A death is often a sad experience, but when you have touched the lives of so many it is a painful one – we pay tribute to former Salford player John Cheshire.
On September 4 this year, former Salford rugby player John Cheshire passed away at the age of 91.
Described as a “true gentleman on and off the pitch,” it is clear that his impact in the sport went beyond the pitch.
The passing of the former Salford man was greatly felt, as David Clegg, a long-time volunteer at the Red Devils shared his memories of the Salford player.
He said: “The word I would use to describe him, both as a player and as a person, was immaculate.
“John was an absolute gentleman in every way, and he had this beautiful welsh purring voice that sort of could soothe you to sleep.”
And this relationship was understood to be closer than first though, with Clegg being a neighbour of the Salford rugby star when they lived in Manchester.
However, he was quick to admit he didn’t know this until he started supporting the club, he shared: “At the age of four I was taken to watch Salford play away at a team called Belle Vue Rangers.’’
‘’We all met up as a family to watch my first rugby match, I was quite frightened by the crowd roaring.
“I was taken to watch the reserves playing, it wasn’t as noisy and it developed from there.”
“I was eventually allowed to watch a first team match around the age of eight and John was a regular in the team. He’d joined in about 1955.’’
He continued: “He was just part of the team at that point, I didn’t know that he lived nearby or anything.
“I was about 11 when I then found out that John was living nearby and then got to know him from that point on,”
John Cheshire was born in South Wales, a hotbed of rugby union. He was picked up by Salford in 1955 signing from his local club Cross Keys, and stayed with the club until 1963.
In total, he made 255 appearances for the club, over the eight seasons he was with then, scoring 43 tries, 141 goals, making a total of 411 points.
On his playing ability, Clegg said: “He was a real class centre, he did absolutely everything almost to perfection.
“Salford didn’t have a wonderful team at the time, but around that time they had a small number of really good players and John was one of those.
“John was particularly good on defence, but he could bring out quality from attacking moves with his wingers when he was in possession of the ball.”
John left Salford in 1961 when he went to play for Oldham, where he retired the following September in 1962.
After his retirement he moved back to Wales but remained incredibly loyal to the club throughout his life.
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However, despite moving away John and David remained in touch until his passing this September: “In the last few years just before the pandemic, I kept him informed about things going on.
“By that stage a number of the players who he played alongside had passed on and I kept him informed on things like that.”
Following his death the Salford Red Devils released a tribute to him and his career last month:
“He remained exceedingly loyal to Salford throughout the whole of his life, despite having moved back to live in South Wales.
“He always attended special events at The Willows, such as the centenary celebration match v Widnes, 1979, and was a regular attendee at what was first known as The Red Devils’ Dinner, and later became The Lance Todd Dinner, right up until shortly before the pandemic.”
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