'BORN ON THE WRONG SIDE’ – the autobiography of Cec Thompson

The recent passing of Workington Town legend Ike Southward gives added poignancy to the welcome reissue of the autobiography by his contemporary Cec Thompson. In ‘Born on the Wrong Side’ Cec recounts his extraordinary life story from a North East orphanage to success in sport, in business and as an academic and teacher.

Born to a white mother and a black father who died before he was born Cec struggled in his early years from a crushing sense of inadequacy. A chance encounter saw his advent onto the Rugby field playing for Hunslet and the first taste of success and self-esteem. Gus Risman was an early admirer of Cec’s fast and uncompromising style of play and jumped to sign him as soon as Cec appeared on the transfer list.

Cec joined Workington Town for the 1953-54 season and became part of a very special group of players including Risman, Ike Southward, Billy Iveson, Harry Archer, Bill Wookey and Brian Edgar. As Cec himself puts it both he and Workington Town hit a purple patch:
“In many ways the 1957-58 season was Workington’s vintage year; it was certainly a season that shines out over my whole career like the North Star on a clear night. I didn’t miss a match, scored thirteen tries and set up a club record for a forward by scoring four tries against Blackpool and a hat-trick against Widnes.”
Workington Town’s season stood out no less brightly; the team went 23 games without defeat and reached both the Challenge Cup final and the League Championship final.

Cec Thompson always knew that having been born ‘on the wrong side of the tracks’ it was up to him to create his own fortune. During his playing days he had the foresight to obtain a physiotherapy qualification and attend a coaching course at Lillishall as well as starting his window cleaning business. This extraordinary man used his recently aquired sense of self and his unbounded enthusiasm to make sure he excelled at everything he did.

Entreprenurial success at business allowed him the opportunity to redress his early lack of education and Cec obtained both a degree and the qualifications to teach. He felt he has been lucky and wanted to pass on what he had learned, both in Rugby and in life, to another generation. Cec comes across as extremely proud of his achievments; he could barely write his own name when he first played for Hunslet and one of his proudest moments captured in the book is a photograph of him receiving his Honours Degree, wearing a bespoke suit made by Workington’s master tailor Corrado Risino of Jane Street.

Perhaps Cec’s greatest legacy will be the Student Rugby League. One of the original co-founders and still active as the National Devlopments Manager Cec has seen the SRL permeate all aspects of the code, regionally, nationally and internationally. Over 30 of SRL’s graduates have played professionally as well as an increasing number entering the administration of the game, indeed the chief executives of Saints and Huddersfield – Sean McGuire and Ralph Rimmer – are both SRL graduates.

This is a wonderful book, eloquently written by an inspirational man. Highly reccomended.