Mervyn "Merv" John Hicks (born 1943) is a Welsh former

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 ...

, and 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 1960s and 1970s. He played rugby union club football in Wales for the

Cross Keys RFC Cross Keys RFC ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Pont-y-Cymer) is a rugby union club located in the Welsh village of Crosskeys. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union, and is a feeder club for the Dragons regional team. History The club achieved first c ...

, rugby league club football in Britain for Doncaster (Heritage № 179),

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 ...

( Heritage № 623), St Helens (Heritage № 818),

Hull FC 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 ...

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 popula ...

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 in Australia for the Canterbury Bulldogs ( Heritage № 317) and the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in t ...

(Heritage № 673). Hicks was also selected to play representative football 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 ...

, Commonwealth XIII and

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

Background

Hicks was born in

Crosskeys Crosskeys ( cy, Pont-y-cymer) is a village, community and an electoral ward in Caerphilly county borough in Wales. Etymology The village was originally named Pont-y-cymer and this remains the official Welsh name for the village. The name ...

, Monmouthshire, Wales.

Early career

After representing Wales Youth Rugby Union as number 8 and captain in 1960 (in the same team as David Watkins), he was 'lured north' to play rugby league for

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 ...

(3 appearances 1961) for the sum of £1000, enough to buy several houses in his home village at that time. At 6'2" and 17 stones, his dynamic skills, aggressive defence and size caught the eye of

(28 appearances 1961–64), who paid Doncaster £6000 just a few months later to sign him. He made his début for Warrington on Saturday 21 October 1961, Warrington converted him from a to a hard running ball distributor playing as a or . He played his last match for Warrington on Saturday 8 February 1964. He then moved onto St. Helens (67 appearances 1964-1966) starring in one of the all-time great packs alongside legends such as

Ray French Raymond James French, MBE (born 23 December 1939) is an English former rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s. French played at international level in both codes. He won four caps for England in rugby union ...

Cliff Watson Clifford H. Watson (26 April 1940 – 2 May 2018) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1960s and 1970s. He played for the St Helens in the Rugby Football League Championship, and later the Cronulla-Suthe ...

, and fellow Welshmen

Kel Coslett Thomas Kelvin Coslett (born 14 January 1942) is a Welsh former dual-code international rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and coached rugby league in the 1970s and 1980s. He played represent ...

John Warlow Douglas John Warlow (born 13 February 1939) is a Welsh former dual-code international rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Wales, and at cl ...

and John Mantle, and also winning selection for Commonwealth XIII and full caps for Great Britain. Merv Hicks represented the Commonwealth XIII rugby league team while at St. Helens in 1965 against New Zealand at Crystal Palace National Recreation Centre,

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 ...

on Wednesday 18 August 1965,

County Cup Final appearances

Merv Hicks played left-, i.e. number 11, and scored a

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

in St. Helens' 12-4 victory over Swinton in the

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

County Cup The county football associations are the local governing bodies of association football in England and the Crown dependencies. County FAs exist to govern all aspects of football in England. They are responsible for administering club and player ...

Final during the 1964–65 season at

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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 Saturday 24 October 1964.

BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final appearances

Merv Hicks played left-, i.e. number 11, in St. Helens' 0-4 defeat by

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins th ...

in the 1965 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final during the 1965–66 season at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For a period, the venue also hoste ...

, St. Helens on Tuesday 14 December 1965.

Representative honours

On 3 April 1965, Hicks played in the first ever

under-24 international match in a 17–9 win against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

under-24's.

New life and career in Australia

The offer to start a new life with the Canterbury Bankstown Berries in the Sydney Rugby League competition led Hicks to Australia with his wife, Gwyneira, and Andrew, in 1966. Two daughters, Julie and Tanya, followed in 1967 and 1970. Five highly successful seasons with the Berries (84 appearances) including a grand final in 1967 ended with his move to the North Sydney Bears (19 appearances) as captain-coach for the 1971 and 1972 seasons. Although these were lean times for the Bears and an injury stricken Hicks, they managed to beat all of the finalists of those years when Hicks was on the field, as well as creating many headlines with the hard-hitting antics of the captain and his fellow Welsh import, 'Big' Jim Mills. His 7 seasons in the Sydney competition were highlighted by an ultimately unsuccessful newspaper campaign to have the international representation rules changed so that he could be picked for New South Wales and Australia, such was his dominance at club level. A short season with the Orange CYMS (16 appearances) in country NSW had sufficient impact on the district that he was nominated for the club's "Team of the Century", prior to the Hicks family's return to the north of England.

Later career

Hicks returned to the north of England for four seasons to finish off his first class career with

(18 appearances),

(11 appearances) and

(2 appearances). Having played in an era when Wales was not represented on the international stage during his first stint in British rugby league, his selection for Wales for the 1975 Rugby League World Cup was cruelly denied by a broken arm suffered in a club game just weeks before the tournament kicked off. Nineteen seasons of professional rugby league ended for Hicks with three years at the Bowral Blues (40 appearances) in Group 6 of the New South Wales country rugby league.

Coaching career

After retiring from playing, he coached several teams including Bowral, Group 6, Southern Division, Junee and Riverina in the country championships. Hicks now lives with his wife Gwyneira, on the Central Coast of New South Wales and works in the hotel industry.

References

External links

Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk (statistics currently missing due to not having appeared for both Great Britain, and England)
*(archived by web.archive.org
Merv Hicks at yesterdayshero.com.auProfile at saints.org.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hicks, Merv 1943 births Living people Bradford Bulls players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Cross Keys RFC players Doncaster R.L.F.C. players Great Britain national rugby league team players Hull F.C. players Lancashire rugby league team players Leeds Rhinos players North Sydney Bears coaches North Sydney Bears players Rugby articles needing expert attention Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Caerphilly County Borough Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Rugby union number eights Rugby union players from Crosskeys St Helens R.F.C. players Warrington Wolves players Welsh rugby league coaches Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players