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Contents 1 Martin Offiah 1.1 Rugby League 1.1.1 Widnes 1.1.2 Wigan 1.1.3 St. George 1.1.4 London 1.1.5 Salford 1.2 Rugby Union 1.3 Recognition 1.4 Life outside of rugby 1.5 External link

[edit] Martin Offiah

Martin Offiah

This infobox needs replacing, Use {{Infobox rugby league biography}}
Personal information
Full name	Martin Offiah
Date of birth	29th December 1966
Place of birth	Leeds, England
Nickname	Chariots Offiah
Position	Winger
Professional clubs*
1987-1991 1991-96 1991 1997-99	Widnes Wigan St. George London Salford	145 (181) 159 (186) 14 (11)
National team
	Great Britain England	33 (26) 8 (5)
* Professional club appearances and (tries) counted for the domestic league only.

Martin Offiah MBE (born 29th December 1966 in London) was an English rugby league player who played on the wing. He is also known as 'Chariots' Offiah after the film 'Chariots of Fire', although (contrary to widespread popular belief) the correct pronunciation of his surname is 'Offier' – with the stress on the first syllable.

[edit] Rugby League

[edit] Widnes

After moving to rugby league, he signed with Widnes in 1987. He first made his name at Widnes by scoring 181 tries in 145 games. During the 1988-89 season, Offiah broke the record for the most tries in a season, scoring an impressive 58 tries.

[edit] Wigan

In January 1991 he joined Wigan for a fee of £440,000. This figure remains a record for a total cash transfer. Playing on the wing, he formed a partnership with Gene Miles in his first season at Wigan. Martin became a real showman and character of the game, often infuriating opponents when he raced past them waving goodbye. He had great hands and an eye for a try, often making interceptions then racing the length of the field to score. Martin received criticism over his defensive game, but such was the dominance of the Wigan during this period, that he was rarely required to defend.

Martin helped his side to their fifth successive Challenge Cup Final in the 1991-92 season. Wigan went on to win the match against Castleford 28-12 in front of a crowd of 77,286 at Wembley to make it five successive Challenge Cup victories in a row for Wigan and thirteenth overall. For his performance in the match he was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy for his man of the match performance.

In the 1993-94 season, Offiah was involved in his clubs 26-16 victory of Leeds in front of a crowd of 78,348 people at Wembley. It was Wigan's seventh successive Challenge Cup victory in a row and their fifteenth overall. Martin scored twice in the match including a try in the twelfth minute that is considered amongst his best in his illustrious career. BBC Sport commentator Ray French described the try as "Having swept past two attempted tackles inside the Wigan 20m area, Offiah raced upfield, eluding Francis Cummins and Garry Schofield on his way to the tryline. He then left Alan Tait stranded and hopelessly beaten with the most majestic of swerves." For his man of the match performance, he was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy. He became only the third man in the history of the Lance Todd Trophy, which was founded in 1946, to win the trophy twice. The other men being Gerry Helme, who won the trophy both in the years 1950 and 1954, and Andy Gregory who won the trophy a few years earlier in 1988 and 1990.

The following season, Offiah was also involved in his sides 30-10 victory in the Challenge Cup Final, which was ironically against their opponents from the previous season, the Leeds Rhinos. This time however, Martin failed to register as one of the try scorers that day.

He played in Wigan's World Club Challenge win over the Brisbane Broncos in 1994, four Challenge Cup wins, five Championship teams, three Regal Trophy wins and one Lancashire Cup victory.

Offiah made a total of 158 starting appearances for Wigan with another single appearance as a substitute. He scored more than a try a game for Wigan, crossing the try-line 186 times. He also managed to score one goal and 3 field goals thus scoring a grand total of 749 points for the club. When the game made the switch to summer rugby in 1996 Martin played in only ten games before moving to the London Broncos.

[edit] St. George

During the 1991 season, Offiah was loaned to the St. George Dragons. During his time at the Dragons, he played 14 games, scoring 11 tries.

[edit] London

also played for London in their 1999 Challenge Cup final defeat to Leeds.

[edit] Salford

In 2000, one of the highlights for Offiah came against the Halifax Blue Sox. With just minutes remaining in the match, the scores were level at 26-26. Then with just two minutes remaining, Martin Offiah popped up to score a drop goal and edge Salford into the lead 27-26, which turned out to be the final score.

During the start of July 2001, he became only the third player in rugby league history to pass the 500 try mark, following behind two rugby league legends, Australian Brian Bevan, who is the all time leading try scorer with 796 tries, and Welshman Billy Boston who scored a career total of 571 tries. Martin Offiah surpassed the 500 career try mark by scoring two tries against one of his former clubs, the London Broncos, as Salford went on to win the match 37-14 at The Valley.

At the age of 35, Offiah decided to call an end to his rugby league career. He left the Salford City Reds at the end of the 2000 season after his contract had expired. After announcing his retirement he stated that he was going to take a holiday to rest his injuries before deciding what to do next. He later came out of retirement, and switched rugby codes again, and played for the English rugby union club, the London Wasps.

He will be remembered as one of the all time great rugby league try scorers. His rugby league career was filled with awards and honours. His try scoring feats surpassed all but two other rugby league players, Australian Brian Bevan and Welshman Billy Boston. He scored a career total of 506 tries in his rugby league career.

In total he accumulated 20 cup-winning medals.

[edit] Rugby Union

Martin Offiah first played rugby union for Rosslyn Park before switching to rugby league. He also played rugby union for Bedford and also later went on to play for the London Wasps. In 2001, Offiah came out of retirement for a one-month trial with Wasps, as they were at the time struggling at the bottom of the Zurich Premiership table.

[edit] Recognition

In 1997, Offiah was honoured with an MBE by the Queen for his achievements and contribution to the sport of rugby league.

[edit] Life outside of rugby

In 1997 Offiah published his autobiography, entitled Martin Offiah: My Autobiography - Fast and Loose. In 2003 Offiah was one of the celebrities taking part in the first series of the BBC's successful show Strictly Come Dancing, reaching fourth place with his partner Erin Boag. Two years later, in 2005 he appeared alongside Natasha Kaplinsky as he hosted the one-off special, Strictly African Dancing.

[edit] External link

• Martin Offiah - featured on 100 Great Black Britons

[Category:1966 births|Offiah, Martin] [Category:Living people|Offiah, Martin] [Category:Ballroom dancers|Offiah] [Category:English rugby league players|Offiah, Martin] [Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire|Offiah, Martin]

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