yorkshire finished third in the league. Wakefield reached three successive Yorkshire Cup Finals in 1945, 1946 and 1947. Perry did not play in the first but he played in the 10–0 victory over

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

in the

1946–47 Yorkshire Cup 1946–47 was the thirty-ninth occasion on which the Yorkshire Cup competition had been held. Wakefield Trinity won the trophy by beating Hull F.C. by the score of 10-0 The match was played at Headingley, Leeds, now in West Yorkshire. The atte ...

Final

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...

on Saturday 31 November 1946 and both the drawn match and replay that formed the 1947 final against Leeds; a 7–7 draw at Fartown,

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

on Saturday 1 November 1947 and an 8–7 victory in the replay at

Odsal Stadium Odsal Stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, is the home of Bradford Bulls Rugby League team. It has also been used by the Bradford Dukes speedway team, BRISCA F1 and F2 stock cars, the football team Bradford City, following the Valley ...

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

on Wednesday 5 November 1947. During the replay he kicked the winning conversion as well as making a try-saving tackle on Leeds stand-off

Dickie Williams Richard "Dickie" L. Williams (16 March 1925 – 26 March 1997) was a Welsh rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Mountain Ash RFC and Bristol RUFC, ...

Batley

Perry signed for Batley in December 1948 for a

transfer fee Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

of £1,000 and played for the club until 1955 during which he became one of the club's all-time top 20 try scorers.

Doncaster

At the end of the 1954–55 season Perry left Batley and joined Doncaster for the following season before retiring in 1956.

Representative honours

Perry played two games for

during the 1947–48 season. Yorkshire lost both, 22–10 against Lancashire and 15–7 to Cumberland although Perry did score a try against Cumberland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Jackie 1924 births 2018 deaths Batley Bulldogs players Doncaster R.L.F.C. players English rugby league players Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from Wakefield Wakefield Trinity players Yorkshire rugby league team players Bevin Boys English miners