Hull FC were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former Black & White centre, and two-time Championship Final winner, Bryan Cooper, over the weekend.
Club Historian Bill Dalton looks back on his life and career…
Bryan, who was born on 27th December 1931, made his mark on junior rugby league when he played for the Fish Trades Youth Club team in the years immediately after the war.
There was a great rivalry existed at that period between Fish Trades and Hull Boy’s Club, for whom Johnny Whiteley played. Bryan was signed by Hull during the 1949-50 season and made his debut for the first-team on 8th April 1950 in a defeat at Hunslet.
Bryan’s progress in the Hull FC ranks was halted somewhat by his National Service intervening, as happened to many players in those times, but he was a regular in the ‘A’ team when available.
Added to that of course, the great captain-coach Roy Francis was occupying a centre berth throughout the first half of the decade.
Upon the retirement of Francis, Bryan grasped his chance early in the 1955-56 Championship-winning season, playing 29 games, including the play-off semi-final at Warrington, when he scored a try in the 17-0 victory – the first time Warrington had lost at home to a Yorkshire side since 1938.
Of course, he also played in the final against Halifax at Maine Road, Manchester.
An injury sustained at Wakefield in March 1957 kept Bryan out of the game for a year so he missed the 1957 final against Oldham, but he was back in his customary centre position for the successful final against Workington Town in 1958.
Bryan, who by now was Hull’s ‘lucky mascot’ where Championship play-off rugby league was concerned, scored in the semi-final at Oldham and notched Hull’s first score in the 20-3 final victory at Odsal, after Workington had taken the lead.
He was not so lucky though at Wembley, where he appeared in Hull’s first visit there in May 1959.
Bryan brought the curtain down on his career in January 1960 and was awarded a benefit match in April 1960 against Huddersfield, which was a joint effort with the legendary Tommy Harris.
Bryan passed away at the age of 90 over the weekend – the thoughts of everyone at the club are with his family and friends at this difficult time.
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