Egremont evergreen Mark hangs up his boots after top career in the game
Last updated 15:54, Wednesday, 14 May 2008
EGREMONT rugby league legend Mark ‘Reg’ Bawden has hung up his boots, believe it or not, after seeing the last of his first team action at the ripe old age of 43.
The Egremont Rangers evergreen, who kicked off his long career as an international full-back and finished it just a few weeks ago, vows he will resist all temptations to make another Gillfoot Park comeback.
Not many players, after all, have played in every first team position on a rugby field for the same club. If Mark Bawden’s amazing versatility isn’t unique, then it must be close to being so.
In a career stretching beyond three decades, Mark has been a jack of all rugby trades and master of at least a couple.
In fact, Great Britain’s selectors regarded him as the No 1 choice for the Barla international open-age side, the best full-back in the country.
Some of today’s “modern” coaches – locked into their tactical strategies – would no doubt make Mark Bawden an automatic choice to come off the bench because of his utility value in being able to cover so many positions, back or forward.
Thank goodness for the old school coaches like Jackie Davidson and Billy Smith. They had no such notions. For them, the redoubtable Reg was one of the first names on the team sheet, but it’s fair to say that Jackie and Billy begged to differ over what was his best position.
Both were right in their own way.
Davidson saw Mark as a full-back – his judgement was spot on; the Great Britain selectors agreed.
Smith had him at loose-forward every time – the player agreed because it proved to be his most favourite position.
And it was mainly Lucky 13.
Mark Bawden proved himself the perfect clubman. Such was his dedication and total commitment to play anywhere in the interests of the team that he often captained – but he also has medals to show for it all.
He was the consummate amateur footballer with a professional attitude in a team which became the creme-de-la-creme of the Barla code, winning both the BNFL National Cup and the National League title, not to mention the little matter of knocking a certain Workington Town out of the Silk Cut Challenge Cup. That was in 1998.
But the most magical moment came at St Helens’ Knowsley Road in May 1990, when Billy Smith’s Rangers defeated Saddleworth by 11-4 to lift the National Cup. This was the Wembley of the amateur game and Rangers became the first team from the county to win the coveted cup.
Ian Hartley was inspiring as player/coach, skipper Alan Kelly and scrum-half John Brocklebank were an outstanding combination with the likes of big Sam Bailey adding the power up front and the guile of Bawden at loose-forward.
Recalls Mark: “It was special from the moment we got off the bus. We saw all the blue and white faces waiting to cheer us into the ground. Walt Logan was also standing there wearing a huntsman’s outfit and blowing his horn. Egremont must have been a ghost town that day.
“Winning the Cup must have been like finding The Holy Grail for the club but I think we made hard work of it in the final. Maybe the occasion got to us just a little bit. The main thing was that we won, especially after we had been so close in the past – losing two semi-finals – and everybody just went into raptures at the end.
“That was probably the best Egremont side I played in. It wasn’t just about stars but lads who all played together for the team. Most of us carried on for another couple of seasons or so and going into the National League was another big thing.
“I loved the step up from the Cumberland League, the standard was a lot higher and the pace a lot quicker but we had two good coaches in Titch (Dave Richardson) and Brocky (John Brocklebank) and did well.
“Mind you, it wasn’t just the competition. Most of us were young single lads and we enjoyed the trips out to Yorkshire and Lancashire, getting back and going round town. Nowadays, it’s a struggle to get some of the boys to travel.”
So many of your Rangers contemporaries turned professional – why, as an international full-back, didn’t you?”
“Well, a few teams, including Whitehaven and Barrow, were interested in me.
“I was at Barrow for a couple of trials but really I didn’t fancy all the travelling up and down that road. I also had a good job at Sellafield and, as a young lad, it would have also meant playing on Sundays and giving up my Saturday nights out. Anyway, I didn’t really have the pace.”
Mark, who relished tackling, had big boots to fill when he moved into the Egremont full-back spot – those of David Lightfoot who had just signed for Haven.
“I was actually a second rower at the time, but Lighty had just gone before the start of the season and Jackie Davidson asked me if I could fill in at full-back until they found someone else.
“So that was it. I played full-back but I never really enjoyed it.”
But you can’t have been too bad, earning international honours?
“Yeah, but even when I was playing full-back for Great Britain, I was playing loose-forward for Egremont because by then Billy Smith had come in to replace Jackie.
“Later on, wee Billy said the two best things he did for Egremont was moving me to loose-forward and Alan Kelly to stand-off.
“Mind you, playing full-back learns you a lot about the game, not just in defence, but you get a different vision by seeing the full length of the field and you can do a lot of shouting, not that they took any notice of you half the time.”
His Great Britain debut was a winning one across the channel. “I think it was the first time we’d beaten a French professional team. It was in Roanne but unfortunately this was the match when Dave O’Connor broke his neck.
“I played a handful of times for Great Britain. Jackie Reid always looked after us on our travels as manager. I remember, on my first time in France, they were serving up what looked like raw bacon for breakfast, but we weren’t having the likes of that.
“One of the games was a testimonial for Dave (O’Connor) against a New Zealand selection. It just happened to include half of the professional Kiwi Test side with the likes of Gary Kemble, Dane O’Hara and Fred Aukoi.”
And you actually scored a memorable try?
