By Coventry Rugby 
By Paul Smith
David Duckham, George Cole, Ivor Preece, Harry Walker, Phil Judd or a host of other 1950s, 60s and 70s players would head most ‘greatest-ever’ Coventry Rugby shortlists.
But there might just be one name whose importance to the club – for very different reasons – tops all of these blue-and-white luminaries, and the recent death of journalist John Wilkinson after a brave battle against cancer, leaves a gaping hole in the club’s modern history.
Wilkie never played much rugby, let alone at senior club level, but he loved the sport and those who play it with an enthusiasm that leaped off the page at his readers.
John moved to the Coventry (then Evening) Telegraph in 1989 initially as its no.2 rugby writer to cover Rugby Lions – who in those days were rubbing top-flight shoulders with the likes of Leicester and Harlequins.
When Darrell Giles moved on John was duly promoted to the Cov beat, a role he carried out in distinguished fashion as an employee then freelancer until 2018.
Despite being closer to 70 than 60, John’s later years also saw him jump across the journalism divide as the rise of websites and latterly social media created the need for club press officers who kept the internet and by now less-than-well-equipped traditional outlets supplied with Cov content.
A genial and generous man who was liked by everyone he met, Wilkie always had a tale to tell and a charismatic chuckle with which to embellish it. Having taken Toby Trinder to visit, after John’s declining eyesight limited his ability to attend the BPA, I well recall the relish with which he recounted a tale involving an early Tongan recruit and his rogue methods of sourcing barbecue fare!
John was also a shrewd sports journalist with a great eye for a story and a lovely, economic writing style. Other tributes will doubtless recall JW the cycling journo, who covered multiple Olympic games and World Championships around the world while he was also a great family man, friend and colleague to many of us.
But for the purposes of this tribute John Wilkinson was quite simply the man without whom Coventry Rugby Club would have ceased to exist.
In the Summer of 2008 Coventry RFC (as was) had recently been sold by Keith Fairbrother to Andrew Green. Having gone in and out of administration in the process – as those unregulated days permitted – the RFU required the new club to post a bond of £100,000 as a surety against further financial problems.
By lunchtime on June 13th it had become apparent that this funding was not available and the club would be banished, in the future style of London Welsh, Orrell, Richmond and ironically Rugby Lions, to the bottom of the rugby pyramid.
The club had run out of rope and this inevitable outcome was quietly accepted. However, John was aghast and in desperation sent an email to RFU Chairman Martyn Thomas asking whether the bond could be raised independently so the decision could be reconsidered.
The following day this proposal was accepted and a three-week stay of execution granted within which the Coventry Telegraph, with the wholehearted support of editor Alan Kirby, led a trailblazing campaign to raise the required funds.
John’s media connections brought huge TV, radio and print coverage to the mission and with players carrying out bucket collections in the city centre and Coventrians rallying behind the cause almost £55,000 was raised.
Although this was short of the target, such was the fervor behind the campaign the RFU relented and tore up the death sentence previously handed down. This allowed Cov to play in English rugby’s second tier in the coming season and while the club’s financial woes were far from done, the Grim Reaper was never again quite as close at hand.
With steely determination, unrelenting focus and typical good humour John Wilkinson ignited the flame that saved Coventry Rugby Club and in the process added his name to the club’s hall of fame. He will be sorely missed.
