Joe Lydon (rugby)

Joe Lydon
Personal information
Born November 26, 1963 (1963-11-26) (age 48)

Joe Lydon (born 26 November 1963), is an English former professional rugby league footballer of the 1980 and 90s. A Great Britain international representative Fullback, Wing, Centre, and Stand-off/Five-eighth, he also coached the England national side at rugby union.

Contents

Playing career

Lydon played first schoolboy curtain-raiser to Challenge Cup final at Wembley in 1975. He signed professional forms with Widnes from Wigan St Patrick's, making his debut in a 9-10 defeat to Leigh.

In 1983 he made the first of three appearances for the Great Britain Under-24 team against France in January and a month later makes his full Great Britain debut, scoring a try and three goals in 20-5 win over France in Carcassonne. In 1984 he won the Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match in Widnes' Wembley win over Wigan and lifts Man of Steel, Division One Player and Young Player of the Year awards.

In 1986, when he joined Wigan, Lydon became rugby league's first £100,000 transfer (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £298,000 in 2009),[1] making his debut in a 44-6 win over Hull. During the 1987–88 Rugby Football League season, he played in the centres for defending champions Wigan in their 1987 World Club Challenge victory against the visiting Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

ydon was selected to go on the 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand and collected the last of his 30 GB caps as a substitute in 16-10 defeat by Australia in Brisbane. He would go on to make one further international appearance, coming on as a replacement for Ireland in their first ever international match, a 24-22 victory against USA in Washington DC in 1995. In 1994 he played the last of 262 games for Wigan as substitute in 30-6 home win over Featherstone.

During his career Lydon spent two English off-seasons playing in Australia for Sydney's Eastern Suburbs club.

After playing

Immediately retiring as a Wigan player, Lydon became the team manager of Wigan Warriors - a position he held until 1996. In 1997 Lydon was appointed the RFL's first-ever technical director, a post he held until resigning the post in 2000 when he was appointed manager of the England under-19 rugby union side. He was appointed England Sevens coach in October 2001.[2] In June 2004, he was appointed backs coach for the England rugby union team.[3] In May 2006, after being removed as England backs coach, Lydon turned down the opportunity to join the England RFU Academy.[4]

In July 2007 he began working with Waterloo Rugby Union Club as performance consultant. In August 2007 he was invited to the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium as a guest of honour.[5]

On the 24 October 2007, Lydon returned to the Wigan Warriors Club as part of the takeover by Ian Lenagan and became Chief Executive of the Holding Company.

On November 19, 2008 Joe Lydon was appointed Welsh Rugby Union Head of Rugby Performance & Development.

Superstars

Joe Lydon participated in the televised all-around sports competition Superstars, finishing second in the 1985 Series.[6]

Player Awards

Only three players have won the Lance Todd Trophy, Harry Sunderland Trophy, and the Man of Steel Award, they are; George Nicholls, Joe Lydon, and Paul Wellens.

References

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/7737407.stm

  1. ^ "Measuring Worth - Relative Value of UK Pounds". Measuring Worth. 2003-04-23. http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/. Retrieved 2008-10-03. 
  2. ^ Rugby Football Union - Joe Lydon Interview
  3. ^ Ackford, Paul (2004-06-06). "Lydon warms to task of getting England backs up and running". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2004/06/06/srengl06.xml. Retrieved 2010-05-06. 
  4. ^ "Lydon turns down academy position". BBC News. 2006-05-26. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/international/5020172.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-06. 
  5. ^ "Joe Lydon - Wembley". Quins. 2007-08-24. http://www.quins.co.uk/newspage.ink?nid=37763&newstype=n&matchid=&storytype=RL. Retrieved 2007-08-25. 
  6. ^ "Superstars roll of honour". BBC. 2008-12-31. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/superstars/2959150.stm. Retrieved 2009-01-01. 

External links