David Barends : Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:37 pm  

No, I've never heard of him either, although some of our older members (such as 1315trinity) will have.

He is a South African former RL player that we signed in 1970 and there is an interview with him in today's League Express where he recounts how he came to play for Wakefield and what happened when he first met the then Trinity Chairman and Secretary...

"They didn't think I could speak English.....they came to meet me at Heathrow and we got on a train to Wakefield. They were talking to each other and assuming I couldn't understand them. I just kept quiet. The Chairman said to the Secretary that he hoped I didn't want a meal because they didn't have much money on them. When the kitchen staff came around, I pointed to the best steak and I could hear them cursing. So I just sat there eating a lovely fillet steak while they could only afford to have a sandwich each ! When we got to Wakefield, someone came up to me and we had a chat. Suddenly the Chairman and Secretary said "Why didn't you tell us you could speak English ?"
I said "You didn't ask !"

Priceless

He eventually went on to play twice for the GB Lions against Australia

Re: David Barends : Mon Feb 15, 2021 3:55 pm  

Excellent powerful winger. Played 66 times for us . We then let him go to York. Can’t remember why. Then he went to Bradford where he was a great success and earned two GB caps.

[PopTart]

Re: David Barends : Mon Feb 15, 2021 4:22 pm  

I've met him a few times. Very nice and very intelligent man, with a wicked sense of humour so I can see that story playing out exactly as he says.
He played in a time when racism was a major international issue but was also generally accepted as the norm in northern England so I'm sure he had some tough times. On the field he was excellent and well regarded player.

Re: David Barends : Mon Feb 15, 2021 4:23 pm  

FIL wrote:

No, I've never heard of him either, although some of our older members (such as 1315trinity) will have.

He is a South African former RL player that we signed in 1970 and there is an interview with him in today's League Express where he recounts how he came to play for Wakefield and what happened when he first met the then Trinity Chairman and Secretary...

"They didn't think I could speak English.....they came to meet me at Heathrow and we got on a train to Wakefield. They were talking to each other and assuming I couldn't understand them. I just kept quiet. The Chairman said to the Secretary that he hoped I didn't want a meal because they didn't have much money on them. When the kitchen staff came around, I pointed to the best steak and I could hear them cursing. So I just sat there eating a lovely fillet steak while they could only afford to have a sandwich each ! When we got to Wakefield, someone came up to me and we had a chat. Suddenly the Chairman and Secretary said "Why didn't you tell us you could speak English ?"
I said "You didn't ask !"

Priceless

He eventually went on to play twice for the GB Lions against Australia

Not sure that pans out as a story. One, most South Africans speak English, especially those with an English name rather than a Boer name. Also by that point, we'd signed a fair few South Africans so you'd assume they would assume he spoke English. Jan Prinsloo maybe but even Afrikaners generally speak English as a second language. The only other assumption I can come to is that it was because he was black but again that would have been hugely ignorant mentality even by the standards of the 1970's.

Still, it's a good story, somewhat embellished, but funny all the same.

Re: David Barends : Mon Feb 15, 2021 4:28 pm  

PopTart wrote:

I've met him a few times. Very nice and very intelligent man, with a wicked sense of humour so I can see that story playing out exactly as he says.
He played in a time when racism was a major international issue but was also generally accepted as the norm in northern England so I'm sure he had some tough times. On the field he was excellent and well regarded player.

You're so wrong there. There was an excellent programme about Welsh converts to RL from BBC Wales a few years back. Many were black and they all said to a man that they suffered virtually no racism whilst playing RL or from the vast majority of fans. The complete opposite of what they had experienced in RU, especially in Wales.

Can't remember what it was called but it will be available as a BBC download,

Re: David Barends : Mon Feb 15, 2021 4:31 pm  

I remember the photo of DB in the Wakey Express when we signed him. Head and shoulders shot of him looking up at Wakefield Cathedral spire.

[PopTart]

Re: David Barends : Mon Feb 15, 2021 4:57 pm  

vastman wrote:

You're so wrong there. There was an excellent programme about Welsh converts to RL from BBC Wales a few years back. Many were black and they all said to a man that they suffered virtually no racism whilst playing RL or from the vast majority of fans. The complete opposite of what they had experienced in RU, especially in Wales.

Can't remember what it was called but it will be available as a BBC download,

Well I lived in the north of England in the 70s and it was very much there. I didn't say in rugby.
But equally I've heard chants on terraces plenty of times through that period, some at Belle Vue. Using racist language and having racial stereotypes was so common that it was just accepted as ok.

Re: David Barends : Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:11 pm  

PopTart wrote:

Well I lived in the north of England in the 70s and it was very much there. I didn't say in rugby.
But equally I've heard chants on terraces plenty of times through that period, some at Belle Vue. Using racist language and having racial stereotypes was so common that it was just accepted as ok.

Correct PT.
It was around then as I can vouch for it personally.
.....and of course its still here,(sorry for moving off the thread but I had to say this.)

Re: David Barends : Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:58 pm  

BarnsleyGull wrote:

Correct PT.
It was around then as I can vouch for it personally.
.....and of course its still here,(sorry for moving off the thread but I had to say this.)

Spot on I can remember all the chanting down at Waggies corner and the Western Terrace when Barrands was playing he was a power house.

Re: David Barends : Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:02 pm  

BarnsleyGull wrote:

Correct PT.
It was around then as I can vouch for it personally.
.....and of course its still here,(sorry for moving off the thread but I had to say this.)

Not so much a racist remark, but when Mick Morgan was doing is after dinner talks, he used to tell of an incident when Dave B was playing at BV one particular game, a wild pass to him, hit him on the head and bounced into the crowd, one chap in the crowd obviously a snooker fan, shouts out “seven off the black”. Perhaps not very PC nowadays, but people in the crowd at that time saw the funny side. I’d also add that DB did extremely well for himself off the field.