His older brother Peter, who also found rugby league fame, was among those who paid tribute to the sporting giant at St Luke's Church in Sharlston.

Hundreds of well-wishers lined the streets to say goodbye to the village hero, who died at Pinderfields Hospital last Thursday, aged 72.

In his eulogy, Peter Fox described Don as a "legend" and talked about his famous conversion miss in the last seconds of the 1968 Challenge Cup final between Leeds and Wakefield, a match which became known as 'watersplash.'

He said: "When Eddie Waring shouted "he's missed it, he's missed it", that was just the excitement of the commentator. A few seconds later, Don went down on his knees and Eddie said "poor lad". That will stay with me forever.

"Afterwards, he said to me, "Peter, I've missed goals before but I've lost the gold medal for all my friends'. That was our Don. He wasn't concerned for what he did, he was concerned about what he hadn't done for his friends.

"That was his life, playing rugby. He was always small but he was full of courage. It's amazing how good a player our Don was.

"You will never meet a nicer lad. I know he's my brother, but that doesn't matter. He was a nice lad."

Among the mourners were Fox's wife of nearly 50 years, Mary, his younger brother Neil and his son, Gregory.

Watersplash team-mate Harold Poynter and Castleford forward Mick Morgan joined a host of rugby stars to pay their respects to Fox, who holds the Featherstone Rovers record for tries scored - 162 - and is third in the club's all-time goal-kicking charts, with 503 in 369 appearances.

Mick said: "My first-ever memory was in 1955, going to watch Featherstone Rovers play at Headingley. Don Fox was best player out there.

"In 1963, when he left Featherstone and went to Wakefield, it broke my heart. In 1965, as a 16-year-old, I signed for Wakefield and Don Fox used to take me training and we played for the same team. He was my hero and he was the best player I ever saw."

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