The Rugby Connection

#SUFTUM

Football in (Northern) Ireland has always had to compete on a multitude of fronts, not least against the two "other" codes, Gaelic and rugby. Never mind the handful of "gridiron" players that have appeared in the past few decades, though I think Rugby League still remains a real oddity on these shores.

No matter what we believe is "real" football, rugby union was here first. Trinity College's team was founded in 1854 and the two original Irish Unions (the IFU in Dublin and the Belfast-based Northern Football Union of Ireland) were both founded in 1874, amalgamating in 1879 to form the IRFU as we know it today. That year, the first ever officially organised football match between Irish teams saw Cliftonville face Quidnuncs, a team of local rugby players, and the rugger players won 2-1.

As such, at least three (Billy McWha [Albion RFC/Knock FC], Alex Dill [RBAI/Knock FC] and James Hamilton [Knock RFC/Knock FC]) of the Ireland side that took the field for their first international in 1882 had played the handling game before the kicking game had even arrived on these shores. In those early days, other former rugby players to be capped by the Irish FA included Bill Morrow [Ulster RFC/Moyola Park], Jack Henderson [Ulster RFC/Ulster AFC] and James Barron [Coleraine RFC/Cliftonville].

Hammie Hewitt

As professionalism became accepted in "soccer", rugby was to remain a strictly amateur sport for another century. Many players loved both sports equally however, and were prepared to sacrifice any money that they could have made had from playing football, just so that they retained the option of still taking to the rugby field. Hammie Hewitt [Instonians RFC/Linfield/Cliftonville] came from a rugby family - his brothers Frank, Tom and Victor were all capped by Ireland - and throughout his sporting days he balanced his career as Joe Bambrick's stand-in with Linfield and for Ireland Amateurs while also representing Ulster. Three of his nephews were also capped by the IRFU.

Another player who could surely have made an even bigger impact on the football field was Kevin O'Flanagan who's football career took him from Bohemians to Arsenal along with caps for Ireland Amateurs and Eire in parallel with representing Ireland and Leinster at rugby. Hugh Barr was another who refused to take football too seriously, remaining an amateur and teacher throughout a career that took him from Linfield's 7-trophy team to Jimmy Hill's Coventry Sky Blue revolution in the mid-60s while earning 3 full caps, B, Amateur, Youth, Irish League and British Olympic representative honours. His continued amateur status allowed him to return to club rugby when the mood took him.

As the two games became polarised along amateur=posh / professional=common lines a snobbery developed, particularly among grammar schools. Many gifted footballers found that once they had passed their 11+ they were forced to play rugby and/or actively discouraged from playing the game they loved. Two of Northern Ireland's greatest players, George Best and Keith Gillespie were noted critics of their schools' policies. Norman Clarke missed out on at least one youth cap as he was withdrawn from a match against Scotland in 1959 to play a schools rugby match.

Nevin Spence

Others however combined both games successfully while at school. Dave Clements won Northern Ireland schoolboy, youth and amateur caps while still representing Larne Grammar on the rugby field. More recently Nevin Spence played right-back for Northern Ireland schoolboys while attending a strong rugby school, Dromore High. He then concentrated fully on rugby, playing for Ulster and Ireland Wolfhounds before his tragic early death.

However, in my experience there remains three distinct groups - those who embrace football and rugby and those who love one and despise the other. Some of it definitely emanates from snobbery or inverse snobbery, some of it is masked by an annoyance with the "disrespectful" manner of modern-day football stars or the over-complicated/ever-changing rules that blight rugby. However, the disdain from my brother in-law that my gift of a Northern Ireland kit for my niece received could be the sort of thing that partially re-ignites my grammar school frustrations, though I still don't mind the odd night at Ravers/Spanners!

Chris Johns

Name: Christopher Johns
Born: 13 May 1995
Height: 6.00 ft
Weight:
Position: Goalkeeper

Representative Honours: Northern Ireland: Under-21, Under-19, Under-17, Under-16, Under-15.
Club Honours: (with Coleraine) Irish Cup Runner-Up 2016/17.

Club Career:
Teams ..... --Seasons-- Signed -Fee- League 
Lisburn Youth ................ Youth
Dungannon Swifts ........ 2009 Youth 
Southampton ........... May-11 Youth 0(0)/0
Bangor .... 15/16 ..... Aug-15 .Free
Coleraine . 15/16 ..... Jan-16

Biography:
Son of former Ireland rugby player, Paddy Johns.

