Ray French

For the baseball player, see Ray French (baseball). For the American printmaker and artist, see Ray H. French.

Ray French
MBE
Personal information
Full nameRaymond James French MBE
Born (1939-12-23) 23 December 1939 (age 84)
St Helens, Lancashire, England
Playing information
Rugby union
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
–1961 St Helens RUFC
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1961–61 England 4 0 0 0 0
Rugby league
PositionSecond-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1961–67 St. Helens 204 10 0 0 30
1967–71 Widnes 123 6 0 0 18
Total 327 16 0 0 48
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1968 Great Britain 4 0 0 0 0
196? Lancashire 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]

Raymond James French, MBE (born 23 December 1939)[2] is an English former rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s. French played at international level in both codes. He won four caps for England in rugby union in 1961 as a lock forward, then moved to rugby league as a second-row and played for his home town club, St. Helens, before going on to play at Widnes.[1]

After training as a school teacher,[3] he taught at Cowley School in St. Helens, Lancashire, where his local counterparts included Brian Ashton who taught at Stonyhurst College.

French was a commentator for the BBC on rugby league on both television and radio, beginning his television career in 1981 following the retirement of Eddie Waring. He is well known for his range of colloquialisms. French is regularly heard on the Rugby League show Try Time each Thursday on BBC Radio Merseyside giving his views on the state of the game in his forthright way. He retired in 2019.

In 2010, French received the Mike Gregory Spirit of Rugby League Award to mark his contribution to the game.[4]

Also President of the St Helens Past Players' Association, French was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to rugby league.[5]

  1. ^ a b "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  2. ^ Ray French takes his cup final leave
  3. ^ Ashton's long road to Paris, via Leigh and Tyldesley Archived 22 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian – 19 October 2007
  4. ^ news.bbc.co.uk (27 September 2010). "Wigan's Pat Richards named 2010 Man of Steel". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  5. ^ "No. 59647". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2010. p. 16.