A rugby league legend, with strong connections to Cumbria and St Helens, will be tuning into Whitehaven’s Challenge Cup tie tomorrow.
Tommy Bishop, who played for Barrow and coached Workington Town, will be watching out for his grandson Alex who has come over from Australia to play for Whitehaven this year.
Bishop senior earned cult status as a St Helens player with 135 appearances between 1966 and 1969.
He had previously played for Blackpool Borough (166 games) and Barrow (30) and had played 60 times for Cronulla Sharks before he retired in 1973.
Capped 15 times for Great Britain, Bishop has lived in Australia for nearly 30 years.
Speaking ahead of the big game, grandson Alex said: “Obviously I spoke to him about coming to Cumbria when I signed for Whitehaven. He says it’s the most beautiful part of the UK to live, apart from St Helens apparently.
“When I was very young he used to tell me his stories about playing the game, and coaching, but as I’ve got older I’ve done my own research and seen what he achieved.
“It’s clear he left a pretty big footprint for his family before he moved over to Australia.”
Tommy is 80 years of age now but in 1980, after he had gone back to coach Cronulla for a second time he was tempted back to England to coach Workington Town.
In two seasons he won 36 of the 58 matches he was in charge and the 62% win rate was the highest of his coaching career.
He left Town for Leigh and then had a brief spell in charge of Barrow before moving permanently back to Australia in 1985.
Bishop is still held in high esteem in his hometown of St Helens, which adds more spice to the tie with grandson Alex in the Haven line-up.
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