David J. Ward is an
English former
rugby league footballer and coach. A
hooker, he played for and managed
Leeds RLFC. Possibly the greatest moment of his playing career was his performance during the 1978
Challenge Cup final at
Wembley Stadium against
St Helens, where he gave a commanding performance marshalling the
Leeds team, and kicked two late drop-goals to complete what was then a record comeback. He won a total of 12
Great Britain caps and, in 1977, won the inaugural
Man of Steel Award.
One of the more notable signings of his coaching career was when Ward brought
John Gallagher to
Leeds, converting the player from
rugby union, but Ward was ultimately unsuccessful at Leeds, despite being in charge of one of only two full-time squads in the league at the time.The other was
Wigan He later went on to coach lower-league
Batley.
Ward currently runs
Birstall Squash Club, and has done for many years. His son
Danny is a rugby league player, with one Great Britain cap; he signed for
Harlequins Rugby League in 2008. Ward also runs Birstall Victoria Rugby Club which had seen little success until May 2011 when the Under 12's team were the first Birstall team to lift the Continuation cup beating York Acorn 40-4. Ward watched the match from the players bar, when the match was over he said one word: "awesome".David is also well known locally for his impersonation of the legendary singer Frank Sinatra.
International honours
In addition to the above......
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