John Woods (rugby league)

Former RL coach and GB & England rugby league footballer

For other people with the same name, see John Woods.

For the rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s for Great Britain, England, and Barrow, see John Woods (rugby league born circa-1910).

John Woods

John Woods Statue outside Leigh Sports Village (since 2016)

Personal information

Full name| John Woods
Born|  (1956-09-14) 14 September 1956 (age 68)
Leigh, Greater Manchester, England

Playing information

Position| Fullback, Centre, Stand-off
| Club

Years  | Team  | Pld | T | G | FG | P
1976–85  | Leigh | 302  | 135  | 859  | 11  | 2172
1985–87  | Bradford Northern | 62  | 21  | 167  | 3  | 421
1987–89  | Warrington | 72  | 25  | 254  | 5  | 613
1989–90  | Rochdale Hornets | 28  | 16  | 65  | 0  | 194
1990–92  | Leigh | 44+3  | 17  | 125  | 2  | 320
| Total  | 511  | 214  | 1470  | 21  | 3720
Representative
Years  | Team  | Pld | T | G | FG | P
1979–81  | England | 7  | 2  | 8  | 0  | 22
1979–87  | Great Britain | 11  | 1  | 13  | 0  | 29
1977–87[1] | Lancashire | 6  | 5  | 5  | 0  | 25
1977–79[2] | GB Under 24 | 5  | 2  | 11  | 0  | 28
1979[3] | GB tour games | 12+1  | 12  | 62  | 1  | 161

Coaching information

| Club

Years | Team | Gms | W | D | L | W%
1984-85  | Leigh | 36  | 11  | 2  | 23  | 31

Source: [4][5][6]

As of 12 October 2020

John Woods is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and England, and at club level for Leigh (two spells), Bradford Northern, Warrington and Rochdale Hornets, as a goal-kicking fullback, centre, or stand-off, and coached at club level for Leigh.

## Playing career

[edit]

### International honours

[edit]

John Woods won caps for England while at Leigh in 1979 against Wales (interchange/substitute), and France, in 1980 against Wales (interchange/substitute), and France, in 1981 against France, Wales, and Wales (interchange/substitute),[5] and won caps for Great Britain while at Leigh in 1979 against Australia (3 matches), and New Zealand, in 1980 against New Zealand, in 1981 against France (2 matches), in 1982 against Australia, and Australia (interchange/substitute), in 1983 against France, and while at Warrington in 1987 against Papua New Guinea.[6]

### County Cup Final appearances

[edit]

John Woods played stand-off, and scored 2-goals in Leigh's 8–3 victory over Widnes in the 1981 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1981–82 season at Central Park, Wigan on Saturday 26 September 1981, and played stand-off, and scored 2-goals in Warrington's 16–28 defeat by Wigan in the 1987 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1987–88 season at Knowsley Road, St. Helens on Sunday 11 October 1987.[7]

### BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final appearances

[edit]

John Woods played at centre in Leigh's 4–12 defeat by Castleford in the 1976 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final during the 1976–77 season at Hilton Park, Leigh on Tuesday 14 December 1976.[citation needed]

### Career records

[edit]

John Woods holds Leigh's "Most Career Points" record with 2,492 points,.[8] With 3,985-points he is sixth on British rugby league's "most points in a career" record list behind Neil Fox, Jim Sullivan, Kevin Sinfield, Gus Risman and Danny Brough.[9]

## Testimonial match

[edit]

John Woods' Testimonial match at Leigh took place in 1984.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Rothmans RL Yearbook 1989-90 by Raymond Fletcher and David Howes page 364 ISBN 0356178501
2. ^ Rothmans RL Yearbook 1989-90 by Raymond Fletcher and David Howes page 348 ISBN 0356178501
3. ^ History of Rugby League Volume 85 1978-79 edited by Irvin Saxton page 25
4. ^ "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
5. ^ a b "England Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl.co.uk. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
6. ^ a b "Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl.co.uk. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
7. ^ "1987–1988 Lancashire Cup Final". wigan.rlfans.com. 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
8. ^ "Leigh at greyhoundderby.com". greyhoundderby.com. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
9. ^ "Sinfield close to moving up all-time points list". loverugbyleague.com. 31 December 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2013.

