VALE DAVID OXLEY AND FRED LINDOP

David Oxley and Fred Lindop were key figures in British Rugby League for many years. Oxford educated David Oxley was Chief Executive of the RFL from 1974 to 1992, while Wakefield’s Fred Lindop was an International referee, who became the first fulltime boss of referees in the UK, when he was appointed to the post by Oxley in 1983.

Lindop controlled all three Tests when the Kangaroos toured Britain in 1967, sending off Brisbane Brothers’ prop, Dennis Manteit in the First Test at Headingley Leeds. Lindop was still around in 1982, when I covered the Kangaroo tour for Brisbane’s Telegraph, and he controlled the opening match – against Hull Kingston Rovers.

Earlier in 1982, Lindop refereed the Trans-Tasman Series in Australia, earning the ire of Australian coach, Frank Stanton, for what Stanton regarded as a pedantic display in the First Test at Lang Park. Lindop heavily penalised both teams for not getting back on-side, but was particularly harsh on the Australian side, which was captained by hooker, Max Krilich, and featured two Queenslanders on debut – Paul ‘Fatty Vautin and Rohan Hancock.

“In off-side play and scrummaging, the Australian side was the poorest and most unresponsive I have seen,” Lindop told ‘Rugby League Week’.

Lindop also controlled Wembley Cup finals, including the 1982 match, which saw Widnes and Hull play a 14-all draw. He also controlled the re-play, at Elland Road, Leeds, 18 days later, when Hull got home 18-9, giving them their first Challenge Cup title in 68 years.

Oxley took over the reins of the Rugby Football League in 1974, from Bill Fallowfield, when the CEO’s position was advertised in the national press. Evidently Oxley had had little to do with league since he moved from from his home city, Hull, and had pursued a career in education, after graduating from Oxford Uni with a degree in English History. He worked in schools in York, and also the Royal Military School, Dover, Kent.

In 1974, the game in England wasn’t travelling particularly well, which seems strange, given Britain had won the Ashes series against Australia, in Australia in 1970; won the 1972 World Cup in France, and narrowly lost series against Australia in 1973 and ’74, despite the unavailability of a number of star players, who had joined Sydney clubs.

It seems the game was on the nose because of violence on the pitch; antiquated facilities; a lack of promotion and vision; financial difficulties; the loss of stars to Australia. And, on top of that, the London based national press was effectively ignoring the sport.

The first time I experienced English Rugby League, under Oxley’s stewardship, was 1977-78 when my wife, Marie and I were on a working holiday in Europe. We went to games in Widnes, Castleford, Bradford, Warrington and Huyton, as well as the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley. We enjoyed all the football we saw, but the facilities were certainly primitive, and the promotion, little more than the odd marching band (although it’s hard to beat a good marching band).

By the time I landed in London, to cover the 1982 Roo tour, the game had expanded to take in professional teams in Cardiff and London, and the image of the game had improved, thanks to the work of David Oxley and his off-sider, David Howes, the RFL’s first fulltime media officer.

“We were like door-to-door salesmen, selling nothing more than slices of optimism,” Howes said, when asked about those early years, when he and Oxley travelled to league strongholds on a trip of discovery.

In 1982, when the Kangaroos swept all before them with a new style of football – new to the UK anyway – Oxley and co. realised there had to an overhaul of training and coaching methods, which many people believed had not changed a lot since the 1950s. British authorities also lifted the ban on Australian players, hoping an influx of talent from the Antipodes, would improve standards.

Oxley’s administration took the First Test of the 1986 Ashes series to Old Trafford, and the first of the 1990 series, to Wembley, playing in front of record UK Test crowds on both occasions.

With the support of the ‘two Davids’, rugby league was first played within the precincts of Oxford University – on a ground belonging to Corpus Christie College – on March 5, 1977. That summer, Oxford University officially recognised the new club as one of its own, despite early, rabid opposition from the rugby union. Cambridge University followed three years later and the first inter-varsity league game was played at Craven Cottage, Fulham on April 26, 1981.

David Oxley retired in 1992 after yet another record crowd – this time for the World Cup Final at Wembley. Maurice Lindsay, from Bolton, was his successor.

David Oxley, 85, and Fred Lindop, 84, died in January, 2023.