Doug Laughton

Born 13th May 1944 in Widnes. Signed for 
St Helens in 1962 for £500 + £500 after 6 
appearances. 
Signed for Wigan 16 May 1967 for £4,000. 
Signed for Widnes 6 March 1973 for £6,000. 

Appeared in all three Tests for G.B. against Australia in the last winning touring side in 1970. 
Captained Great Britain on the 1979 Tour of Australia 

Played in 5 Challenge Cup Finals and 
coached Teams to 5 Challenge Cup Finals. 

Coached Widnes when they won the 1989 World Club Championship. 

Doug Laughton Signed for St Helens in 1962 at the age of 18. Making his debut on 16th November 1963 (St Helens v Featherstone Rovers). He made 79 appearances for Saints before his transfer to Wigan on 16th May 1967 for £4,000. The late Eric Ashton (see Erics interview details on this site) was rebuilding the Wigan side after his and other of their major players had retired, Doug became a major player as the sides ball playing loose forward. He made his first appearance in a Challenge Cup Final in 1970 when Wigan played Castleford. During his Wigan career he was chosen to tour Australia/New Zealand with the Great Britain team coached by Hull Legend Johnny Whiteley (see Johnnys interview details on this site). Doug played a major part in all three tests, G.B. winning the series against Australia 2 to 1 and becoming the last (at this date 27-07-2008) touring side to win a series in Australia. He went on to Win the series in New Zealand 3-0 with the G.B. Team. On the tour he played in 14 games scoring 9 tries. 
On his return to the U.K. he played in all four of the G.B. teams games in the 1970 World Cup, G.B. going un beaten until the final which they lost to Australia 12-7. 
He signed for his home town team Widnes on 6th March 1973 for £6,000. Starting as a player, player coach and coach of a team that went on to dominate Rugby League in the mid 70s to the mid 80s. His Widnes team won a famous World Club Challenge match against a great Canberra team in 1989. 
He was a key figure in British Rugby League for over 27 years.