Setaimata Sa

Quote: The Dentist Wilf "He might not be a hall of famer as a player but as Coaches go Roy has to stand with Arthur Bunting as one of our all time best. I saw Roy Francis once described as the 'Father of the Modern game' which is probably a bit strong but he did create the first ever mobile pack when he built the Panzer Pack of the mid to late 50's. (named after the packs of massive but very fast tanks the Germans used in the second world war.

It wasn't just his finding bulky and strong players with pace though it was also his training methods where he would regularly make the forwards train as backs and vice versa. He used to get the backs jumping on both legs up and down the terracing with balls between their knees to strengthen their legs and the Pack doing 100 meter sprint training and lap after lap of the terraces up and down the steps. He also introduced the use of players like Roly Moat who would just follow the big forwards around and wait for the off load, which again was a skill seldom seen from a forward back then. As a young lad I would watch them train at the Boulevard every Tuesday and Thursday night but sadly didn't appreciate what I was watching.

A total Club man he was loved by the fans and he had a great singing voice too and would often be seen on the stage on Saturday nights after games in the Supporters Club entertaining the members. He made a good father Christmas at the Kids party too.

Into the 60's of course the rest of the game caught on and that and our ability to produce players of the quality of the old guard as they retired meant that we went into decline Roy went to Leeds where he had another illustrious stint to be replaced by Johnny Whiteley at the FC.

I would agree that he deserves bigger raps than he ever gets in the annals of Hull FC.'"

Ah! Roly Moat the ultimate finisher of forward breaks and maybe half of them scored with the final pass from Johnny Whiteley. A mention too for his half back partner Albert Tripp who was at Hull for the same period as Moat. Tripp was one of the best tacklers I have ever seen and his round the ankles technique very rarely failed nomatter who came at him.

Re Roy Francis as a singer. During the fifties Roy was the co- licensee(Colin Hutton the other?) of a pub on Sutton Rd( called The Lambwath Hotel?). My father who was a pianist/accompanyist on the Hull Club circuit played there twice a week on concert nights and he said Roy sometimes sang on these occasions. I went a couple of times and met a few Hull players in there.