Dave Valentine

Dave Valentine

Valentine with rugby league's World Cup, 1954
Full name	David Donald Valentine
Date of birth	12 September 1926
Place of birth	Hawick, Scotland
Date of death	14 August 1976
Rugby league career
Position	Second-row, Loose forward/Lock
Professional clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1948–1954	Huddersfield
National teams
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1948–1954 1949-1955 1952	Great Britain Other Nationalities British Empire XIII	15 16
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Flanker
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1947	Scotland	2

David Donald Valentine (12 September 1926 in Hawick, Scotland – 14 August 1976) was a Scottish representative rugby union and Rugby League World Cup winning footballer, a dual-code rugby international of the 1940s and '50s.

Rugby union

He made his rugby union international debut as a flanker for Scotland against Ireland in the 1947 Five Nations Championship and was also selected in the fixture that year against England.

His brother Alec Valentine also played for Scotland, as did his other brother Rob, who later switched to rugby league.

Rugby league

Valentine's rugby league career was with the Huddersfield club where he played as a Loose forward/Lock. He played in all three Tests of the 1948-49 victorious Ashes series

He played for the British Empire XIII versus New Zealand on Wednesday 23/1/1952 at Stamford Bridge and in the 2nd and 3rd Tests of the 1952 Ashes series.

In 1954 Valentine was selected for Great Britain's tour of Australia playing in all three Tests. He was also the British squad captain for the 1954 World Cup playing in all four matches and hoisting the Cup as the victorious skipper following Great Britain's 16-12 victory at Parc des Princes in the final over France.

Dave Valentine also represented Great Britain while at Huddersfield between 1952 and 1956 against France (1 non-Test match).

All told he earned eleven Test caps in addition to the four World Cup appearances.

Dave Valentine's Testimonial match at Huddersfield took place in 1956.

Post-playing

Since 2004, the management of the Scotland national rugby league team have given the Dave Valentine Award to their player of the year.

Arriva Yorkshire honoured 13 rugby league footballers on Thursday 20 August 2009, at a ceremony at The Jungle, the home of the Castleford Tigers. A fleet of new buses were named after the 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team'. Members of the public nominated the best ever rugby league footballers to have played in West Yorkshire, supported by local rugby league journalists; James Deighton from BBC Leeds, and Tim Butcher, editor of Rugby League World. The 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team' is; Trevor Foster MBE, Neil Fox MBE, Albert Goldthorpe, Alan Hardisty, Stan Kielty, Lewis Jones, Roger Millward MBE, Malcolm Reilly, Garry Schofield, Keith Senior, David Topliss, Dave Valentine, and Adrian Vowles.

References

• Bath, Richard (ed.) The Scotland Rugby Miscellany (Vision Sports Publishing Ltd, 2007 ISBN 1905326246)

External links

• Dave Valentine International Statistics at englandrl.co.uk
• Dave Valentine Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
• Dave Valentine International Statistics at scrum.com
• France defeated in ‘Battle of the Boulevard’
• Floodlit feast at Odsal
• U.K. League Hooker in Doubt