John Kear’s BBC colleagues have led an outpouring of tributes to the rugby league great following his sudden death, just a day after he was on commentary duty for the Challenge Cup final.
The Rugby Football League announced that the 71-year-old died ‘suddenly’ on Sunday on his return from covering Wigan Warriors’ Challenge Cup victory at Wembley for the BBC.
Kear led nine clubs across a coaching career lasting more than 700 matches, masterminding a shock win for Sheffield Eagles in 1998 and then steering Hull FC to glory in 2005.
The Yorkshireman, who played for a decade as an outside back at Castleford before his long spell in the dugout, retired in 2025 after a second stint at Batley. He also tried his hand at international level, coaching England, Wales and France over the course of his career.
The tributes have been pouring in all day from Kear’s colleagues, friends, and former players.
‘Of course I love calling games with him because he’s so enthusiastic,’ said BBC rugby league commentator Matt Newsum.
‘But away from the mic I love hearing his life stories, getting him carried away on his favourite Led Zeppelin songs, and introducing him to the delights of halloumi after his initial scepticism. I can’t publish what he said at first.
‘The biggest compliment I can give is that when my dad died last year, John became the next best thing to me – he was much, much more than a colleague.’
Tributes to the rugby league great have poured in following the news of his sudden death, just a day after he was on commentary duty for the Challenge Cup final
‘Rest in eternal peace boss. You gave me the greatest rugby league day of my life, for that I’m indebted to you forever!’, former Hull player Paul Cooke, who was part of the 2005 win, wrote
Former Sheffield hooker Johnny Lawless, a key figure in the Wembley win over Wigan, told PA: ‘I’m totally devastated. The biggest memory I have of John is obviously the win at Wembley in 1998, but he had a massive impact on, not just my career, but my life as well.
‘How he managed people was like no other. I was just one of probably thousands of people who he touched within the game. He’s going to be greatly missed.
‘Without John we would not have won the cup. He never took credit for it, like the gentleman he was, but he truly masterminded it.
‘He put his arm around people and made you believe you could do stuff you probably doubted yourself. He had great attributes to get the best out of everyone.
‘He was one of those coaches you’d do anything for, you’d run through a brick wall for him because he just knew how to treat you as a person first and foremost. He had that magic effect.
‘He could make you play a little bit better, an extra 10 per cent here or one per cent there – John would get it out of you.’
Former Hull player Paul Cooke, who was in the side that beat Leeds in the 2005 final in Cardiff, wrote on X: ‘Rest in eternal peace boss. You gave me the greatest rugby league day of my life, for that I’m indebted to you forever!’
Former BBC sports commentator Dave Woods said: ‘For more than 30 years he was a cherished member of the BBC radio and TV commentary team. His knowledge was unsurpassed, his humour never diminished.
‘We gave him the tag of “Tight Yorkshireman” – always the last to get to the bar to buy a drink, we’d joke, and he’d play up to that role.
‘But, that was a myth. He was the most generous fella you could meet.
‘And, he was certainly always the last to leave the bar once the drinks were in because he loved the stories, the memories and the opinions we’d all share about our great game.
‘He had one passion greater than rugby league and that was his family.
‘Anyone who met JK knew how much his wife Dawn and all their kids meant to him. As much as we are hurting that he’s gone, their pain will be infinitely greater and they are so much in our thoughts.
‘Good night Keary, from Paris and Sheffield, and all those other places you left your lasting legacy.
‘You were the best of us.’