Released by Southanpton in the summer of 2015, he was reported to have signed for Glentoran but spent the first half of the 2015/16 season with Bangor. He then joined Coleraine in January 2016.

More to follow.

UEFA
IrishFA

Northern Ireland Under-21 Cap Details:
09-09-2014 Serbia H L 1-4 ECQ
still active

Hammie Hewitt

Name: Hamilton Hewitt
Position: Outside-Right / Centre-Forward

Representative Honours: Ireland: 4 Amateur Caps (1931-1934).
Club Honours: (with Linfield) Irish Cup Winner 1930/31; Gold Cup Winner 1930/31; Charity Cup Winner; (with Cliftonville) Irish Cup Runner-Up 1933/34.

Club Career:

Clubs	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Linfield	29/30-3?/3?	-	Amat	-	-	-
Cliftonville	-	193?	Amat	-	-	-
TOTALS		£-		-	-	-

Biography:
Few families can have produced a half-dozen sons who so excelled at their chosen sports as the Hewitts. Frank (Instonians), Tom (Queen's) and Victor (Instonians) all played rugby for Ireland while a fourth brother, Dick (Queen's) earned an Irish trial. Yet another brother, Willie played rugby and "soccer" with Instonians and Willowfield respectively and earned three Junior caps (1925-1927) before his career was ended by a fractured leg.

It was a sixth brother, Hammie, who most excelled at the kicking game, though he too split his loyalties between codes. He captained Instonians at rugby and played for Ulster at Inter-Provincial level, in his summers he played cricket for Ulidia and as a boy he had been school's champion at the high jump. All this no doubt gave him "the advantages to make good at soccer [he had] good command, speed, and dash and a boot in danger quarters of which any goalkeeper need be afraid."

Hewitt's first introduction to senior football had arrived at the tale end of the 1929/30 season when he led the line in Linfield's Charity Cup success after just a few outings for the Swifts. In the first half of the following campaign he concentrated more on rugby, briefly returning to the Linfield side as they claimed the Gold Cup. It was only in January 1931 that he resigned the captaincy at Instonians and committed himself to a Linfield side that had seen Joe Bambrick sidelined by a serious injury. Although lacking the polish of Bambrick, Hewitt proved an able stand-in and he delivered the opener in a 3-0 win over Ballymena in the 1931 Irish Cup final.

When Bambrick returned from injury Hewitt kept his place in the Linfield team by shifting to outside-right. It was a position to which he was well suited and in November 1931 it was on the wing that he played against England in an Amateur international, retaining his place for the January match against Scotland. Eventually displaced in the Linfield starting eleven by future international, Billy Houston, Hewitt left Windsor Park for Cliftonville.

While with the Reds Hewitt returned to the centre-forward role and regained his place place in the Amateur Ireland side. In April 1934 he was among the scorers as Ireland came from a 0-1 half-time defecit to defeat Scotland 4-1 at Solitude. That same season he was part of the Cliftonville side that surprisingly made the Irish Cup final, exploiting a couple of goalkeeping errors against Glentoran in the semi-final before succumbing 0-5 to Linfield in the decider at The Oval.

The Hewitt clan continued to produce fine rugby players for Hammie's nephews Dave Hewitt, John Hewitt and Gerald Gilpin all won caps for Ireland.

Ireland Amateur Cap Details:
14-11-1931 England. A L 2-3
23-01-1932 Scotland H W 4-0
17-02-1934 England. A L 0-4
25-04-1934 Scotland H W 4-1 1 Goal

Summary: 4/1. Won 2, Drew 0, Lost 2.

Photo and details from ISN article kindly forwarded by Jim Murphy.

Richie Warburton

Name: Richard Burton
Born: c.1944, Belfast
Died: 2 July 2010, Belfast
Height: 5.08 ft
Weight: 10.07 st
Position: Outside-Right

Representative Honours: Northern Ireland: 4 Amateur Caps / 1 Goal (1963-1966), Youth; Irish League: 1 Cap (1964).
Club Honours: (with Glentoran) Irish League Champion 1963/64; Gold Cup Winner 1962/63; Co. Antrim Shield Runner-Up 1963/64; City Cup Winner 1964/65; Ulster Cup Winner 1966/67.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA.Cup	Europe	Other
Glentoran	61/62-66/67	-	Amateur	*143/41	-	7/0	-
TOTALS	-	£0		143/41	-	7/0	-

* all domestic games.

