Bev Risman, eldest son of legendary Workington Town coach Gus, has died at the age of 85.
He was born in Salford when his father played there but his rugby career had started at Cockermouth Grammar School when his father moved to live in the town after taking on the coaching role with Town.
His first international call-up was for the England Schoolboys.
He went on to play senior international rugby at both union and league, and was held in high regard for his ability in both codes as a full-back or fly-half.
Bev was a British Lions tourist in 1959 and played eight times for England in union before following his father Gus in taking up league when he signed for Leigh.
In six years there he played 140 games before being sold to Leeds in 1966 where he went on to play 164 times before retiring in 1970 because of a recurring injury.
He was Great Britain captain at the 1968 league World Cup, and won both the Challenge Cup and Championship with Leeds.
After retiring he became involved in coach education, the development of the game in the South of England and the organisation of student rugby league. He was inducted to the rugby league Roll of Honour in 2005, and was elected president of the Rugby Football League in 2010.
He was awarded an OBE for services to rugby league in the 2012 New Year’s Honours list.
Rugby Football League chief executive Tony Sutton said: “We pay tribute to a man who made such a contribution to both codes of rugby as a player, and to Rugby League in such a range of roles after his retirement.”
