Ray French

Ray French

Raymond James "Ray" French, MBE (born 23 December 1939) is an English former rugby union, and rugby league footballer of the 1950s and 1960s, and former rugby league commentator. French played at international level in both codes. He won four caps for England in rugby union in 1961 as a lock forward. Then he moved to rugby league as a second-row, and then played for his home town club, St. Helens, afterwards going on to play at Widnes.After training as a school teacher, he taught at Cowley School in St. Helens, Lancashire, where his local counterparts included Brian Ashton who taught at Stonyhurst College. French is now a commentator on rugby league on both television and radio. He is well known for his range of colloquialisms. French is regularly heard on the Rugby League show Try Time each Thursday on BBC Radio Merseyside giving his views on the state of the game in his forthright way. In 2010 French received the Mike Gregory Spirit of Rugby League Award to mark his contribution to the game.Also President of the St Helens Past Players' Association, French was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to rugby league.

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