SIX TO GO - RIP Danny Jones

Welcome to the latest edition of Six to Go, normally this column would look at some of the things that have caught my eye over the past 7 days in the world of rugby league. There were two great Pacific Island Tests on the Gold Coast at the weekend, New Zealand defeated Australia for the third time in a row, Kurt Gidley signed for Warrington, Greg Bird will miss Origin after copping an 8 game ban for an illegal throw in the Test Match and it seems like the New Zealand Warriors are looking to remove the ‘Warriors’ from their name and just become New Zealand as they look to bring Test hooker Isaac Luke home from the Raabbitohs in addition to the already signed Roger Tuivasa-Scheck. But all of this pales into insignificance when the Rugby League family loses one of it’s own in tragic circumstances and comes together to show it’s support like it has in the last week.

Danny Jones - Halifax, Keighley & Wales.

1.      

Danny Jones was a 29 year old part time rugby league player with Championship 1 side Keighley Cougars. On a normal Sunday afternoon last weekend he went out to play half back for the Cougars in a league game against London Skolars down in the capital. Danny did not feel 100% in the warm up but, like the vast majority of rugby players throughout the world at every level of the game, he thought he would shake it off and just get on and play the game in the same way he had since starting out as a professional with Halifax Blue Sox, as they were then known, back in Super League in 2003. But something wasn’t right and he knew it and did a rare thing for a rugby player – he asked to be substituted because he didn’t feel well. Unfortunately Danny collapsed at the side of the pitch and despite the best efforts of paramedics and treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in London Danny died from a cardiac arrest. HE WAS JUST 29 YEARS OLD.

2.      

Danny in action for Keighley.

Danny was known as a skilful and hard working half back and represented Wales 12 times and was a member of their 2013 World Cup squad. According to team mates and friends he was a larger than life personality and loved a laugh and a joke and winding up his team mates. Warrington Wolves legend Lee Briers, assistant Wales coach at the aforementioned World Cup, said Jones was instrumental in keeping the squad morale at a high during a tough World Cup for the Welshmen. Danny scored in every Cougars match in the 2009 season and was the only player in British Rugby League to achieve that feat that year.

3.      



Danny and his twins

Even more heart breaking and relevant than the fact that a 29 year old fit young man has died of a cardiac arrest is that he was married and is the father of 5 month old twins who will now never get to know their father. As a father of 4 young(ish) children myself I cannot comprehend going out to work and then never coming home again. How do your family cope with this? The fact that his wife did not get to even see her husband again after he left for his rugby match as he would do every week of the season – that she has young twins to look after by herself now – that she has no one to share the wonderful experience of young family life with. I hope she has a strong family that helps them through this but the fact is that it will never be the same.

Danny and his wife

 

4.      
This brings us to the question about whether this could have been prevented. There is no black and white answer to this. All Super League clubs have heart screening in place as standard for their players but Championship clubs do not. Probably because of costs but it is not guaranteed that Danny’s death could have been prevented even with heart screening but there is a much higher probability that it would have been. A post-mortem has now revealed that Danny was suffering from hereditary heart disease and this could not even be picked up by an ECG that he had late last year. Even so, an annual ECG (electrocardiography) should be mandatory at every level of professional sport to ensure that everything possible is being done to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.

 

5.      


Cougar Park Tribute

Keighley Cougars opened their ground for supporters to pay tribute to Danny and have been overwhelmed with the show of support from around the sporting world and by the fans of the club who have attended the ground and left shirts, scarves and flowers amongst other things. The club are going to re-name one of their stands at Cougar Park ’The Danny Jones Stand’ and have retired the no. 6 jersey which Danny was wearing last Sunday. A minutes silence will be held for Danny at every Rugby League match this weekend.

 

6.      


Kyle Amor - after.

The RFL Benevolent fund set up a ‘Just Giving’ page in response to Danny’s death with all funds raised going to Danny’s wife and young children to help them cope with this tragic loss. It must be remembered that Danny was probably the main source of income for his family and, as a part time player, had a full time job as well to hold down in addition to training 4 nights a week. The money he earned will have paid the mortgage, paid the utility bills, the car and for food and clothes and everyday items we all take for granted – that is now gone in an instant. The original target for this fund was a mere £1,000 – that was eclipsed very quickly and as of 9 a.m. Friday morning (UK time) the fund stood at £80,847.15 from nearly 4,929 donations from people from every walk of life and around the world who have been touched by this. Super League players such as Tyrone McCarthy, Kyle Amor, Adam Cuthbertson, Craig Huby, Grant Millington and Oliver Holmes have been on social media urging fans to give money and promising to shave their beards and hair off if particular targets are met. The public have done their job and met the targets and the players have lost their hair and beards.

I urge everyone who reads this, if you haven’t already, to give whatever you can to the fund. This is the link you need: https://www.justgiving.com/dannyjones29

Below is a video tribute to Danny Jones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2OcbOIs98E