“Yeah, I scored it against Dane, who was one of the best wingers in the game. He was actually playing centre that day, and I got past him and scored near the end. I think he must have fallen over rather than me dancing round him. We played some good stuff and beat them.
“The year before this, I missed a Great Britain tour because I was having bother with my shoulder. Another time, I was called up to play against Papua New Guinea, but I had to turn it down as I was already booked in for an operation on the shoulder. They wanted me to cancel but I’d already been waiting two years for it to be done.”
In less than 10 years since the National Cup triumph, Egremont had built another outstanding side; some faces were the same, which was good enough not only to prove itself the best amateur RL side in the country but also to compete in the RL Challenge Cup and humble professional opposition.
To do it on Whitehaven’s Recreation Ground against Workington Town made it even sweeter.
It was Friday, February 13, 1998. Player-coach John Brocklebank inspired rampant Rangers to a sensational 18-0 triumph. Willie Richardson, Richard Gate, Geoff Blacklock and the Purhdam brothers were on top form, teenager Rob Purdham taking the man-of-the-match award and Mark Beckwith sealing matters with a 60-yard interception try.
Did you believe you were going to beat them?
“We definitely had confidence in ourselves. We were playing very good rugby at the time, so much so that we also thought we could beat Whitehaven. You could tell after 10 or 15 minutes that we were up for it.”
The next round was more difficult, a trip to the Don Valley stadium and a date with the high-flying Sheffield Eagles featuring a load of up and coming stars as Wigan were to discover to their cost in that season’s Wembley final.
“Okay, we went down 84-6 but we left with our heads held high after putting up a good fight.
“There was also the consolation of knowing that the team that beat us went on to win the cup that year.
“I remember right from the kick-off, the ball went straight to big Dale Laughton, the international prop who just made a beeline to me, the smallest forward on the field. I stopped him in his tracks but I think he just fell over me. It was an experience to be up against great players like Dave Watson, Paul Broadbent, Mark Aston, Keith Senior and Johnny Lawless.”
Mike Docherty spotted Mark’s talent at an early age, as he did so many others, and he was donning the blue and white Rangers jumper as a nine-year-old.
“I was a wee scrum-half then, playing for the under-11s. We won the Jack Higgins trophy in the first-ever junior floodlight tournament at Whitehaven. I was captain of our team, which can’t be bad when lads like John Routledge were also playing.”
Young Mark, nicknamed ‘Reg’ after the famous Reggie Bowden of Widnes fame, played youth rugby for both Egremont teams. At Bleach Green, at the other end of town, he was inside-centre in the Cumbria Colts northern counties championship. He still has his congratulatory letter from the Egremont club.
“We beat Cornwall at Carlisle in the final. Routy, Bicca (Mark Beckwith) and Gary Long were also in our team.”
But perhaps there was no prouder moment for the youngster when, for one match at least, he turned out for Egremont RU alongside his dad, Jimmy, forming the half-back partnership. Mark was 14 going on 15 and Jimmy almost certainly, like his son today, was knocking on just a bit.
Mark progressed to play with some top players.
“I don’t want to miss anybody out, but I’ll just say that the best pound for pound tackler was wee Gary Elliott. He played in the pack with me, Gary was only about 12 stones but he stopped everything that came at him.”
There’s no doubt that Mark has a particular high regard for John Brocklebank, his rugby soul buddy and former Great Britain team mate.
Tongue in cheek, Mark laughed: “The worst thing you could ever hear on a rugby field was when Brocky turned round and said: ‘come with us’.
“Five times out of six, he would get you killed but the sixth time he would put you right through a gap; a great player and a class act.”
And some of the coaches?
“Well, Jackie (Davidson) was one helluva a motivator who could really get you psyched up, then there was Billy (Smith) and Ian (Hartley). Billy did the stuff on the training field and Ian had sheer physical presence on and off the field.
“Phil Kitchin knew rugby inside out but the fittest I’ve ever been was when Dean Williams came from Workington. Dean was a powerhouse.
“One match, me and Gary Long must have made 30 tackles apiece, but Dean pulled us both aside and said: “Here you two, you need to do a bit more work.”
After that, Titch and Brocky got a good coaching partnership going in the National League.
In his younger days, Mark with the likes of Paul Reid were coaching the cream of West Cumbrian talent including Jonathan Roper and Howard Hill, while in the twilight, this man for all seasons was also back at Bleach Green helping the rugby union kids.
There’s family connections, too, for apart from dad Jimmy, brothers Darren and Steve also played the game
“Steve was a good hooker and also played for Copeland at league. He was probably the most aggressive of us but Darren, the youngest, started playing for Wolston when he was in the police force and never lets me forget how I dislocated his shoulder – well, there’s no such thing as a friendly.”
It’s been the days of wine and rugby roses for Mark and it’s true to say that, like good wine, he got better with age.
To some, he may have been an unsung hero but, for most, his deeds sometimes bordered on the heroic. Gillfoot Park will continue to be his second home for some time to come, for John Wells coaxed him back to the Rangers where, along with the likes of Brocky and Daniel Telford, he’s coaching the best crop of talent Rangers have seen for quite a long time.
So do you have a message for the fans?
“Thanks for everything but I definitely won’t be back – I know they still don’t believe me but it’s true.”
And just to prove it, Mark, unlike his old mate John Routledge who discarded his boots, tore off the harness which held together his suspect shoulder. “I can’t play any more without that,” he joked.
