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Clifford H. Watson (born 26 April 1940 in London, England) is a former rugby league footballer of the 1960s and '70s. He played for the St. Helens rugby football club in the English Rugby Football League Championship and later the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership in Australia. His position of choice while playing was at prop-forward. Along with hardman Ken Gee and legendary captain Alan Prescott, he remains one of the best Great Britain frontrowers ever. Watson originally played amateur rugby union in England for Dudley Kingswinford in Staffordshire competition before answering a St. Helens club advertisement for "top class Rugby Union forwards". A trial was arranged and in 1960 he was signed to the club for £750 initially and then a further £750 after he had completed six first grade games for the club. However his career first started to gain momentum after the 1961 Rugby League Challenge Cup final against Wigan; in front of 95,000 fans Watson's defence was instrumental in helping his club gain a 12-6 victory over their rivals and helped keep Cliff a permanent fixture in the team line-up for the next ten years. After playing out eleven seasons for St. Helens, Watson moved to Australia and signed on to the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks with fellow Great Britain and St. Helens team mate Tommy Bishop. In his three seasons at the club Watson made an impact in leading a young and inexperienced pack of forwards always by example. His presence along with that of Bishop undoubtedly helped the young Cronulla club to its maiden grand-final in 1973. Watson also went on to represent Great Britain on thirty occasions becoming known for his physical, tough and all-round fearless style of play. He played for the British between 1963 and 1970 often striking fear into opponents. He retired from first grade and international rugby league altogether after the 1973 season. ==Childhood and early career== Clifford Watson was born into a working class family in Central London on 26 April 1940; he grew up playing both codes of rugby but slowly began to steer himself toward the amateur game of the day in rugby union. At the early age of seventeen Watson trialled for Dudley Kingswinford rugby union football club where he was quickly signed and placed into the first team at second-row, quickly displaying his natural ability by cementing a regular place in the squad at such a young age. His career continued to grow in stature when within a year of signing for Dudley Kingswinford, Watson was selected for his first representative role with the Worcestershire and Herefordshire Combined Counties side and playing on several occasions in a new role of prop-forward. At the end of the 1959 season Watson decided on a switch of codes after wanting to forge a career in rugby league. After viewing an advertisement listed in the Sporting Chronicle by St. Helens offering trials for 'top class Rugby Union forwards', Watson replied offering his services to the club and outlining his statistics and credentials he had accomplished in rugby union. St. Helens quickly replied and a trial was organised for 2 August after which Watson was signed to a six-game contract worth £1,500. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cliff Watson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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