This coming weekend, it will be 40 years since Great Britain won the Rugby League World Cup. That historic occasion, in the French city of Lyon, was particularly significant from a local point of view. Roger Ingham explains why.

When Great Britain won the Rugby League World Cup 40 years ago this weekend, the result was of particular significance in Craven, for it is believed to be the first time that anyone from the district – namely David Jeanes – had ever figured in a world championship-winning sporting team and when it comes to physical contact sports, the only time.

Skipton-born Vic Metcalfe had figured for England in the 1954 FIFA World Cup, which reached that event’s quarter final stages in Switzerland, but the Metcalfe family had left Skipton in any case when Vic was only an infant due to his father, Albert Metcalfe, hitherto Skipton rugby captain and a Yorkshire County player, having signed for Barrow in the Rugby League.

Sadly though for rugby league enthusiasts, that David Jeanes-assisted rugby league conquest of 1972 was also an historic occasion for more lamentable reasons; in view of it being the last time either Great Britain or England had ever managed to win any kind of series involving Australia, whether it be a test series, multi-nations or world championship event.

David Jeanes was born and grew up on Skipton’s Greatwood Avenue and attended the town’s Parish Church Primary School – then housed on Otley Street – and during his time there he made an early impact in the sporting arena as he won his age group’s sprint races at the Skipton and District Schools Sports days celebrating the Festival of Britain in 1951 and the Queen’s coronation in 1953.

He also figured prominently for his school’s football team. Indeed football and athletics were, at that time, Jeanes’ prime sporting passions and while still attending primary school, his athletics ambitions extended to him shining in the junior sprint races at the Lakeland Sports meetings.

Following his years at the Parish Church School, Jeanes moved to Brougham Street Secondary Modern School briefly before moving on to Aireville School. He eventually sat and passed another entrance exam to win a place at Keighley Boys’ Grammar School.

A controversial omission from his primary school’s pass list for Ermysted’s, Jeanes was subsequently given, at Keighley Grammar, his first taste of rugby – union at this juncture – and he proceeded to give Ermysted’s teams a hard time right through the age groups before leaving school after taking his GCE and O-Level exams.

Concurrently though, throughout his secondary school years, the Skipton lad was also still very much involved in other sports as he played both football and cricket for Skipton LMS and continued with his athletics prowess including him supplementing his success in sprint events by reaching the Yorkshire School’s Finals as a shot-putter.

His games master at Keighley Grammar was Gilbert Swift, a former captain and devout servant of the neighbouring Keighlians Club. Hence, with Jeanes’ new employment being at Keighley and having already met “the love of his life” – a Keighley lass – it was a natural progression to join Keighlians as opposed to his home town Skipton.

A “flying winger, turned power house second row forward” at 17 he was an instant success in Keighlians first team and also represented Yorkshire Colts at Under-18s level. Soon after he was called up as travelling reserve for the Yorkshire senior team in the county championship, where international players at that time featured. However, still then a teenager, his progress was put on hold due to an ankle injury sustained ironically amid his only appearance in the red jersey of Skipton when he guested for a Skipton presidents XV against the Yorkshire presidents XV in a charity match in aid of the Battle of Britain Wings Appeal.

In his early 20s employment and resultant residence took Jeanes to Wakefield. He was promptly tempted to join the local Wakefield Rugby Union Club, which in those days – prior to the advent of “league rugby union” – housed fixtures against some of the top clubs in the land.

Now established as a front row forward who could look after himself, whoever might be scrimmaging against him, it was on a Wakefield tour of “Rugby Union’s hot bed”, South Wales, where influential chords were struck concerning him playing for pay in light of him learning what some of the Welsh stars were receiving in expenses.

A barnstorming performance soon after, against Headingley – then awash with county and international players – was also particularly well noted by the neighbouring Wakefield Trinity Rugby League Club. Hence, he would soon after be on his way to the professional 13-a-side code, a game of which he had seen plenty, as a spectator and also having discreetly sampled an odd one amid his school days for Silsden in amateur rugby league, which at that juncture was also outlawed in the corridors of Twickenham.

Jeanes’ pace, power and ability to break the tackle made him an instant success amid the more open spaces of rugby league and his first season, (1967-68), saw him help Trinity ride the crest of a wave as they progressed to winning the league title.

The Skipton man achieved a personal moment to savour as he finished off a fine move in typically robust style to crash over for the winning try in the Championship Final at Headingley.

Wakefield had also made it to the Challenge Cup final at Wembley, but that event turned out to be more the “crest of a wave” in a literal sense as lightning, thunder, hailstones and an almost constant torrential downpour turned that traditional rugby league showpiece into a flooded farce.

However, Jeanes’ overall form had been noted enough for him to be called up for the Great Britain team trial match, to contest the 1968 World Cup to be held later that year in Australia.

Narrowly shaded on the selections vote by former Wales rugby union international John Warlow, and then cruelly denied a potential place in the Great Britain squad for the 1970 tour to Australasia due to another ankle injury; his first international honours duly arrived in the next two years, for Great Britain against France, first at Toulouse in 1971 and at Odsal in early 1972.

It was later in 1972 that France staged the next World Cup and the rest is now history.

Prior to that World Cup tournament Jeanes was signed by Leeds which led to further honours and then he concluded his career in 1978 playing for Huddersfield where he won the Fartowners’ player of the year award.

After that he created history of a different nature by becoming the first league man ever to be officially re-instated into rugby union and he then accorded nigh on 30 years immense return favour in various roles to the grass roots of sport and he has also made mighty contributions on behalf of charity and community causes for good measure.

Jeanes’ World Cup winning captain Clive Sullivan, went on to be honoured by having the main highway into the city of Hull named after him; others from other areas had streets and buses named after them, but for the Greatwood lad – milk boy and paper boy in his growing up years – his only tangible memento from a Craven perspective might be this “40 years on” memory lane piece here.