Biography:
The product of RBAI, a rugby-playing school, Richie Warburton made an early impact on the football field, his fast wing-play in Glentoran's 1962 Fairs Cup matches against Real Zaragoza marking him as a star, despite an 8-2 aggregate defeat. As well as football and rugby, during his schooldays Warburton also excelled at hockey and athletics - he was an Ulster Schools Sprint Champion.

Through 1963 he claimed a first Amateur cap and scored against Eire to help the Northern Ireland Youth team qualify for the European Youth Tournament in England. By the mid-1960s he was a regular among the scorers for the Glens. In September 1964, the same season that he scored 22 times for his club, Warburton scored his only Amateur international goal, in a 2-1 defeat by England Amateurs at Romford, and a month later featured in his only inter-league match, a 4-0 defeat by the Football League at his home ground, The Oval.

Warburton's playing career was ended after he tore his cruciate knee ligaments during an Amateur International game against England at Watford in September 1966. With football behind him he proved to be adept on the golf course too.

Obituary
Former Northern Ireland amateur and Glentoran outside right Richie Warburton, one of the fastest players in Irish League football history, has died in Belfast. He was in his mid-sixties.
Warburton, a high ranking civil servant, was a pupil at Royal Belfast Academicals Institution when Glendora’s then manager Harry Walker gave him his debut against Arts in an Irish Gold Cup match at the Oval which Glentoran won 6-1.
Not only did he possess outstanding skill and vision which attracted several English and Scottish clubs his pace was bewildering. prompting Distillery manager the late Jimmy McAlinden to comment “He is the fastest player I’ve seen in Irish football. If he does go cross-Channel and get full-time football then the world could be his oyster.”
He played 150 games for the Glens between 1961-67 scoring 41 goals, winning an Irish League championship medal (1964) and others in the Gold and City Cups and County Antrim Shield. He collected, four amateur international caps and also made one inter-league appearance Richie. Sportsman with the true Olympian spirit, was the complete all-round athletic- Ulster grammar schools quarter mile champion, member of the RBAI second rugby XV and the hockey side.
A cruciate ligament injury sustained in an amateur international against England at Vicarage Road, Watford, in 1966 prematurely ended his career when only 22 years old. “It was difficult to come to terms at that age” he said in an interview. “I remember hobbling home from the match with my knee going up like a balloon every step of the way.”
Northern Ireland football, to which he contributed so much, extends sympathy to the entire family circle. - Malcolm Brodie

Northern Ireland Amateur Cap Details:
12-01-1963 Wales... A W 2-0
26-09-1964 England. A L 1-2 1 Goal
25-09-1965 England. H L 0-2
24-09-1966 England. A L 0-2

Summary: 4/1. Won 1, Drew 0, Lost 3.

Irish League Representative Appearance Details:
28-10-1964 Football League H L 0-4

Summary: 1/0. Won 0, Drew 0, Lost 1.

Kevin O'Flanagan

Name: Dr. Kevin Patrick O'Flanagan
Born: 10 June 1919, Dublin
Died: 26 May 2006, Dublin
Position: Forward

Representative Honours: (Northern) Ireland: 2 "Victory" Caps (1946), 2 Amateur Caps / 1 Goal (1949-1950); Eire: 10 Full Caps / 3 Goals (1937-1947), Junior Representative (1937); League of Ireland Representative;
(at Rugby) Ireland: 1 Cap (1947), 2 Unofficial Caps (1942-1946); Leinster; Irish Universities.
Club Honours: (with Bohemians) FAI Cup Runner-Up 1944/45; Dublin-Belfast Inter City Cup Winner 1944/45.

Club Career:

Clubs	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other	War-Time
Home Farm	-	-	Youth	-	-	-	-
Bohemians	35/36-44/45	-	Amat	*145/95	-	-	-
Arsenal	45/46-46/47	Aug-45	Amat	14/ 3	2/0	-	18/11
Corinthian-Casuals	-	-	Amat	-	(Isthmian League)
Barnet	-	-	Amat	-	(Athenian League)
Brentford	49/50	Nov-49	Amat	6/ 0	1/0	-	-
TOTALS		£-		165/98	3/0	-	18/11

* all games.

Rugby Career:
Teams
UCD
Lansdowne
London Irish

Biography:
Kevin O'Flanagan was a multi-talented sportsman. He was capped at international level in football and rugby, was a Gaelic footballer for Dublin Minors, an Irish champion at athletics, a scratch golfer and an accomplished tennis player. His younger brother, Mick, was also a dual-code international having represented southern Ireland at football and Ireland at rugby.

