Leeds Rhinos mourning Welsh rugby union convert who played in trophy-winning side
A former player who crossed codes from rugby union to join Leeds has died, aged 70.
Gordon Pritchard - who was a football trialist with Manchester United - played rugby union for Cardiff and Newport before turning professional with Leeds in 1974. At the time, players who switched to league received a life ban from involvement in rugby union.
Pritchard also had to give up his job as a policeman to move north. A centre, he didn’t make a first team appearance for Leeds, but was a member of their reserves side who were crowned ‘A’ team champions in 1974-75 after beating Bradford Northern 16-9 in the play-off final at Odsal. The team that day was: Brian Murrell (captain), Derek Howard, Neil Hague, Gordon Pritchard, Derek Parker, Paul Fletcher, Kevin Dick, Roy Dickinson, Ian Payne, Paul Quinn, Brendan White, Steve Dickens, Bryan Adams. Subs David Barham, Howard Budby.
Pritchard had a trial with another Leeds club, Bramley, the following season before signing for Bradford. He spent three seasons with Northern and went on to play for Barrow, Huddersfield and New Zealand club Eastern Suburbs. He returned to Wales as a founder member of Cardiff City Blue Dragons in 1981 and crossed codes back to union seven years later as coach of Pontypool, one of the few ex-league players allowed to return to the sport before it went openly professional in 1995.
He later coached at Tondu, Bristol and finally Caerphilly. His league career included three caps for Wales, against France and England in 1978 and England three years later.