Barrow Rugby League were a mid-table side in the 1960s, although they were not without talent – winger Bill Burgess being very much the star man.

Signed for a reported £7,000 in 1961, he was soon being selected for England and toured Australia with Great Britain in 1966.

He returned from that tour to join a Barrow team which in 1966/67 enjoyed one of its more successful seasons of the decade, culminating in a return to Wembley for the club’s fifth appearance in the Rugby League Cup final.

Much of the credit for that success belongs to Jim Challinor, who joined the club in 1963 as player coach. Jim was also a Great Britain tourist (in 1956) and won the cup with Warrington two years earlier. Barrow’s strength lay in the backs, and they were also helped by the introduction for the 1966/67 season of the new four-tackle rule (increased to six the following year) which had the desired effect of opening the game up and increasing tactical kicking.

The core of the team were locals such as Ivor Kelland, Mike Sanderson, Mike Watson, Eddie Tees, Bob Wear and Powderhall Sprint champion Mike Murray, as well as Maurice Redhead who played in Barrow’s last Wembley final in 1957.

None of the recruits such as Ged Smith from Widnes, Ray Hopwood (Blackpool), Harry Hughes (Whitehaven) and Henry Delooze (Rochdale) had cost large fees, but in October Barrow made national headlines when they signed England Rugby Union fly-half Tom Brophy for £6,000.

Part of the fee was recouped immediately when 7,060 came to watch his debut against Wigan at Craven Park; more than double the average gate for previous home games that season.

The Rugby League Cup campaign began with a narrow win at Whitehaven 8-2, which was followed by an unconvincing 8-4 victory over a weak Liverpool team. A quarter-final against Hull away from home looked a daunting proposition but Barrow pulled off a great victory by 6-5 when Hull’s solitary try was cancelled out by no less than three Brophy drop goals, worth two points each at that time.

Barrow were at their best in the semi-final against Dewsbury at Swinton’s Station Road and victory would have been more comfortable if they had been able to convert more than one of their four tries in a 14-9 win.

A narrow 15-17 defeat to runners-up Hull KR in the top 16 play-offs preceded the final. Barrow were without Bill Burgess that day but he recovered from injury to take his place in the team to play Featherstone Rovers at Wembley which was: Tees; Burgess, Challinor, Hughes, Murray; Brophy, Smith; Hopwood, Redhead, Kelland, Sanderson, Delooze, Watson.

On a hot, sunny day Barrow took a 7-2 lead when Brophy scored under the posts after a break by Delooze, who also converted the try. Delooze had already cancelled out an early Featherstone penalty but unfortunately he missed with four other attempts in the first half. Bill Burgess also made a fine 50-yard break but the Rovers full-back pulled off a great tackle to save a try. Barrow were left to regret those missed opportunities as Featherstone’s forwards began to get on top and Rovers scored a try and a drop goal to lead at the interval.

The game got away from Barrow after the break. Far from wilting in the heat as some had predicted, Featherstone’s big pack were running strongly and Barrow’s attempt to use the pace of their backs ended far too often in dropped passes and lost possession. Then, one wayward pass was intercepted for a third Rovers try to make it 7-14 and another followed with 15 minutes left, effectively ending Barrow’s hopes. A try by Watson in the last minute made the score a more respectable 12-17 but what now looks most likely to have been Barrow’s last ever appearance in a Wembley final had ended in disappointment.