Colin J. Dixon
Personal information
Full name	Colin J. Dixon
Nickname	Dicko
Born	3 December 1943
	Butetown, Cardiff, Wales
Died	21 June 1993 (aged 49)
	Halifax, West Yorkshire, England
Playing information
Position	second row
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
<1961–1961	Cardiff RFC (RU)
30/08/1961–14/12/1968	Halifax RLFC	245	73	0	0	219
1968–1980	Salford	418
1980–1981	Hull Kingston Rovers
	Total	663	73	0	0	219
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1961?–1981?	Wales (RL)	15
1961–1981	Great Britain (RL)	14
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
03/1977–01/1978	Salford
Source: rugbyleagueproject.org englandrl.co.uk

Colin J. Dixon (3 December 1943 – 21 June 1993) was a rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who at representative level has played for Great Britain (RL), and Wales (RL), and at club level for Cardiff RFC (RU), Halifax RLFC, Salford, and Hull Kingston Rovers, playing at second row, i.e. number 11 or 12.

[edit] Rugby career

Dixon, like Gus Risman and Billy Boston, was a product of South Church Street School in Cardiff's Butetown. As a seventeen year old in the Cardiff RFC (RU) Youth team he was already showing something of his future potential but overlooked by Wales (RU) Youth he signed for Halifax in 1961.

Initially he played as a centre, providing many tries for his wingman Johnny Freeman, by coincidence also a former pupil of South Church Street School, but it was not until he moved to the back row of the pack in 1963 that he revealed his tremendous power.

In 1964 he was a key player in the first Halifax side to win the championship since 1907. As captain in the 1967 and 1968 seasons he led the side by example and was rewarded with his first Great Britain cap in 1968. Transferred a few weeks later to Salford for a record £15,000 (based on average earnings, this would be approximately £366,000 in 2007)^[1], he played in the Challenge Cup Final of 1969 losing to Castleford. Had Salford won he would almost certainly have been awarded the Lance Todd Trophy. That same season he was the League's highest scoring forward with 20 tries.

He played 418 times for Salford with 738 appearances in all first class games. Perhaps the highlight of his successful club career was winning the League Championship with Salford in 1973-74 and again in 1975-76. He played his last game for Salford in 1980, but played a final season in the Premiership winning Hull Kingston Rovers team of 1980-81.

As an international he won 15 caps for Wales and 14 for Great Britain. He played in the Great Britain 1972 World Cup winning side and toured Australasia in 1974, playing in all three Tests against Australia (1 win, 2 losses) and all three in New Zealand (2 wins, 1 loss).

[edit] Honoured at Halifax RLFC

Colin Dixon is a Halifax RLFC Hall Of Fame Inductee.^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
• Wakefield's spirit is intact
• Good test for new Salford recruits
• Colin Dixon at eraofthebiff.com
• Colin Dixon at rlhalloffame.org.uk
• 'Colin Dixon with the fans after Wembley 1969' photo at flickr.com
• 'Wales 1975 Team - Seven of these players played for Salford at some stage' photo at flickr.com
• 'Chairman John Wilkinson with former greats at a dinner in 1987' photo at flickr.com
• Waite makes his Australia debut
• Colin Dixon's obituary

v • d • e Great Britain squad - 1972 Rugby League World Cup champions (3rd title) 1. Paul Charlton • 2. Clive Sullivan (c) • 3. Chris Hesketh • 4. John Walsh • 5. John Atkinson • 6. John Holmes • 7. Steve Nash 8. Terry Clawson • 9. Mike Stephenson • 10. David Jeanes • 11. Phil Lowe • 12. Brian Lockwood • 13. George Nicholls 14. Bob Irving • Coach: Jim Challinor

v • d • e Wales squad - 1975 Rugby League World Cup (7/8) Peter Banner • (4/8) John Bevan • (3/8) Brian Butler • (6/8) Kelvin "Kel" Coslett • (4/8) Edward "Eddie" Cunningham • (4/8) Colin Dixon • (2/8) Richard "Dick" Evans • (6/8) Anthony "Tony" Fisher • (8/8) Bill Francis • (2/8) Stuart Gallacher • (3/8) Brian Gregory • (1/8) Melvyn "Mel" James • (2/8) Clive Jones • (8/8) John Mantle • (7/8) Roy Mathias • (5/8) 'Big' Jim Mills • (3/8) Michael "Mick" Murphy • (0/8) Michael "Mike" Nicholas • (1/8) Maurice Richards • (3/8) Peter Rowe • (4/8) Clive Sullivan • (4/8) David Treasure • (4/8) Glyn Turner • (1/8) Richard Wallace • (3/8) Robert "Bobby" Wanbon • (8/8) David Watkins (c) • (6/8) David Willicombe • (7/8) Frank Wilson Coaches: R. Simpson Coach Leslie "Les" Pearce (5/8), e.g. The Number of Games Played in the 1975 World Cup.