O'Flanagan, already an Éire Junior international, made his international bow at the age of just eighteen as the FAI's Ireland side drew 3-3 against Norway in a must-win World Cup qualifier. A win would have sealed qualification for the 1938 World Cup Finals in France, though the youngster made do with a goal (according to some sources the team's 50th) having had another ruled out for off-side in the opening minutes. He remained a regular for the FAI team until after the War.

As a teenager O'Flanagan had combined his association and Gaelic football codes with some success, that is until is daliances with the "foreign game" were discovered and the GAA issued him with the mandatory life-ban. It wasn't until he was studying medicine at University College, Dublin that he first tried his hand at rugby and he proved a natural, first earning selection for Leinster in 1940 and for an Ireland XV that faced the Army at Ravenhill two years later. In parallel with his successes in team sports he was a four-time Irish long-jump champion and Irish sprint champion at 60 and 100 metres.

O'Flanagan rose to captain the all-amateur Bohemians club and in 1945 his goalscoring, and that of brother Mick, fired the club to an FAI Cup Final appearance against Shamrock Rovers and a Intercity Cup Final win over Belfast Celtic. O'Flanagan did blot his copy book against Celtic as he was sent-off.

In 1945, after completing his studies, O'Flanagan took a medical post in Middlesex. He signed amateur forms with Arsenal, turning down a professional deal so that he could continue playing rugby. He scored on his Gunners debut in a 6-2 Football League South defeat by Charlton in October 1945 and finished the last War-Time season as the club's topscorer with eleven goals, mainly from the wing. He was also honoured by the IFA for the first time with selection for the Victory Internationals against Scotland and Wales.

Nicknamed "The Flying Doctor", with the oval ball O'Flanagan was turning out with London Irish and played for an Ireland XV against France on 26 January 1946 in an unofficial international. Two weeks later he missed out on an appearance against England at Lansdowne Road in the Five Nations as he was fog-bound in London.

O'Flanagan made his Football League-proper debut against Blackburn in a 3-1 defeat in September 1946 but played just fourteen times in that first post-War season due to work and, to a lesser extent, rugby commitments. In December 1947 he lined out for Ireland in a test match against a touring Australia side for his only full rugby cap.

Although he remained on the books at Highbury until 1949, O'Flanagan made no further appearances for Arsenal. He did play non-league football with Corinthian Casuals and Barnet, earning a first Amateur Ireland cap as centre-forward against England in February 1949. During the 1949/50 season he played with Brentford, and won a second Amateur cap, scoring a second half consolation from outside-right, before his playing career was ended by an ankle injury.

In 1948 O'Flanagan, who would have likely appeared at the Olympics of 1940 and 1944 had they not been cancelled due to the Second World War, was appointed to the British Olympic Medical Committee and so began a five decade association with the Olympic movement. With his own sporting days behind him, O'Flanagan became an acknowledge sports injury expert, worked with the Irish Olympic team and in 1976 was appointed to the International Olympic Committee.

Obituary

Ireland Victory Cap Details:
02-02-1946 Scotland...... H L 2-3
04-05-1946 Wales......... A W 1-0

Summary: 2/0. Won 1, Drew 0, Lost 1.

Ireland Amateur Cap Details:
05-02-1949 England....... A W 1-0
04-02-1950 England....... H L 1-3 1 Goal

Summary: 2/1. Won 1, Drew 0, Lost 1.

Eire (FAI) Cap Details:
07-11-1937 Norway........ H D 3-3 WCQ 1 Goal
18-05-1938 Czechoslovakia A D 2-2 FR
22-05-1938 Poland........ A L 0-6 FR
13-11-1938 Poland........ H W 3-2 FR
19-03-1939 Hungary....... H D 2-2 FR
18-05-1939 Hungary....... A D 2-2 FR. 2 Goal
23-05-1939 Germany....... A D 1-1 FR
30-09-1946 England....... H L 0-1 FR
02-03-1947 Spain......... H W 3-2 FR
04-05-1947 Portugal...... H L 0-2 FR

Summary: 10/3. Won 2, Drew 5, Lost 3.

League of Ireland Representative Games:
11-03-1939 Irish League... A W 2-1 1 Goal
17-03-1939 Scottish League H W 2-1
14-04-1941 NIR League..... A L 1-2 1 Goal
17-03-1944 NIR League..... H L 3-4
10-04-1944 NIR League..... A D 2-2
17-03-1945 NIR League..... H W 2-1
02-04-1945 NIR League..... A W 5-3 1 Goal

Summary: 7/3. Won 4, Drew 1, Lost 2.

