Career Record for Featherstone
Appearances			Tries	Goals	Drop Goals	Points
Total	Start	Sub
417	379	38	57	7	67	265

Keith Bell's father and three brothers all played tor Featherstone Rovers and so it seems that he was destined not only to play rugby league but also to play for the Rovers. He signed as a hooker from Featherstone juniors team, and made his senior debut at home to Batley on 28 November 1971, when he scored a try in a 54-0 demolition. Keith Bridges was the Featherstone number 9 at that time and a player from whom Bell learned a great deal.  Nevertheless, this meant that young Bell had to bide his time. He made only five senior appearances in that first season, but was able to be a part of the successful 'A' team which won the Yorkshire Senior Competition Championship.  The following season was again spent deputising for Bridges, but on 12 November l972 the coach, Peter Fox, decided to play him at loose forward. Although this was his only appearance that season at number 13, there were many more appearances to come in that position and many more drop goals.

After this brief excursion into the number 13 jersey, he returned to his number 9 position, deputising until Peter Fox gave him his second opportunity at loose-forward in the Captain Morgan Trophy final on 26 January 1974, ahead of 'Charlie' Stone. Although the Rovers lost 4-0, he played impressively and for the rest of the season was either deputising for Bridges or vying with Stone. It certainly showed his blossoming versatility. When the Rovers commenced another splendid RL Cup run, he secured the number 13 spot and was delighted to appear in the 1974 final at Wembley. Although Warrington once again dashed the Rovers' hopes, it was a marvellous experience for Bell in only his third season.

He still floated between the two positions in 1974/75, but new coach Keith Goulding decided that Bell's talents were to be best utilised in any of the back three positions. That's where he was put and that's where he stayed from 1975 to 1983, giving Bell the opportunity to revel as a master tactician and ball handler.  In 1975/76, he only missed two matches and scored his highest seasonal total of tries, 12. This season also saw the birth of that redoubtable pack combination of Thompson, Bridges, Farrar, Smith, Stone and Bell which was to form the basis of future Rovers success. Not that it helped in the 1976 Yorkshire Cup final, which Leeds won 16-12, and proved to be another disappointment for Bell.

Recompense came at the end of the 1976/77 season, when a very competent Rovers outfit were crowned First Division Champions for the first time in their history. Bell played his full part by making 36 appearances, and further rewards came later in 1977. He made his Yorkshire County debut v Cumberland at York in October - the first of four appearances. On 12 November he played for the Great Britain Under 24'team against France at Hull. Great Britain won 27-9 and a month later won the return encounter at Tonneins. He scored the winning try there and took the Man of the Match Award in both games. The match reports focused upon his intelligent passing and tricky breaks, attributes which the Featherstone fans knew all about. However, a Yorkshire Cup winners' medal still evaded him as Rovers lost their second successive final, this time to Castleford.

With the break-up of that famous pack, only Bell and Peter Smith remained as the 'veterans' around which a new pack was to be built. Bell's experience was invaluable as he continued to add to his own personal performances in appearances and drop goals which had become his particular speciality. He had three drop goals in two games v Hull (at home) in August 1979 and in January 1981 at Bradford. In that season, 1980/81, he drop kicked 15 goals, all of which must have been records in their own right, at the time.

In May 1982, the local Express reported that Rovers' back three of 'Smith, Hobbs and Bell were the envy of the Rugby League'. One year later, he experienced one of his worst disappointments when coach Alan Agar did not include him in the Rovers XV which triumphed over Hull in the RL Cup Final. Nor did he feature much in the following season, 1983/84; indeed, he only made three appearances in what was his testimonial season, although it was his thirteenth year with the club.

He returned to the fold properly in 1985/86, operating mainly in the second row; 12 drop goals in 23 appearances showed that his flair and opportunism still had a part to play. However in 1986/87 the Rovers slid into the Second Division for the second time in his career (1978/79) was the first occasion). Fortunately, they bounced back at the first attempt at a time when Bell had returned to the hooking role. The team finished second in the league table, but lost the Premiership Trophy Final to Oldham by 28 points to 26. This was his last big stage. He continued to make the odd appearance with the seniors until 1990 (his last match being at home to Wigan in March) and he was given a free transfer in November. His Rovers career had spanned 19 years and six months, a record for any Rovers player, and his career 73 drop goals must also be a record. He then joined Hunslet, where he made 60 appearances before finally retiring in 1993 at the age of thirty-nine years.

Keith Bell was considered by many to be one of the finest ball-handlers in the game. With his intelligent approach, he was a quick thinker, a superb footballer and could read the game. His astute passing and kicking oiled Rovers' attacking play for years. He graced the game and the club he loved so well - indeed there can have been no better clubman.

 

Biography by Ron Bailey