COUNTLESS friends in the world of Rugby League are mourning the death of a former Saints and Test hooker who was elevated into the club's Hall of Fame just days before he passed away.

Bob Dagnall, from Easington Road, Nutgrove, died, aged 67, in Whiston Hospital on Saturday after battling against cancer for several months.

He leaves a widow, Rita, children John and Lynn, and grandchildren Gemma, Andrea, Fiona and Victoria

Hardly of archetypal hooker build at 6ft and 14 stone, Bob was a proud son of Thatto Heath and a pupil at the council and Grange Park schools.

Bob was a classmate of fellow Rugby League players Frank McCabe, Frank Platt and bosom pal Johnny Fishwick, who was also his partner in a long-established building company.

After leaving school 'Daggy' played for Thatto Heath, Vine Tavern and Rochdale Hornets (with Fishwick) and he made 160 appearances and scored 11 tries before joining Saints in 1960. He went on to play 209 games for his hometown club, touching down eight times.

While at Knowsley Road, Bob won four Great Britain caps, was a member of the squad that lifted the Lancashire Cup on five successive occasions in the 1960s, and earned a winner's medal in the Saints team which beat Wigan at Wembley in 1961.

An enthusiastic member of both Saints' and Rochdale Past Players Associations, Bob Dagnall turned out for Pilkington Recs at the age of 40, and played the occasional game of Rugby Union for West Park.

A funeral service will be held at St John's Church, Ravenhead, tomorrow (Friday September 24) at 2.30pm, followed by cremation. Former Saints players will act as pall-bearers and a gathering in memory of Bob will be held afterwards at Greenalls club, Alder Hey Road.

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