Daughter of former 1960s Dewsbury and Wales rugby player who died in match against Batley ‘overwhelmed’ by tribute plans

John Davies, who was married with two young children, was only 28-years-old when he passed away after suffering a suspected heart attack while playing at Dewsbury’s old Cross Flatt ground on April 15.

Now, 54 years later, thanks to the help of club legend Mike ‘Stevo’ Stephenson, who played alongside John against Batley on that tragic day, a tribute presentation to honour the former Welsh rugby union international will be held at the Rams’ home League 1 game with Cornwall, on Sunday, April 16.

His daughter, Erica Knight, who now lives in Bridgend with her husband David, was only four-years-old at the time of the tragedy; her brother, Richard, was approaching his first birthday.

And Erica has admitted it was a “poignant” moment when the family recently met with Stevo to find out “exactly what happened on that day.”

In an emotional interview with the Reporter, she revealed:

“Richard’s partner, Sophie, got in touch with Stevo and he arranged to meet us. We came up to Leeds in February while he was over from Australia.

“It was quite a poignant moment really as neither myself or my brother knew the details about what happened, not that you want to go over them for obvious reasons. But it was really good to know exactly what happened on that day.

“We knew he passed away playing rugby, our Mum told us that, but beyond that, we didn’t have any information at all. Over the years, it is not a subject you can keep returning back to without it causing some sort of upset at some level.

“For me, it was lovely, which is a strange adjective to use, but it was lovely to hear the story and Stevo was such a lovely man and he chatted with us for quite a while.

“I think he was quite unsure of whether we would want him to tell us the details of what happened on that day. But I think it was important that we knew. It is a bit dramatic to say it gave us closure but it filled in that gap.

“Realistically, the only memory we have of my Dad is through photographs my Mum had. Although you have a picture of him you don’t really know too much about him. We spent a lot of time with our paternal grandmother so she would tell us lots of stories. Neither of us had any personal knowledge or memories of him.

“Even now when I think about him it’s emotional. My brother is exactly the same. My brother’s little boy, William John, is eleven and he’s just started to play rugby league. He came as well to Leeds as he was keen to meet Stevo too.

“It was a lovely day, a lovely meeting and it was emotional for all the right reasons.”

Paying credit to the Rams for organising the special upcoming tribute event, Erica said:

“We had no idea until Stevo mentioned it and we were really delighted. The lengths that he and members of the club have gone to is overwhelming.

“I had a brief conversation with Neil Fahey (former director) and he was saying that everyone is so keen and that an open invitation has been sent out to the surviving members of the club who had played with my dad.

“Everybody seems keen and I am overwhelmed as to how much effort they have put in.”