Explore the History and Heritage of Featherstone Rovers
Ron Bailey Collection
Ron Bailey was Secretary of Featherstone Rovers from 1955 to 1967. Though akin to the CEO of today in those days the post was a part-time one. As well as doing this job, and pursuing his full-time career, Ron also found time to research and write extensively about the club, something he had started before he got the secretary’s job. In 1956, Ron produced the first Official History of Featherstone Rovers and he has gone on to write several books about the Rovers as well as writing many articles for the club programme, the Rugby Leaguer and various other publications.
In 2005, Ron started writing for the Rugby League Journal which is a quarterly magazine that focuses on the heritage of the game with a mantra of being "for fans who don't want to forget". For those with an interest in the wider history of rugby league it is highly recommended and a link to the magazines' website can be found in the "other sites" tab above.
Over 17 years Ron wrote 55 articles for the journal on Featherstone Rovers before finally retiring his pen at the age of 90. These articles cover a wide array of topics dealing with success, failure, controversy and even tragedy. They provide a unique insight not only to events on the field but also how the club operated off the field. In many cases they provide a contrast with the world of rugby league in the 21st century but they also highlight that debate about league structure, summer rugby and club finances are not new and have raged for decades (and probably always will).
There are tributes to individual players and descriptions of now defunct competitions that were once important features on the rugby league calendar. Collectively they provide a unique archive and we are pleased, with the kind permission of Ron himself, and Harry Edgar the publisher of the Rugby League Journal, to now publish online the many articles Ron has written.
You can find the collection here. The articles are in chronological order and the dates refer to when the article was first published in the Rugby League Journal.