Career Record for Featherstone
Appearances			Tries	Goals	Drop Goals	Points
Total	Start	Sub
233	218	15	47	0	0	186

Alan Banks shared a family pedigree for rugby league football. His younger brother Keith played for Wakefield Trinity, and his other brother, Barry, played for York and Hull. It was not surprising therefore that Alan was outstanding at schoolboy and junior level and he was snapped up by the Rovers from their Under-17 side at the tender age of seventeen years. He was signed as a stand-off and made his full senior debut away to Hull on 10 November l982. Despite his youth, he soon displayed his talent and scored his first try in the Boxing Day home victory over Carlisle. When the 1983 RL Challenge Cup trail began, he was thrust into the epic 11-10 win at St Helens in the third round followed by the semi-final win over Bradford. This was 'blooding' indeed and his reward was a Wembley appearance seven days before his eighteenth birthday. He was certainly the youngest Rovers player to have appeared at Wembley and at the time he was the second youngest ever - Reg Lloyd of Keighley was 17 years 7 months old when he played in the 1937 final.

His progress continued and in the following season he had an uninterrupted run of 38 consecutive matches which ran into September 1984 and he was proving to be a very effective partner to Deryck Fox. His versatility began to emerge when he successfully switched to centre in December. He was then back at stand-off and alternated comfortably between the two positions to suit the needs of the club. With the arrival of Graham Steadman in February 1986, he settled in the centre but after playing at St Helens in January 1987, he was out of the game for over a year. He returned at Oldham in February 1988 at centre, and soon showed that he had lost none of his skills. Indeed, he moved into probably his best period with the club, enjoying his best season in 1988/89 playing in all 35 matches. He was again dominant in the following season, playing in 34 of the 36 games and even appearing at full-back and on the wing – thus qualifying as a utility back. He also received the Keith Goulding Clubman of the Year award in May 1990, which demonstrated the esteem in which he was held. After the euphoria of Wembley in 1983, he had to share the partial disappointment of being runners-up in the Second Division trophy v Oldham in 1988 and the Yorkshire Cup v Bradford in 1989.

With the acquisition of players of the calibre of Newlove, Simpson, Bibb and Smales, Banks did not play for the club as frequently in 1990/91, but in his utility back role he scored five tries in eight games. It was, however, a complete surprise when he decided to retire at the comparatively early age of twenty-five after playing at Warrington on 20 January 1991.

With his early entry into senior football, he had played eight seasons. Averaging nearly thirty appearances a season and renowned for his fearless and solid defence, he was a consistent and highly committed player. Alan Banks was a fine reader of the game, supporting play shrewdly and effectively in attack, and was a very good ambassador for the club both on and off the field.

 

Biography by Ron Bailey