by Tony Harrison

Last updated at 08:53, Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Former Workington Town and Whitehaven RL coach Gerard Stokes has left Cumbria to return to the Southern Hemisphere.

Ged Stokes

Kiwi Stokes, 56, arrived in west Cumbria in September 2003 but left with a bitter-sweet taste in his mouth after being ‘forced’ to make the decision and leave his wife Deb, who works for the Rising Sun Trust in Workington and son Ben, the Durham and England one-day cricketer ‘at home’.

On taking up an offer to join a friend in a new business venture in Perth, Australia, Stokes, a time-served plasterer, told News & Star Sport: “Obviously it’s not an ideal situation but there’s no work round here for the locals, let alone foreigners like me.

“I will leave Cumbria with very special memories of my time at Workington Town and Whitehaven, but most of all of the people of Cockermouth. I’ve made some very good friends in the nine years I’ve been here, friends who have been very supportive when times were hard.

“I don’t want to leave Deb and Ben here but, the way the economy is, I have little choice. Like everybody else I have to have an income to survive. I’ve been offered a very good opportunity and now is the time to take the plunge and move on.”

Stokes came to Workington to coach on the invitation of Dave Smith, after having two spells playing for Town. The former Kiwi International took on the Town job after coaching the New Zealand A Tour of England in 2003 which was preceded by a two-year tenure as the Kiwi assistant coach which included the 2002 tour to England and France.

When he arrived at Derwent Park, there were only seven registered players.

He said: “When I agreed to coach Town, I didn’t realise how bad things were at the club. Dave [Smith] was enthusiastic about the future of the club especially if they could secure the services of an international coach who had a history with the club as a player. His enthusiasm was infectious and maybe I made the decision to accept the position more with my heart than my head.

“The club was on its knees.

“It was going to be a massive challenge to even get a team together for the first match, let alone everything else that needed to be put in place to operate a professional rugby league club in the modern era and meet the performance that the fans understandably demand at the professional level.

“The model I felt best suited for the performance requirements and the limited budget, was to recruit local players and two overseas players that I knew had the skill sets and the attitude to benchmark performance levels for the local players to aspire to.

“Jonny Limmer and Lusi Sione are still talked about today, as are John ‘JT’ Tuimaualuga and Taani Lavulavu. All four proved to be vital members of the team and the club as a whole. It took time because of the system then. The local players then raised their game as they knew they had to be up with the likes of Jonny and Lusi. Every club needs a couple of players like them.

“It was hard in those early days but we managed to drag the club back up off its knees. Les Ashe, Dave Smith and Vic Semple were the management team in that first season and put in a great amount of work to get the club running well again.

“To my mind, you surround yourself with people who know their job and are passionate about the club and the game and they were, and still are, those type of people and I am proud to call them friends for life.

“I am very proud of the position I left that club in and the hard work I put in while I was there but devastated, even to this day, by the way I was forced out of the club. That was an extremely low point in my life but the people who were behind it have to live with what they did,” added Stokes, who took the club to court after being fired for an alleged disciplinary breach, despite being cleared by the RFL. He received an out-of-court settlement days before the High Court hearing was about to begin.

“It took a year to clear my name after the Town incident and, while certain people are still associated with that club, I will not walk through the gates at Derwent Park. I made a lot of very good friends there, who I am still in touch with, especially the players, and some of the administrators at the club. But I probably won’t visit Workington Town again.”

When Paul Crarey departed as Haven coach, due to health reasons, Stokes moved down the road to The Recreation Ground, in July 2008.

“Gordon Grace, Mike Graham and Barry Richardson showed faith and supported me to the fullest.

“This was another big challenge as the club was facing relegation having had a poor start to the season,” added the Kiwi.

Stokes and his team took the club to the Championship semi-finals where they lost to current Super League Salford City Reds.

“In that first season, people were talking about relegation and we got to within 80 minutes of a Grand Final, only to be beaten by Salford. We beat Salford live on Sky, I think the only club to do so that year. This along with the win against Halifax in the semi, are two of my fondest memories of that season. We also beat Crusaders twice and they along with Salford were promoted to Super League that year.“

“I had a fantastic coaching and development team there. I managed to get Gary Hewer back from Town and Les Ashe and Vic Semple also joined me. David Seeds came onto the first team coaching staff and Paul Goodwin as team manager is second to none.

“There are just too many people to name but they know who they are. I also had the privilege to work with Ralph Calvin and Michael Woods both of whom I have great respect for.”

Nearly at the end of his third season with Whitehaven’s financial situation poor and uncertainty surrounding the future of the club, Stokes was “let go” two weeks before the club went into administration.

“Even when things got tough due to poor results in the third season, I enjoyed every minute of my time at Whitehaven and the majority of the supporters were fantastic under the circumstances.”

A couple of stints in the amateur game with Cockermouth kept Stokes' interest in the game. But the time had clearly come to sever ties with Cumbria. Stokes is disillusioned with rugby league and has decided to go back to his trade.

And his regrets?

“The two regrets are that I never took either of two positions offered to me when I was with Town, one of which was Super League. My decision not to go was based on my commitment and loyalty to Town and my belief that they were committed to me and the terms of my contract. One lives and learns and that is water under the bridge now, as is my time at Town and Haven.”

First published at 08:55, Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk