Career Record for Featherstone
Appearances			Tries	Goals	Drop Goals	Points
Total	Start	Sub
25	24	1	6	0	0	24

Born at Bredasdorp in the Cape Province in South Africa, David Barends grew into a well built but fast winger who was selected at 20 years old to play for the South African Coloured Rugby Union against the national team, the Springboks. During the Apartheid regime, no black player could play for South Africa, and so Barends' chances would always be extremely limited in his homeland. Sensing a chance to escape such a system, Barends signed for Wakefield Trinity, came to England and made his new home at Hemsworth. He then signed for Bradford, helped them win the Championship, was selected for the 1979 Great Britain tour of Australia and won two caps.

He came to Featherstone in the twilight of his career for the 1983/84 season which, after the euphoria of the 1983 Cup win, was a  disappointment.  He did provide one memorable moment in the game against his former club in April 1984.  With relegation looming, in a dour struggle at home against Bradford, Rovers were losing 8 - 6 with one minute to go and some of the disgruntled Rovers fans were already heading for the exits or out of the ground.  The ball went out to Barends who burst through a couple of tackles and dived over in the corner to give Rovers a much needed victory.  Overall he gave good service to the club, played the game with a smile and was widely respected by players and fans. The following season he moved to Batley and scored on his debut.  After retiring, he worked for many years for the Probation Service at Doncaster.