The Coach with the Golden Touch!
The Coach with the Golden Touch!
When Mark Nelson takes his Lancashire squad to Twickenham on Sunday to face Cornwall in the Bill Beaumont County Championship Final it will represent one of the longest periods of domination by any county of the Championship in its 114 years of existence.
Of course, the County Championship has had less prominence since the advent of professionalism in the 1990s and the growth of league rugby. However, the competition is still the peak of England's so called 'community game' for semi-professional players from all over the country. Live Sky Sports coverage of the game will help to put county rugby in the shop window and provide a far bigger audience than past finals.
The Red Rose county has always valued county rugby and given it a high profile alongside the club game. Sunday will represent Lancashire's 10th Final appearance in 13 seasons since Mark Nelson became Head Coach. They have won the competition six times in these years and a total of 22 victories since 1889, the most successful of all counties.
On Sunday, Lancashire face one of the other great hot beds of county rugby, Cornwall, a replay of the 2013 Final which the Red Rose county won by 35-26. The passionate & colourful travelling West Country support, some 20,000 in 'Trelawney's Army' last season at Twickenham, gave that occasion a superb atmosphere and the Lancastrians will again have to outface this wall of noise if they are to triumph.
Mark Nelson can justifiably claim to be the English coach who has taken a team to a Twickenham Final on most occasions. Not only will he have ten County Finals under his belt but as part of the Sale Sharks coaching team he was involved in the Premiership Final in 2006 & Tetley Cup Final in 2004.
Nelson's commitment to county rugby is obvious: “Sunday's Final will be my 53rd County Championship Game as coach and 71st as Player & Coach in all Lancashire matches. I began my involvement with the County playing for Lancs U'15s when at Lancaster Royal Grammar School. I then played County 16, 18 and 19, culminating in playing for England U'19 v Australia at Twickenham in 1978. I went on to play for senior county side in 1980s including touring France - playing games against Bezier, Brive, Stade, Toulousain and Paris Select. From 1995–7 I coached England North winning the Divisional Championship and playing against All Blacks, South Africa A, Queensland, Western Samoa and Argentina and a tour to Italy. I was also Head Coach of England Counties, becoming the first ever team to win against France and an unbeaten Tour of Canada.”
Maurice Parker was then asked to become Lancashire's Chairman of Selectors following the reinstatement of the County Championship in 2001-2 season and this started in the best possible way with an inspired 'bonding trip' to Kent inspired by Mel Whittle in a seeding game where Mark & colleagues spent the night in Covent Garden with Atomic Kitten in tow! The following season set the tone for the past few years. Nelson explained: “Players, coaches and management bought into the concept of playing attacking rugby and enjoyed the freedom to play on the pitch, and the post-match experience that has defined the 'Lancashire Way' since the Millennium year. In essence, I have tried to combine the old school with the new school to make the Lancashire School!”
“There have been many excellent players, coaches and team managers involved over this time. A couple span the epoch both as players and coaches - Martin Scott and Paul Arnold have been involved right from the start with me, as has Dave Hodgson in various roles, and these people epitomise what representing the county is all about.
“Getting to the Finals at Twickenham is always the icing on the cake but playing for Lancashire, once or thirty times, is always seen as an honour. As the players run out onto the hallowed turf at HQ they know that the right to be there has been forged on fields in Otley, Hartlepool, New Brighton, Percy Park, Scarborough, Vale of Lune, Fylde, Preston Grasshoppers and Sedgley Park. They pull on the county shirt after a long gruelling season and are rewarded for all those months in the trenches of league rugby with a refreshing competition culminating with the last game of the season at Twickers.
“The success of the Lancashire Team has brought many caps for Red Rose players for England Counties and, if Kieran Brookes and Dave Ward play for England against the All Blacks this June, they will have a county final for Lancashire on their resume. It is also fantastic that the Competition carries the name of one of Lancashire's greatest sons, Bill Beaumont.
“In some quarters people question whether the County Game has a part in the bright new 'modern professional' era. I think the players, committee people, families and fans at Twickenham to watch Lancashire v Cornwall this Saturday would resoundingly give a thumbs up to the future of the competition.
“For me it has been an honour and a privilege to have been coach over the past 13 years. To those who seek to debunk the County Championship I turn to to W.B Yeats:
"But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."
Nelson celebrated his 300th game as coach of Fylde RFC in February. The association between Lancashire & Fylde have always been close and Nelson has successfully brought a number of accomplished Lancashire-born players back to the county from further afield.
But there's more to Mark Nelson than just rugby. This Renaissance Man has a Fine Arts degree, a teaching qualification and is a notable practicing artist who has exhibited frequently in the North West. On top of that, he's a musician and song writer who has collaborated with the Hollies.
