Gus Risman - Centre
Wales RL
| Heritage No | 118 |
| Date Of Birth | 21/03/1911 |
| Place Of Birth | Cardiff |
| Clubs | Batley Bulldogs, Workington Town, Salford Red Devils, British Army RU, Dewsbury Rams, Hunslet RLFC, Leeds Rhinos, Bradford Bulls |
| Regions | Glamorgan |
| Honours | Great Britain, Wales RL |
| Invitational | British Empire |
| Managed | Bradford Bulls, Oldham RLFC, Whitehaven, Workington Town |
Gus Risman was Wales' 11th captain, leading us in his final five of his 18 caps. He also played in 18 Great Britain internationals, which included five Ashes winning series, plus 34 tour games during three tours, captaining the Lions in the 1946 "Indomitables" tour down under.
The son of Russian immigrants who settled in Tiger Bay, Augustus John Ferdinand Risman was born in Sophia Street and went to South Church Street School. He was skilled at all football codes and was offered terms by Tottenham Hotspur as a teenager, turning them down for Salford. So he became one of the greatest rugby players produced by Wales, captaining the 15-a-side team in War Time internationals despite being a rugby league legend. The statistics of his rugby league career are staggering and he is a member of both the RFL and Workington Town Halls of Fame, and is on the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame ‘Roll of Honour’. He has streets named after him in both Salford and Workington, and is on the Rugby League statue at Wembley Stadium.
Between 1929-1954 he scored 4,052 points in 873 games - 2,007 of them for Salford and 1,531 for Workington Town. He finished his career by playing nine games for Batley and guested for four Yorkshire clubs in the War. He won four Rugby League Championships, three Challenge Cups (all for different sides), picked up five Lancashire League titles and three Lancashire Cup winners medals. He was captain of the last Salford side to win the Challenge Cup, which was in 1938, and at 41 years old, captained Workington's only Challenge Cup Final win in 1952 after leading them to their only Championship a year earlier. He also guested for Leeds in 1942, helping them also to win the Challenge Cup. He holds Workington Town's "Appearances in a Season" record (with 45-appearances in the 1953–54 season) and as of 2020, his career points are fourth on British rugby league's "most points in a career" record list behind Neil Fox, Jim Sullivan and Kevin Sinfield. After playing, he coached Whitehaven, Oldham and Bradford Northern. He died in Whitehaven on 17 October 1994, aged 83. His son John also went onto play for Wales.
The son of Russian immigrants who settled in Tiger Bay, Augustus John Ferdinand Risman was born in Sophia Street and went to South Church Street School. He was skilled at all football codes and was offered terms by Tottenham Hotspur as a teenager, turning them down for Salford. So he became one of the greatest rugby players produced by Wales, captaining the 15-a-side team in War Time internationals despite being a rugby league legend. The statistics of his rugby league career are staggering and he is a member of both the RFL and Workington Town Halls of Fame, and is on the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame ‘Roll of Honour’. He has streets named after him in both Salford and Workington, and is on the Rugby League statue at Wembley Stadium.
Between 1929-1954 he scored 4,052 points in 873 games - 2,007 of them for Salford and 1,531 for Workington Town. He finished his career by playing nine games for Batley and guested for four Yorkshire clubs in the War. He won four Rugby League Championships, three Challenge Cups (all for different sides), picked up five Lancashire League titles and three Lancashire Cup winners medals. He was captain of the last Salford side to win the Challenge Cup, which was in 1938, and at 41 years old, captained Workington's only Challenge Cup Final win in 1952 after leading them to their only Championship a year earlier. He also guested for Leeds in 1942, helping them also to win the Challenge Cup. He holds Workington Town's "Appearances in a Season" record (with 45-appearances in the 1953–54 season) and as of 2020, his career points are fourth on British rugby league's "most points in a career" record list behind Neil Fox, Jim Sullivan and Kevin Sinfield. After playing, he coached Whitehaven, Oldham and Bradford Northern. He died in Whitehaven on 17 October 1994, aged 83. His son John also went onto play for Wales.
| SEASON | P | W | D | L | TRY | GOALS | DG | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930-1931 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 1931-1932 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1933-1934 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1934-1935 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1935-1936 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | |
| 1936-1937 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 1937-1938 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1938-1939 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| 1939-1940 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1940-1941 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1941-1942 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | |
| 1943-1944 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1944-1945 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1945-1946 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| TOTAL | 18 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 27 | |
Note: The statistics tab shows all of the player’s known appearances for this particular Wales side against international sides or other non-capped recognised first class matches. To see exactly how many full test rugby league caps for Wales (or any other country) that this player has, please click the “Test Summary” tab. Nines individual player records are not shown, please click here for full details about Nines. Please also note that clubs’ current names are used throughout this website, due to the database only being able to feed one name per club (e.g. Wigan will also be known as Wigan Warriors throughout all player profiles).
