Barrie McDermott

Barrie McDermott
Personal information
Nickname Baz
Born 22 July 1972
Oldham, Lancashire, England
Playing information
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.79 m)
Weight 17 st 10 lb (112 kg)
Position Prop
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1991–94 Oldham 40 6 0 0 24
1994–95 Wigan 13 4 0 0 16
1995–05 Leeds Rhinos 283 40 0 0 160
Bramley 4 4
2006 Widnes Vikings 26 5 1
Total 366 55 1 0 204
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1994–03 Great Britain 15 0 0 0 0
1996 England 1 0 0 0 0
2000–05 Ireland 15 8
Lancashire 3 0
Source: RLP

Barrie McDermott (born 22 July 1972) is an English former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s (decade). A Great Britain international representative Prop, he played his club football at Oldham, Wigan Warriors, Leeds Rhinos (with whom he won both a Super League Championship and Challenge Cup final), Bramley and Widnes.

McDermott later became the Head of Youth Development with his former club, Leeds Rhinos, and appears as a pundit on Sky Sports. In 2006 Barrie McDermott was included in the Southstander.com Hall of Fame.

Playing career

1990s

A native of Oldham, McDermott started out with his hometown club Oldham before transferring to Wigan where he won a championship and was first picked to play for Great Britain. He had originally wished to join the army, but was unable to do so after an accident with an air rifle that caused him to lose an eye. His early career wasn't short of controversy and he has been described as notorious, mostly due to his aggressive style of play. During the 1994 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France McDermott played in all three Ashes Tests against Australia, Great Britain losing the series.

McDermott joined Leeds in 1995. He missed the Rhinos' 1998 Super League Grand Final defeat against Wigan. He played in Leeds' first Challenge Cup final win for 21 years when he played against the London Broncos in 1999. He scored a try at a crucial time in the game in Leeds' 52–16 win which was a record scoreline. In this game Leroy Rivett set a Challenge Cup record by scoring 4 tries, eclipsing Robbie Paul's achievement of 3 tries at a Wembley final. McDermott was a Great Britain international with 17 caps.[1] McDermott also earned a solitary cap for England.[2] McDermott missed the 1998 Super League Grand Final defeat by his old club Wigan.

2000s

McDermott went on to represent Ireland at the 2000 Rugby League World Cup and went on to earn 15 caps over the years. McDermott has also represented Lancashire in the Origin Series. His autobiography, Made for Rugby was published in 2004. McDermott did manage to become only the 22nd Leeds player to win the league championship and the challenge cup in 2004 when he played for the Leeds Rhinos from the interchange bench in their 2004 Super League Grand Final victory against the Bradford Bulls.

At the start of Barrie's last season with Leeds, he won the 2005 World Club Challenge. The Rhinos won the World Club Challenge against the then National Rugby League champions the Canterbury Bulldogs. They won the trophy in front of a record crowd for a World Club Challenge held in Britain. There was a 37,028 strong crowd at Elland road. The Rhinos looked like they were going to go onto more success in 2005 as they reached the Challenge Cup final for the 4th time in 6 years. They were leading 24–19 with a couple of minutes to go when disaster struck as they conceded a Paul Cooke try which Danny Brough converted to give the men from the east coast the trophy, winning by a point 25–24, The Rhinos' season went from bad to worse as they slipped up in the league allowing Saint Helens to finish top of the table. The Rhinos finished 2nd and so played Saint Helens at Knowsley Road for the right to go to old trafford and play in the Grand Final. The Rhinos won and so reached their second consecutive Grand Final. They had to wait and see who they would play in the final. Saints played Bradford in the Grand Final Eliminator to see who would play the Rhinos at Old Trafford. The Bulls won so it was a repeat of the 2004 Grand Final – however it wasn't to be a fairytale for the Rhinos and Barrie as the Bulls won the match 15–6. Barrie played in 2 Grand Finals, 3 Challenge Cup Finals and a World Club Challenge. He won 1 Grand Final winners ring, a Challenge Cup winners medal and a World Club Challenge winners medal. Barrie played 283 games for Leeds scoring 40 tries including 1 hat-trick. Barrie McDermott's Testimonial match at Leeds took place in 2005. He played for the Leeds Rhinos from the interchange bench in their 2005 Super League Grand Final loss against Bradford Bulls. Although he announced his retirement from the game at the end of the 2005 season, McDermott played another year with Widnes in NL1. After a season playing with his good friend Terry O'Connor he finally retired in 2006.

Post playing

Since retirement, Barrie initially worked in a community role at Leeds Rhinos before joining the Leeds coaching setup where he is currently the Head of Youth Development. He regularly works for Sky Sports, both as a pundit at live games and as an off-field character where he regularly appears in light-hearted features with long-time friend Terry O'Connor. He is also involved in Leeds' corporate entertainment division on match days.

Even after his playing career was over, McDermott remained involved with the Challenge Cup, one of the most prestigious knock-out tournaments in the world of rugby league. Leeds Metropolitan University, who were the main sponsors of the event in 2009, announced him as their official "Carnegie Ambassador" for the 2009 Challenge Cup.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl. 31 December 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
  2. ↑ "England Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl. 31 December 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
  3. ↑ "McDermott unveiled as Carnegie Ambassador". therfl.co.uk (Rugby Football League). Retrieved 20 April 2009.

Further reading

External links