Rugby League World Golden Boot Award

The Rugby League World Golden Boot Award is a rugby league award handed out annually for achievements in rugby league by Rugby League World magazine. The Golden Boot is given, usually in December after the conclusion of all the year's matches, to the player adjudged to be the best in the world, as determined by a ballot of international media representatives.[1]

The oldest winner of the award is Kevin Sinfield, who won in 2012 at the age of 32. The current holder is New Zealand halfback Shaun Johnson.

History

The award was founded in early 1985 by the British magazine Open Rugby and was awarded to Wally Lewis for his performances throughout 1984. Lewis and the other pre-1990 winners were initially recognised for the years that they collected the award, not for the year of their performances, but this was changed by Rugby League World magazine in 2010.

No award was made between 1990 and 1998 due to organisational difficulties, the award was resurrected in its original format in 1999 when Open Rugby changed ownership to become Rugby League World Magazine, which retained ownership of the Golden Boot.

Andrew Johns collected the award in 1999 and again in 2001, becoming the first player to win it twice. Darren Lockyer repeated that feat, winning in 2003 and 2006 becoming the first player to win twice while playing in different positions.

It was presented during the RLIF Awards in 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2007, the RLIF did not organise any awards. To fill the gap, Rugby League World magazine asked its Golden Boot panel to come up with winners in the existing categories used by the RLIF.

In 2011, Rugby League World magazine began to award retrospective Golden Boots to fill in "the missing years" starting with Garry Schofield who was adjudged to have won the 1990 Golden Boot. Schofield was due to receive the award at the time, until the sponsors, Adidas, withdrew their backing.

Winners

Year Player Nationality Position Club
1984 Wally Lewis Australia Australia Five-eighth Australia Wynnum Manly Seagulls
1985 Brett Kenny Australia Australia Five-eighth Australia Parramatta Eels
1986 Garry Jack Australia Australia Fullback Australia Balmain Tigers
19871 Hugh McGahan
Peter Sterling 		New Zealand New Zealand
Australia Australia 		Second-row
Halfback 		Australia Eastern Suburbs
Australia Parramatta Eels
1988 Ellery Hanley England England Five-eighth England Wigan
1989 Mal Meninga Australia Australia Centre Australia Canberra Raiders
19902 Garry Schofield England England Five-eighth England Leeds
1991 - 1998 No award given
1999 Andrew Johns Australia Australia Halfback Australia Newcastle Knights
2000 Brad Fittler Australia Australia Five-eighth Australia Sydney Roosters
2001 Andrew Johns Australia Australia Halfback Australia Newcastle Knights
2002 Stacey Jones[2] New Zealand New Zealand Halfback New Zealand New Zealand Warriors
2003 Darren Lockyer[3] Australia Australia Fullback Australia Brisbane Broncos
2004 Andrew Farrell[4] England England Loose forward England Wigan Warriors
2005 Anthony Minichiello[5] Australia Australia Fullback Australia Sydney Roosters
2006 Darren Lockyer[6] Australia Australia Five-eighth Australia Brisbane Broncos
2007 Cameron Smith[7] Australia Australia Hooker Australia Melbourne Storm
2008 Billy Slater[8] Australia Australia Fullback Australia Melbourne Storm
2009 Greg Inglis[9] Australia Australia Centre Australia Melbourne Storm
2010 Benji Marshall[10] New Zealand New Zealand Five-eighth Australia Wests Tigers
2011 Johnathan Thurston[11] Australia Australia Halfback Australia North Queensland Cowboys
2012 Kevin Sinfield[12] England England Loose forward England Leeds
2013 Johnathan Thurston[13] Australia Australia Five-eighth Australia North Queensland Cowboys
2014 Shaun Johnson[14] New Zealand New Zealand Halfback New Zealand New Zealand Warriors

By nationality

By position

By club

Multiple winners

The following players have won the Golden Boot on more than one occasion:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kangaroos trio shortlisted for Golden Boot, AAP, dated 6 December 2013.
  2. ↑ "Jones honoured with British Golden Boot award". New Zealand Herald. 20 December 2002. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  3. ↑ "Golden Boot for Lockyer". BBC Sport. 24 November 2003. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  4. ↑ Whalley, John (23 November 2004). "Captain Farrell voted world's best player". The Telegraph (London). Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  5. ↑ "Minichiello gets the Golden Boot". ABC News. 22 November 2005. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  6. ↑ AAP (21 November 2006). "Lockyer takes golden boot". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  7. ↑ "Smith wins golden boot". The Daily Telegraph. 30 November 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  8. ↑ AAP (29 November 2008). "Melbourne Storm full-back Billy Slater wins prestigious Golden Boot award". Fox Sports. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  9. ↑ AAP (16 November 2009). "Inglis wins coveted Golden Boot". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  10. ↑ Otto, Tyson (4 December 2010). "Benji Marshall new poster boy after Golden Boot win". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  11. ↑ http://www.cowboys.com.au/default.aspx?s=article-display&id=45555&title=thurston-wins-coveted-international-award
  12. ↑ "Kevin Sinfield wins rugby league 2012 Golden Boot". 4 January 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  13. ↑ Wilson, Andy (17 January 2014). "Johnathan Thurston wins Golden Boot for second time in three years". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  14. ↑ AAP (19 December 2014). "League: Johnson wins Golden Boot". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 December 2014.

External links