Ireland Rugby International Caps:
06-12-1947 Australia..... H L 3-16

Summary: 1/0. Won 0, Drew 0, Lost 1.

Billy McWha

"Very fast forward; unselfish in passing" - Irish Football Annual 1880

Name: William B.R. McWha*
Born: c.1860
Died: 1909, India
Height:
Weight:
Position: Forward

Representative Honours: Ireland: 7 Full Caps / 1 Goal (1882-1885).
Club Honours: (with Cliftonville) Irish Cup Winner 1882/83; Charity Cup Winner 1883/84, Runner-up 1884/85.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA Cup	Other
Albion Rugby FC		-	-	-	-	-
Knock	79/80-81/82	-	-	0(0)/0	-	-
Cliftonville	82/83-84/85	-1882	-	0(0)/0	-	-
TOTALS	-	£-		0(0)/0	-	-

Biography:
Billy McWha, son of James, was educated at Methodist College, Belfast, along with another future International footballer, John Sinclair. Initially a wing-forward at rugby with Albion RFC, McWha took up football with Knock FC during 1879/80 season, playing as one of two-right wingers in the original 2 backs – 2 half-backs – 2 right-wing – 2 centres and 2 left-wing forwards formation.

At Knock most of McWha’s matches were in friendlies apart from those in the Irish Cup. In 1881 he took part in an 11-0 cup win over Distillery, before losing out to Cliftonville 1-2 in a semi-final replay after an initial 2-2 draw. 1881/82 saw him score twice in the 4-0 cup win over Malone, only to lose again to Cliftonville, 2-0 in the second round. He also gained his first two caps that season, playing in the right wing position.

McWha moved to Cliftonville for the 1882/83 season. He at last tasted success n the Irish Cup, scoring twice in the 5-0 Final win over Ulster. Shortly thereafter this he moved to London to gain qualifications in medical administration**.

Back in Belfast for the end of 1883/84 season, McWha "kicked the ball between the posts" for his only goal for Ireland against Scotland – a last minute consolation in an 8-1 defeat. That was the only goal the Irish team scored in the first ever British Championship tournament. He played at centre-forward for the first time in this match. He then played at left forward as he gained a Charity Cup winner’s medal with Cliftonville in a 2-0 win over Distillery.

1884/85 saw McWha’s footballing career draw to a close with two further International caps, the last one being against Wales in April 1885, when he played at left-half in Ireland’s first use of the three half-back formation. He finished the season in a 1-0 defeat to Oldpark in the Charity Cup Final, again appearing at left-half.

McWha continued with his medical duties before moving to Scotland. On the 14th October 1908 he set sail from Liverpool to Calcutta, India on the “City of Paris” to take up duties there. A few months later it was reported that he had tragically been drowned while out duck shooting.

Ireland Cap Details:
18-02-1882 England. H L 0-13 FR
25-02-1882 Wales... A L 1- 7 FR
24-02-1883 England. A L 0- 7 FR
17-03-1883 Wales... H D 1- 1 FR
23-02-1884 England. H L 1- 8 BC 1 Goal
28-02-1885 England. A L 0- 4 BC
11-04-1885 Wales... H L 2- 8 BC

Summary: 7/1. Won 0, Drew 1, Lost 6.


* Possibly William Barrie Ritchie McWha.
** McWha was previously thought to have been a medical doctor, however British Medical Council records confirm that this was not so.

By George Glass

Bill Morrow

Name: William James Morrow
Born: 16 November 1851
Died: 22 January 1922
Height:
Weight:
Position: Forward

Representative Honours: Ireland: 3 Caps / 1 Goal (1883-1884).
Club Honours: (with Moyola Park) Irish Cup Winner 1880/81.

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA.Cup	Other
Ulster	-	-	-	0(0)/0	-	-
Moyola.Park	-	-1881	-	0(0)/0	-	-
TOTALS	-	£0		0(0)/0	-	-

Biography:
A big-name star in the earliest days of football in Ireland, Bill Morrow had been playing the “rugby code” as well as cricket with Mountpottinger and Ulster from 1874 to 1880. He took to the Association game initially with Ulster and joined Moyola Park, desperate for experienced players, in time for the first ever Irish Cup competition.

