\n It will be take place on\u00a0Friday, August 15 at St Helens\u00a0Parish Church at 10.30am.\n<\/p>\n
\n The service will be followed by\u00a0private burial before a gathering at\u00a0Liverpool St Helens rugby union club’s Moss Lane ground\u00a0for about 12.30pm.\n<\/p>\n
\n LSH, where Ray was a former club president, confirmed details of the funeral today (Monday).\n<\/p>\n
\n Ray, the BBC\u2019s voice of rugby league for four decades, died at the age of 85 last month.\n<\/p>\n
\n He was a huge figure in St Helens, known for his career teaching at Cowley school, his sports commentary, role at LSH, and his success with Saints.\n<\/p>\n
\n Since his death tributes to Ray have flowed from the rugby league community and St Helens.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nigel Wood, chair of Rugby League Commercial, said: \u201cRay\u00a0French\u00a0was one of the true gentlemen of Rugby League and represented the finest qualities of the sport.\n<\/p>\n
\n “A great player, broadcaster and a huge influence behind the scenes, and always as a force for good.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Born in St Helens in 1939,\u00a0Ray\u00a0first played rugby union and was capped four times by England in 1961 before switching to rugby league with his hometown club.\n<\/p>\n
\n He\u00a0went on to make more than 200 appearances for Saints before joining Widnes, and represented Britain in the 1968 World Cup against Australia and New Zealand.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ray\u00a0joined the BBC as in 1981 and would become an instantly recognisable voice to generations of supporters for his Challenge Cup final commentaries.\n<\/p>\n
\n He was awarded an MBE for services to rugby league in 2011, and continued commentating until his retirement in 2019.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ray French was considered as the voice of rugby league (Image: Newsquest) Philip Bernie, head of BBC Sport Events, said: “Ray French was a true giant in the sport of Rugby League.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Following his remarkable playing career – an international in both rugby codes – he became the voice of the sport. For nearly 40 years, his distinctive, warm, energetic and enthusiastic commentary magnificently embellished the BBC’s coverage of the game.\n<\/p>\n
\n “He was such a likeable and engaging broadcaster, and, for those lucky enough to know him, a really wonderful, loveable man. We are so saddened by the news and send all our thoughts and sympathies to Ray’s family.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Eamonn McManus, the chairman of St Helens rugby league club, said: “Ray French was a giant of a man in every sense of the word.\n<\/p>\n
\n “He touched and influenced so many people and in so many good and lasting ways during his rich and varied life as a schoolmaster, a rugby player and a broadcaster.\n<\/p>\n
\n “His warm personality and unique voice will be sorely missed by all. But he leaves a permanent and meaningful legacy to so many in his home town of St Helens and throughout his beloved sport of rugby league.\n<\/p>\n
\n “One of my greatest privileges as chairman of St Helens over the last 25 years was getting to know Ray as a friend as well as an iconic figure in our sport.\n<\/p>\n
\n “His loss is keenly felt and we all pass on our heartfelt condolences to his family to whom he was so close.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It will be take place on\u00a0Friday, August 15 at St Helens\u00a0Parish Church at 10.30am. The service will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-318542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114973504137017136","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}