MEN 1873-1895
MEN 1895-2024
WOMEN 2018-2024
 

Eddie Cheetham

OVERALL STATISTICS

BIRTHAGESIGNED ONFROM
26-10-1926
N/A
20-02-1944
Local
DEBUTLAST MATCHLEFT
25-12-1942 v Wigan
Dewsbury
1951- Swinton
CAREERAPPEARANCES (SUBS)
1942-1951
25 (0)
TRIESGOALSDGOALSPTS
12
0
0
36

Biography of Eddie Cheetham



HERITAGE NO : 563
Eddie was a very fast and powerful winger who played 25 matches for the Saints during and after World War Two. He scored 12 tries for the club including a hat trick against York in 1948 and a brace of tries in a match opposing Barrow. He became a regular fixture at Knowsley Road and eventually became Saints 1st Team Coach in the early 1970s.

Eddie was immersed in sport and competed in the Forces Olympics in Berlin in 1947. He was a pioneer behind the Swinton Running Club and the Belle Vue Racers. Eddie sadly passed away in November 2003, aged 77.

Dave Dooley

Eddie Cheetham Obituary by Denis Whittle (1998)

No fewer than six of the Saints squad that defeated Leeds at Wembley in 1972 gathered on Friday to pay a final tribute to a highly respected member of the club’s coaching staff.

Captain Kel Coslett and Eric Chisnall acted as bearers, while Geoff Pimblett, Eric Prescott, Jeff Heaton and Frank Wilson were among the mourners at the funeral of Eddie Cheetham (77) which was held at a packed St.Agnes Church in Stockport.

There was also a massive representation from the world of athletics which, along with Rugby League, held pride of place in St Helens-born Eddies remarkably varied sporting compendium.

A former painter and decorator with Critchleys, Church Street, he is survived by his wife Lynda, sons Adrian and Mark and several grandchildren.

Christened Edwin Wesley Cheetham but popularly known as Eddie, he signed for Saints on demobilisation from the Grenadier Guards in 1946. He attended Rivington Road School, where he cut his rugby league teeth with the likes of Duggie Greenall, George Parr and Bill Finnan. Not forgetting, of course, teacher and coach Harry Cook, who then took all five youngsters to Knowsley Road where he was a Director and later Chairman. Harry incidentally was also commanding officer of the local Air Training Corps, in which Eddie rose to the rank of Sergeant.

Those early post war days saw most players coming back from military service and it was a time when clothing coupons were needed for jerseys, terracing consisted of railway sleepers and cinders, admission was a shilling and a programme cost two pence.

It was into this far from grandiose scenario that strapping 6ft 2ins 14 stone winger Eddie stepped into his rugby league baptism of fire.
He played alongside Test match heroes such as captain Jim Stott, Len Aston and Greenall and also figured in the A Team pack with stalwarts such as Jack Grundy, Walter Norris and Parr.

Eddie toured France with Saints in 1951 before winding up his oval ball career with spells at Barrow and Swinton, plus a coaching stint with Leigh.

A dedicated athlete, the flying Cheetham won the prestigious Powderhall Sprint in the late 1940s and also excelled in the hammer, javelin, shot, discus and other field events. Not to mention cross-country, road races, swimming and the Manchester 100 mile bike ride!

Eddie found time to launch Belle Vue Racers Athletic Jogging and Fitness Club in 1991. He also coached paralympic girl Rachel Potter who was the British Champion pentathlete and record-holder.

Come pension age it was not just a case of armchair and carpet slippers for fleet-footed Eddie. Rather it was shorts vest and spikes as usual as he continued to turn up at the track and athletic meetings up and down the United Kingdom and beyond.

The ultimate accolade came when he was honoured to be chosen as a torch-bearer in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Although he had moved to Stockport, Cheetham never forgot his St.Helens roots and he was delighted to accept the post of Fitness Co-ordinator at Saints in the early 1970s.
Wembley success was immediate as the team lifted the Challenge Cup by defeating the then Loiners by 16-13. And it was in the energy-sapping showdown that saints soaring fitness levels proved crucial, testimony indeed to the demanding regime imposed by hard-taskmaster Eddie.

PLAYER HONOURS

SEASON STATISTICS

Season (Official Matches)TriesGoalsDGoalsMatches
1942~43 0 0 0 1
1944~45 0 0 0 1
1945~461 0 0 5
1947~48 7 0 0 8
1948~493 0 0 5
1949~50 1 0 0 4
1951~520 0 0 1
TOTALS:12 0 0 25
Season (Other Matches)TriesGoalsDGoalsMatches
1947~481001
1949~500001
1951~521004
TOTALS:2006

ALL MATCHES

DateMatchPosOpponentsCompVenueFTFTOTGDG
25th Dec 1942 1
L
2 Wigan WEL A 3 10 VIEW
24th Mar 1945 2
L
2 Bradford Northern CC1(2) A 13 34 VIEW
15th Sep 1945 3
W
5 Wakefield Trinity L H 15 3 VIEW
29th Sep 1945 4
W
5 Workington Town LC1(2) H 21 11 VIEW
6th Oct 1945 5
W
2 Rochdale Hornets L A 11 4 VIEW
13th Oct 1945 6
W
2 Rochdale Hornets L H 21 0 1 VIEW
27th Oct 1945 7
L
2 Barrow L A 13 23 VIEW
27th Mar 1948 8
W
5 York L H 44 10 3 VIEW
28th Mar 1948 9
L
5 Barrow L A 8 12 VIEW
6th Apr 1948 10
W
5 Rochdale Hornets L A 15 10 1 VIEW
8th Apr 1948 11
L
5 Widnes L H 8 9 VIEW
10th Apr 1948 12
W
5 Barrow L H 21 5 2 VIEW
17th Apr 1948 13
W
5 Halifax L H 20 7 1 VIEW
22nd Apr 1948 14
W
5 Belle Vue Rangers L A 21 2 VIEW
24th Apr 1948 15
W
5 Bramley L A 19 11 VIEW
15th May 1948 --
W
5 Roanne* Fr H 36 19 1 VIEW
21st Aug 1948 16
W
5 Widnes L H 6 2 VIEW
23rd Aug 1948 17
L
5 Workington Town L A 11 15 VIEW
28th Aug 1948 18
L
5 Oldham L A 11 15 1 VIEW
25th Sep 1948 19
W
5 Dewsbury L A 14 7 1 VIEW
13th Nov 1948 20
L
2 Rochdale Hornets L A 3 10 1 VIEW
13th Aug 1949 --
W
2 Barrow* Fr Ward Cup H 34 22 VIEW
20th Aug 1949 21
L
2 Widnes L A 2 15 VIEW
18th Mar 1950 22
D
12 Belle Vue Rangers L A 7 7 1 VIEW
25th Mar 1950 23
L
12 Workington Town L A 0 5 VIEW
1st Apr 1950 24
W
11 Liverpool Stanley L H 27 2 VIEW
11th Aug 1951 --
W
12 Barrow* Fr Ward Cup H 16 7 VIEW
24th Nov 1951 25
L
5 Dewsbury L A 2 6 VIEW
30th Apr 1952 --
L
5 Toulouse* Fr Tour A 5 31 VIEW
1st May 1952 --
L
5 French XIII* Fr Tour T 5 45 VIEW
4th May 1952 --
W
13 French XIII* Fr Tour F 27 24 1 VIEW
*Unofficial Match. **Non Playing Sub.
WINS : 17 | LOSSES : 13 | DRAWS : 1

GALLERY





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