ANGLING LEGENDS
Dick Clegg, the man who took Team England to the top of the world
MATCH fishing is a results-based business. Nobody remembers who finished second or who had a bit of bad luck, they’re only interested in winners, and in the blast furnace that is top-flight international angling, England has a man who can truly be described as the best.
Now retired from the international scene, robust Yorkshireman Dick Clegg led the Drennan Team England side through a medal-laden 17-year spell of six wins at world level.
Dick was also a key player in the emergence of the mighty Barnsley Blacks team, while his own personal successes include winning the UK Championships. He even had time to create his own tackle firm, Britannia Angling Products.
Still fishing at the age of 81, he continues to be held in high esteem by his peers, and when Dick Clegg talks, you listen.
Here we look back at some of his most famous quotes and career highlights.
Creating the Barnsley Blacks
“The Barnsley Blacks came about from a number of lads who used to visit my tackle shop in Barnsley – Denis White and Tommy Pickering included – so we formed around 1971. I fished and managed the team until I got the England job in 1984, so I was very much a founder member!”
The draw of management
“Much as I loved fishing with Barnsley and for myself, I found myself drawn to the admin side of things. I remember doing a deal with Daiwa to sponsor the team in the 1970s, going up to Scotland and negotiating things. I found that I could fish and manage, so it made sense.
You need to be a good man manager, able to deal with strong personalities as well as having the tactical nous to sit with that.
When you pick a team, they have to be able to interact and get on. You’ll win nothing if there’s any division in the camp. Leading anglers who’d taken time off work and spent money to fish was hard, but I’d like to think I got it right judging by the medals we won!”
The golden years
“To win three team gold medals in the first five years managing England was beyond any dream imaginable. The problem was, people expected us to win every time and there was a massive post-mortem if we didn’t.
I do believe the advent of a two-day champs as opposed to just one helped, as we could bounce back from an indifferent first day. England teams always perform better on day two – don’t ask me why. Across the 17 years I was always keen to let everyone know that I was the boss – there wasn’t a captain or a leader
“The problem was, people expected us to win every time and there was a massive post-mortem if we didn’t”
among the anglers and I liked everyone to have their input.
When you have a group of men together, though, there’s often a natural leader who shines through and that was Kevin Ashurst, then Bob Nudd and Alan Scotthorne. We also won a lot of individual medals, which shows that we must have got things right on the fishing front.”
International ‘arguments’
“In 2001 I wasn’t manager any more, but I was with the team in my role as International Events Director for the National Federation of Anglers. That World Champs in Paris turned a bit unpleasant as the French accused us of cheating a couple of times. The first was to do with Will Raison apparently using too much shot on the bottom of the river to keep his float still. That was nonsense and was dealt with swiftly. The second was an eel that Steve Gardener caught.
The French said it had swum out of his fishing zone so should be disqualified. He put a second keepnet inside his main one and kept the eel in that so if it was ruled out, the right fish would be going back – the rule was that if a fish was disqualified, the biggest in the angler’s net would not count.
The French were in uproar, saying Steve should be disqualified outright. There was no rule to say he couldn’t use the second net and I told them so in no uncertain terms. They then backed down. Objections and gamesmanship happens on all World Champs, but I just think the French had the hump because they’d been beaten by the old enemy on home soil!”