Bill Pattinson – the first of two players with the same name to represent Workington Town – has died at the age of 81.
A quality back-rower, either as a foraging second-row or a ball-handling loose forward, he played 109 times for Town, scoring 431 tries and kicking two goals.
He had played his amateur rugby for Risehow and actually had trials with Huddersfield before turning pro with Town in 1965.
He won a Great Britain Under-24 cap the following season and went on to represent Cumberland on six occasions.
Bill played in the Cumberland side which won the County Championship with an 18-14 win over Lancashire at Wilderspool in 1966 when he scored two tries.
He was also in the Cumberland side which beat the touring Australians 17-15 at Derwent Park in 1967.
He left Town in 1969 for what was described as a substantial fee to join Warrington but after just one season, in which he played 25 times, he left and became a significant capture for Swinton.
Between 1970 and 1973 he amassed 69 appearances for the Lions, during which time he scored 12 tries and kicked three goals. However, the nearest he came to silverware was when Swinton lost the 1972 Lancashire Cup Final.
In 1972 he joined Bradford Northern and played for them at Wembley in the 1973 Challenge Cup Final.
They lost that one to Featherstone Rovers, but he was on the winning side a couple of seasons later when Bradford beat Widnes 3-2 in the John Player Trophy Final.
He returned to Station Road in 1975 after Swinton had been promoted to the top division, but unfortunately he couldn’t help prevent an immediate relegation.
He retired at the end of the 1976/77 season, having added a further 36 appearances to his Swinton tally.
In total during his professional career he played 290 games, plus 22 as a substitute, scoring 56 tries and six goals.
In an area when Cumberland produced a host of quality players Bill Pattinson was up there with them.
