I WAS genuinely saddened to read about the passing of Colin Welland earlier this week.

Welland, who spent a bit of his early life in Newton, was a rugby league man through and through.

And even though he climbed to quite lofty heights as an actor, scriptwriter and playwright and won an Oscar for his screen play of Chariots of Fire he never forgot his northern roots.

Even when he was ensconced at Barnes by the Thames, Welland remained a passionate advocate for our game and did his bit to spread it.

Sure, he occasionally got a bit of stick for being a regular in the Royal Box at Wembley Challenge Cup final with fellow northerners Michael Parkinson and Brian Glover et al, but the support he gave the sport was unswerving.

He was a director of the Fulham club and in his introductory column in the fledgling club’s first programme for their opening Division Two game against Wigan he sought to highlight the differences between how both codes of rugby were portrayed.

Back then he wrote: “It has been a beef of mine and of most rugby league devotees that the image presented to the uninformed in the south by the ill-informed in the media is one of a rumbustious laugh a minute knockabout played by over developed members of the Variety Artists Federation.

“The image of the beefy clown is an insult to them and their dignity.

“In contrast rugby union is consistently portrayed as an intellectual if physical pursuit and is presented to the public in an erudite and highly sophisticated manner.”

And here we are 35 years later having the same discussion.

So not only have we lost a good league man, but one with good values who made a lot of people very happy or inspired by his work.

I should declare an interest; Kes is my all time favourite film - a perfect piece of work made in the south Yorkshire coalfield with grit, humour, honesty and love.

Most people pick out the bits where Brian Glover is doing his comedic Bobby Charlton impersonation on the football field as their favourite part.

But Welland’s portrayal of Mr Farthing - the sympathetic teacher who sees a gift in 15-year-old Billy Casper - brings out something special.

Welland played the part of Mr Farthing with such real empathy.

In a world in which non-academic kids are written off without valuing their gifts and talents, Farthing coaxed Casper to tell the class about flying his bird Kes and the results captivated the classroom.

And, although it is only fiction, that passage underlined that there are plenty of rough kids who have good in them, even if sometimes you do have to dig quite deeply to get to those hidden talents.