Pioneers of our Past: Don White
It seems remarkable that until Don White was appointed in 1969 the England team operated without a coach. In this 150th anniversary year of England Rugby, we look at the Northampton legend who, eight years after retiring from captaining his club team, became his nation’s pioneer coach.
Don played for Northampton as a Wellingborough Grammar School prop aged just 17 and in 448 matches scored 116 tries, 71 penalties, 183 conversions and a drop goal - totaling 930 points. From 1954, until retiring in 1961 at the age of 35, he was their captain.
He was awarded 14 England caps between 1947 and 1953. Having switched to flanker, on his Test debut he collected a cross-field kick to score a try that helped England to a 9-3 victory against Wales.
Helped East Midlands draw with Springboks
A physical and forceful player, he was sometimes seen as overly competitive in those amateur days but he was undoubtedly an outstanding forward. He played for a Leicestershire and Midlands Combined XV v Australia in 1947, led Midlands against South Africa in 1951, and scored Leicestershire and East Midlands' only try in a 3-3 draw with the 1960 Springboks.
Leading East Midlands annually against the Baa-Baas, he also took them to several county championship finals, winning in 1951. In 1957, he led a Leicestershire/East Midlands side to an 18-3 defeat v Australia. In 1964 Don became managing director and chairman of his family's shoe business, the company receiving a Queen's Award for export achievement.
England's first-ever national coach from 1969 until 1971, he finished with a record of three wins and a draw from 11 matches. His first match in charge was an 11-8 victory over South Africa at Twickenham.
Saints Hall of Fame
He resigned in 1971 and joined Northampton's committee until 1988. Appointed the club's President for their centenary season of 1979/80, he was inducted into the Saints' Hall of Fame in 2005.
President of Northampton Old Scouts RFC up until his death in 2007, the club still plays an over 30s v Under 30s game called the Don White Memorial Game each season, the Junior Sections competing in a large tournament in his name.
When Don died aged 81, there were so many mourners at his funeral that chairs had to be set up outside the church. He was married to Barbara and had four children: Ian, Jill, Nick, and Sally.
Bob Taylor remembers
Don is remembered by another Northampton and England forward and former RFU President, Bob Taylor, who earned 16 international caps and toured South Africa with the British & Irish Lions. Bob went on to be committee member and club President at Franklin’s Gardens, honorary secretary of Northampton RFC and Chairman of the East Midlands Rugby Union. He remembers Don as a “brilliant” player and mentor.
“When I was first selected for England, it was the captain who made all the decisions and the selectors who picked the team. Each year there were trials in different parts of the country. I went to Northumberland for one and down to Torquay for another and then, on the first Saturday of the year, England would play The Probables at Twickenham.
“Coaches were beginning to appear in club rugby, more and more Colts teams started adopting the policy where school teams had schoolmasters coaching. Although England players were crying out for a coach and proper training session, any decision was way over our heads. In those days other nations were appointing coaches but you were in trouble with the IRB (now World Rugby) if you trained as a XV before a Test match. It was ridiculous, but sometimes we’d have a session with more than 15 at Coventry where Jeff Butterfield would take training and Don White would help out.
“Don stopped playing for Northampton the year before I joined from my old boys’ club. I was lucky to play alongside him though in matches for junior clubs’ President’s Days that sort of event. I remember playing in a team with Don, Dickie Jeeps and Cliff Morgan for the opening of the Cambridge clubhouse.
“Don had a serious reputation at Northampton. He was seen almost as the man in control but also the best man for the job. He knew his rugby and knew more than anyone else when it came to coaching England.
Coaching and analysis
“In this day and age there are specialist coaches, attack coaches, defence coaches, kicking coaches. Don was all of those things. He knew how to scrummage, attack, defend, he could certainly kick as well. Just listening to him was hearing pearls of wisdom and he talked to us before and after our games, which we hadn’t had before. After a game he would bring the referee to me to chat about why I’d been penalised and he’d say next time we might get him again so it’s best to know what he does and doesn’t let you do.
“He was also great at analysing the opposition and spotting their weaknesses. He’d say a particular winger had earlier dislocated his right shoulder and would avoid tackling us with it. That sort of information was new for us. And Don certainly instilled in us a unity of purpose, which was to take the game to the opposition and to begin with that really worked for us.
“I loved talking to Don and to Ron Jacobs who played prop for England and holds the Saints playing records, as well as having been RFU President. When I was with those two I knew I was in the presence of greatness. Don was also a very welcoming presence at Franklins Gardens, especially to newcomers who he hoped would be good enough to go on to play for England, but then he was also a successful businessman, whose company made Doc Martens boots.
“When your place relied solely on the chairman of selectors and his little team you always felt your next game might well be your last. Before Don arrived, they would stand on the touchline and on one occasion they tried to form a scrum against the team! Don would get changed and come running around on the field with the team. He was very much part of the team but used to telling people what to do. And you could have a discussion, disagree with him but he would buy you a pint and then you’d reflect and invariably decide Don was right.
Don laid the ground for future
“It was a great era. We went from former post-war players as selectors who might disapprove of a more modern game and Twickenham matches that weren’t sell-outs to a growth in popularity and a time when you couldn’t get international match tickets for love nor money. Don was very much part of that and set the coaching foundations.
“He was the first coach appointment, treading new ground and setting the guidelines for those who came after him. He wasn’t got at by the press. In those days the press, whether following Wales or England, wanted their team to win. They knew how much the players wanted it, what it meant to us and although you might be criticised you weren’t blamed. You travelled with the media, the likes of John Reason, Terry O’Connor, Barry Newcombe, your local paper rugby man would come with the club team on the bus. They wanted us to win in just the way we did.
“Don laid the ground and came in as coach when a lot needed sorting out. He was a great friend to so many of us. People came from everywhere for his funeral. He was a wonderful man with a wonderful rugby mind.”
