A RHYL and District Rugby Club stalwart has officially received his Officer of the Order of the British Empire at a special ceremony.

Dick Greenwood was appointed an OBE for his services to rugby after becoming the driving force behind Rhyl’s plans for a new clubhouse, and travelled to Buckingham Palace on Friday, October 13 to collect the accolade.

He was joined at the event by son Will, who was given an MBE for his efforts with the England squad that triumph in the 2003 World Cup.

Greenwood is a former England rugby union international flanker, captain of Waterloo, Cambridge University, Lancashire and England as well as national coach. He was for many years a coach with Preston Grasshoppers.

In 1973 he was sent to Kenya by the Rugby Football Union on a coaching assignment, and while there was selected to play for The Scorpions, the East African equivalent of the Barbarian FC. After this assignment was over he moved to Italy to play for Rugby Roma from 1973 to 1976, becoming the Italian Championship’s best try scorer in 1974 and 1975. So enamoured had he been by his time in Kenya that he persuaded his Italian club to tour East Africa in 1976. He was also the England National rugby coach from 1983 to 1985.

He gained five international caps between 1966 and 1969, serving as captain in his last game, and is also involved in rugby league, serving as chairman and coaching the junior sides of Prestatyn and Rhyl Panthers since 2011, and is (as of 2015) on the board of directors of Wales Rugby League.

Outside rugby, Greenwood was the Assistant Bursar and also a geography teacher and head of rugby at Stonyhurst College.