Cec Thompson RIP

[grumpytramp]

I have to admit to being quite ignorant of Cec Thompson ........ I knew he had played for Hunslet in the post WW2 years and had been the first black person to represent the Great Britain Rugby League side. I had not appreciated what an inspirational man he had been until I read some of the obits this evening!OK he was not a son of Leeds (his mother was from Co Durham and his father from Trinidad) but his story is linked closely with the city. After his father died before he had even been born, his mother relocated to Leeds, where after his mum had been evicted he ended up in the cities orphanage system. After serving in the Navy during the war his salvation from dead end jobs came from Rugby League when he was asked to turn out for Yorkshire Copperworks ........ after two games he was signed by Hunslet. The likes of Gus Risman and Eddie Waring lobbied hard for his international selection and resulted in his first cap for GB against New Zealand after which he wrote:"In my first game for Great Britain, the National Anthem was played and our names were read out, I shed a tear and disciplined my body not to shake. My thoughts were with my mother. If only she could see me now, I thought, we could cry unashamedly. I was thinking: well mum, people can make fun of me all they want, but I've done something I'm proud about." He ended his rugby career with Workington Town and then went on to coach BarrowHe remained embarassed by his lack of formal education; but in his middle age returned to education supporting himself with a cumbrian window cleaning business and eventually studying for a degree in Economics at Leeds University. At Leeds Uni he was strongly involved and highly influential in the launch of the Student Rugby League ........ one of success stories of Rugby League. He ended his professional life as head of Economics at Chesterfield Grammer School!Brilliant obituary can be read here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituar ... pson.htmlA remarkable man ........ time to search the net for a copy of his biography "Born on the Wrong Side"

[raveydavey]

He sounds like a truly inspirational man and reminds us all that hard work, sacrifice, determination and self belief can take you almost anywhere.

[cnosni]

Hats off to Cec.Shame the so called "underclass" currently looting and burning their way through their own communities have not taken a leaf from is book and helped themselves out rather than helping themselves to shop windows.

[jim]

The published descriptions (and their employment status) of several of those arrested would imply that "feckless teenagers" might be a preferable catch-all term for them. They are certainly not all "underclass".