Keith Brierley – The 71 year old rugby player
“I’m a working class boy; we don’t play rugby union, that’s a toff’s game.”
Not something you’d expect to hear from a retired rugby player, let alone one who has just this year retired after an astonishing 53 years in the game. But that was Keith Brierley’s reaction as an 18 year old when his friends tried to persuade him to try out for Preston Grasshoppers in 1960.
“I was always more of a footballer,” states the player known affectionately as ‘Dad’, “but I was persuaded to go down and train over the summer.” His first chance came in a game between Preston Grasshopper’s 4th team and Birkenhead Park but it wasn’t quite as straightforward as that: “they [Birkenhead] only had 14 players, so our captain asked if I would play for them.”
Keith, just wanting to play, duly obliged and jogged over to the Birkenhead captain, little did he know he’d receive a piece of advice which would mould his playing style for the next 50 years. “I didn’t know about positions, I’d never played before. So he put me on the wing and just said: ‘put your head down and run’ so I did that for the next 50 years.”
The sport which Keith had completely dismissed in the past soon became a passion of his and his ambitions quickly changed from football to rugby union. But he’s a humble character and his ambitions very modest to begin with: “I was 18 when I started out playing for the 4th team, and it was my lifelong ambition just to get into the 4th team!” However, very driven, he soon wanted to improve himself and be the best he could. “I got into the 4th team I thought: ‘Oh I love this game!’ Then I got picked for the 3rd team and worked my way up.”
It took Keith 5 years to work his way up the teams and make his 1st team debut against the Vale of Lune in September 1965. But nobody could envisage just how crucial he’d become to the Grasshoppers or how long he’d last in the game, not even himself: “I never thought beyond the next season. I never even dreamt that I would last this long and I’ve been very fortunate.”
He admits he’s been lucky in terms of injury with a torn hamstring that kept him out for 8 weeks being the most severe. But he has also strived to stay über-fit over the years with his love of sport helping to keep him in shape. “I was sat with the son of an ex-[Preston] North End player who played rugby in the early 60s and he said: ‘Keith, in the olden days, people used to play rugby to keep fit, nowadays you’ve got to be fit to play rugby.’” That’s a trueism that stuck with Keith throughout his whole career and throughout the summer he played Sunday league football and cricket in a bid to stay fit. “I’ve been lucky that I’ve always kept reasonably fit. I suppose having a very low heartbeat as well helps; it’s about 48 [bpm] on rest so I soon recover.”
Although an unassuming man, Keith takes great pleasure and pride in remembering some of his finest moments: “One game that stands out in my mind was against a touring side called United Services Portsmouth. It was a league game and we won eventually about 16 or 17 to 13 and I scored a hat-trick. It was one of those nights I couldn’t put a foot wrong. Everything I did turned to gold. They kicked off; I caught the ball, ran through their pack and scored at the post.” Another personal highlight was when he scored against a Welsh team after a 75 yard run and even the Welsh fans stood up and applauded him.
‘Dad’ decided to finally call it a day in April 2013 after 52 seasons and gave his reduced playing time as one of the reasons: “I’ve never considered retiring in the past, I think one of the reasons I decided to do it now is that I wasn’t playing as much as what I would like to. And the 6th team captain, bless his soul, was trying to protect me and I said to him: ‘if I ever thought I needed protection, I’d never cross the line onto the field of play.’”
Keith is still involved with the club and joked that he’s ‘apparently’ 6th team manager for next season. But he is coaching the 3rd team and trying to set up a touch rugby league to help with youth development. And who better a role model for aspiring rugby players than Dad.
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