The Castledawson side drew criticism for their robust style of play, but it was undoubtedly effective as they won the 1881 Irish Cup final 1-0 over Cliftonville, courtesy of a goal from Morrow, their captain. Indeed Park did not concede a single goal throughout that inaugural competition!

Capped for the first time against England in February 1883, Morrow made history a month later when he scored the equalising goal that secured Ireland’s first ever draw, 1-1 against Wales at Ballynafeigh.

Morrow later umpired at several international matches involving Ireland and became a well-known referee.

Ireland Cap Details:
24-02-1883 England. A L 0-7 FR
17-03-1883 Wales... H D 1-1 FR 1 Goal
26-01-1884 Scotland H L 0-5 BC

Summary: 3/1. Won 0, Drew 1, Lost 2.

Dick Rowley

Name: Richard William Morris Rowley
Born: 13 January 1904, Enniskillen
Died: 18 April 1984, Southampton (England)
Height: 6.00 ft
Weight: 12.00 st
Position: Inside-Right

Representative Honours: Ireland: 6 Full Caps / 2 Goals (1929-1931).

Club Career:

Teams	Seasons	Signed	Fee	League	FA.Cup	Other
Tidworth Utd	-	-	-	-	-	-
Andover	-	Sep-22	Amateur	-	-	-
Swindon Town	25/26	Nov-24	Amateur	2/ 2	-	-
London Casuals	-	1925	Amateur	-	-	-
Southampton	26/27-29/30	May-26	Amateur	104/52	9/6	-
Tottenham.H.	29/30-31/32	Feb-30	£3,750	24/10	-	-
Preston N.E.	31/32-33/34	Dec-31	£5,000	51/14	7/2	-
TOTALS	-	£8,750		181/78	16/8	-

Biography:
The son of an army major, Dick Rowley spent his childhood in a number of barracks. He excelled at a number of sports, representing Wiltshire and Hampshire at cricket, golf, tennis, 100 yards, hurdles and motoring. Further, while on active service Rowley won the DCM.

Rowley first took to football with the Fulwood Barracks team but on attending Taunton College Grammar School he was forced to switch to rugby. With his schooling over he returned to football and played as an amateur with a number of clubs and played his first League games during a brief spell with Swindon Town.

In May 1926 Rowley signed for Southampton and quickly struck an understanding with Bill Rawlings and by that November he had been awarded his first professional deal. Regarded primarily as a "schemer" capable of working space from deep, he was also an adept goalscorer. In the Saints' run to the 1927 FA Cup semi-final he scored five goals and began to attract scouts from more "glamorous" clubs. In 1929/30 he managed 25 goals in as many games, including four away to Bradford City and hattricks on successive games against Nottingham Forest and Chelsea.

Capped for the first time in a 2-2 draw against Wales in February 1929, it was his role in the same fixture a year later for which Rowley is best remembered, his passes setting Ireland on the way to a 7-0 victory and Joe Bambrick to a double hattrick. Rowley scored his first international goal in front of a 40,000 crowd at Windsor Park on the occasion of his second cap - indeed he was one of the few Irish players to earn credit as Scotland "stronger in every respect" cruised to a 7-3 victory. In all Rowley won four caps while a Southampton player.

In February 1930 Tottenham had an irresistible £3,750 bid for Rowley accepted. It was not to prove a wholly successful move as he was largely restricted to the reserves though Rowley did add a further two caps to his collection while a Spurs player. When he left White Hart Lane behind after a little under two years Spurs still netted a sizable £5,000 fee from Preston North End in a deal that also included Ted Harper.

In 1932/33 Rowley laid on many of Harpers' 37 goals and claimed five himself as Preston fell well short of the Second Division promotion spots. In the following campaign the partnership was split up as Harper left to join Blackburn mid-season and injuries restricted Rowley to just five games as Preston claimed promotion to the First Division as runners-up. Unable to face a campaign in the topflight, Rowley retired in the summer of 1934.

With his playing days behind him, Rowley became a coach with the Lancashire AFA in July 1937 and in the 1940s shared his skills and knowledge with RAF Uxbridge.

Ireland Cap Details:
02-02-1929 Wales... A D 2-2 BC
23-02-1929 Scotland H L 3-7 BC 1 Goal
19-10-1929 England. A L 0-3 BC
01-02-1930 Wales... H W 7-0 BC
22-04-1931 Wales... A L 2-3 BC 1 Goal
19-09-1931 Scotland A L 1-3 BC

Summary: 6/2. Won 1, Drew 1, Lost 4.