\n Tributes have poured in since the death of the former Pilkington Recs, Thatto Heath, and Huyton hooker, who was widely respected both on and off the pitch.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dooley, who was brought up in Derbyshire Hill, first developed his love of the sport as a youngster and went on to enjoy a long and well-regarded career in the amateur and semi-professional game.\n<\/p>\n
\n He played for a number of local sides, including Bold Miners, Pilkington Recs, and Thatto Heath, as well as enjoying spells at Huyton and Runcorn Highfield, where he captained the team.\n<\/p>\n
\n Those who knew him have spoken warmly of a player whose impact extended beyond his performances on the field.\n<\/p>\n
\n Former Recs hooker Geoff Gormley said: “He was not the biggest in stature, but his enthusiasm and work rate was phenomenal.\n<\/p>\n
\n “He was a ‘busy’ player, who would follow the ball, a real hard worker in the loose.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Pilkington Recs also paid tribute to a figure whose connection with the club spanned decades.\n<\/p>\n
\n Current coach John Rees said: “His love for the club ran deep and never wavered.\n<\/p>\n
\n “He helped shape the character of Pilkington Recs for those of us that were coming through the system in the 90s and 00s.”\n<\/p>\n
\n He added: “He was respected by everyone who crossed his path… everyone has recalled a story with warmth and joy, a reflection of the impact he had on people.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Rees also described his tireless contribution behind the scenes.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “If something needed doing, Jimmy did it… water boy, physio, kitman, organiser \u2013 any role you could think of.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Off the field, he was known for his friendships within the game and his continued support for teams long after his playing days had ended.\n<\/p>\n
\n His later years were affected by illness, having been diagnosed with dementia in 2019.\n<\/p>\n
\n Today\u2019s funeral is expected to draw a large turnout from across the rugby league community.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jimmy\u2019s funeral is on 21 May at St Helens Crematorium, followed by a celebration of his life at the Police Club in Bishop Road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tributes have poured in since the death of the former Pilkington Recs, Thatto Heath, and Huyton hooker, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-597511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}