## External links

[edit]

* (archived by web.archive.org) Lions beat the Blues
* Warrington's World Cup heroes - John Woods
* Photograph "John Woods - John Woods signed for Northern from Leigh in 1985. He scored 421 points in 62 games for the club. - Date: 01/01/1985" at rlhp.co.uk
* Statistics at wolvesplayers.thisiswarrington.co.uk

* v
* t
* e

Great Britain squad – 1979 Tour

* Doug Laughton (c)
* Mick Adams
* David Barends
* John Burke
* Len Casey
* Steve Evans
* George Fairbairn
* Peter Glynn
* Jeff Grayshon
* Phil Hogan
* John Holmes
* Eric Hughes
* Melvyn James
* John Joyner
* Graham Liptrot
* Brian Lockwood
* Tommy Martyn
* Roy Mathias
* Jim Mills
* Roger Millward
* Keith Mumby
* Steve Nash
* George Nicholls
* Steve Norton
* Alan Redfearn
* Trevor Skerrett
* Mike Smith
* Gary Stephens
* Charlie Stone
* David Topliss
* David Ward
* David Watkinson
* John Woods

* Eric Ashton (coach)
* Harry Womersley & Dick Gemmell (tour managers)

* v
* t
* e

Leigh Leopards coaches

Formerly Leigh (1878–1995) and Leigh Centurions (1996–2022)

* Jim Jolley (c1910-??)
* Emlyn Jenkins (1946–47)
* Laurie Higgins (1947)
* Jack Miller (1948)
* Emlyn Jenkins (1948–50)
* Joe Egan (1950–56)
* Jack Helme (1956–58)
* Peter Foster (1958–59)
* Don Gullick (1959–60)
* Jack Helme (1960–62)
* Alan Prescott (1962–64)
* Gerry Helme (1964–66)
* Alex Murphy (1966–71)
* Peter Smethurst (1971)
* Derek Hurt (1971–72)
* Les Pearce (1972–74)
* Eddie Cheetham (1974–75)
* Kevin Ashcroft (1975–77)
* Bill Kindon (1977)
* John Mantle (1977–78)
* Tommy Grainey (1978–80)
* Alex Murphy (1980–82)
* Colin Clarke (1982)
* Peter Smethurst (1982–83)
* Tommy Bishop (1983–84)
* John Woods (1984–85)
* Alex Murphy (1985)
* Tommy Dickens (1985–86)
* Billy Benyon (1986–90)
* Alex Murphy (1990–91)
* Kevin Ashcroft (1991–92)
* Jim Crellin (1992)
* Steve Simms (1992–94)
* Denis Ramsdale (1994)
* Ian Lucas (1994–96)
* Eric Hughes (1996)
* Keith Latham (1996–98)
* Norman Turley (1998)
* Ian Millward (1998–2000)
* Paul Terzis (2000–03)
* Darren Abram (2003–05)
* Tony Benson (2005–06)
* Darren Shaw (2006–08)
* Neil Kelly (2008–09)
* Paul Rowley (2009)
* Ian Millward (2009–11)
* Paul Rowley (2012–16)
* Neil Jukes (2016–18)
* Kieron Purtill (2018–19)
* John Duffy (2019–21)
* Kurt Haggerty (2021)
* Adrian Lam (2022–)

*[Pld]: Played
*[T]: Tries
*[G]: Goals
*[FG]: Field goals
*[P]: Points
*[Gms]: Games
*[W]: Wins
*[D]: Draws
*[L]: Losses
*[W%]: Win percentage
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template