Former actor and Barrow and Wales rugby league prop forward Mick Murphy has died, aged 77.

Murphy is the second member of the Barrow team of the late 1960s/early 1970s to have died in the last week, after second row John ‘Chipper’ New passed away, aged 71, last week.

Murphy, who worked as a physical education teacher in Dalton and appeared as the character ‘Ged’ in television series Merseybeat in 2002, died at his home in Huddersfield.

He was a popular character in Barrow, serving the Craven Park club between 1969-72 before moving onto pastures new at St Helens and Bradford Northern.

Murphy signed for Barrow from Leigh on January 20, 1969, making his debut, ironically, at Huddersfield a few day later and ended his days with an away appearance at Widnes in 1972.

He was a big robust prop forward with the ability to prise open gaps in the opposition’s defence from where supporting players would notch many a try.

Murphy signed for Leigh in 1963 from rugby union club Waterloo and played in two finals for them, both losses - the Lancashire Cup in 1963 and the Floodlit Cup in 1967.

While at Barrow, he gained two caps for Lancashire. In all, he played 106 games, four of them as a substitute, scoring five tries.

It was then off to St Helens for three years, making 98 appearances, before moving to Bradford. He became a Welsh international while at Odsal.

In 1975, Murphy played for the Wales side who shocked New Zealand with a 25-24 win at Swansea in a World cup game.

In 1977, he went ‘Down Under’ to play for Wagga Wagga in Australia, where another Barrow great, Phil Jackson, had a spell.

Two years later, he came back to these shores to play for Blackpool and Dewsbury before hanging up his boots. He also had a spell in France with Tonneins and St Jacques.

Murphy also held the chairmanship of both Huddersfield league (Later to be made a life member) and union clubs.

He came on board at the league club who were on the brink of going into liquidation and through Murphy they survived. He brought in Alex Murphy as coach, while he played union for Huddersfield Extra’s C side until he was aged 60.

Former Widnes and Wales giant forward Jim Mills told the St Helens Star: “Mick was a great player and gentleman who wore the Welsh shirt with pride.”

Former Barrow player Steve Hogan said: “What a shock. He was a lovely man who would always encourage the younger lads.

“He was very good for myself as I also played number eight like Mick, he taught me a lot about scrummaging.

“He got myself and our Phil along with others to play basketball as it would help us with our ball handling skills and it did.”

Another squad member, Brian Foster, added: “ He was a handful for the opposition, very rangy with a lot of skill.

“He was well respected and even top players at the like of Wigan and St Helens were wary of him. Along with the like of Frank Foster,”Spanky “ McFarlane and Mike Sanderson in the pack clubs would back off.”