Warrington Wolves

Warrington Wolves RLFC

File:Wolves logo.gif
Wolf
Club information
Full name	Warrington Wolves Rugby League Football Club
Colours	Primrose and blue
Founded	1879
Website	www.warringtonwolves.com
Current details
Ground(s)	Halliwell Jones Stadium
Competition	Super League (Europe)

Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league team in the town of Warrington, Cheshire in England. In the past the club have been nicknamed "Wire", in reference to the strength of the wire-pulling industry in Warrington.

Their colours are primrose (light yellow) and blue, though white has often featured on the home shirt.

They previously played at the traditional ground of Wilderspool, but have since moved to a state-of-the-art venue, known as the Halliwell Jones Stadium. Warrington are currently in the top flight of rugby league, the Super League. To date, they have never won the Super League trophy, though they have won many major trophies in their past.

History

Early years

Warrington Zingari was founded in 1879 by Timothy Grix of Chatburn. The committee of the newly formed club managed to get the use of a field fronting Sankey Street. The headquarters of the club were at the White Hart Hotel in Sankey Street.

The first match was away game against the Walton side played at Rice Field in Liverpool on the 18th October 1879. Walton won by three goals to nil. The first home game at Sankey Street for the club was against Oughtrington, with Warrington gaining their first victory by three goals to one. In their first season Warrington played 11 games, won 7, lost 2 and drew 2. A year later, The Warrington Guardian purchased the land in Sankey Street for its new offices and the club was forced to move to a new pitch at Wilderspool.

Another local club, Padgate Excelsior amalgamated with Warrington in 1881 - 1882 to form a representative town side. After one season at Wilderspool Road, the club obtained another field at Slutchers Lane. A year later, Warrington moved back to Sankey Street to play in a field behind the towns Post Office. In 1883 - 1884, they moved for the fourth time, this time back to Wilderspool Road, the new pitch being just a short distance from the previous ground.

In 1884 - 1885, Warrington were strengthened again when the club Warrington Wanderers joined the town side. In 1886, the club won its first silverware, the South West Lancashire and Border Towns Trophy.

On August 28th 1895, the Committee decided to join with 21 other clubs throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire to form a new 'Northern Union' and resigned from the RFU.

In 1900 - 1901, Warrington reached the final of the Challenge Cup, facing Batley. A crowd of 29,000 turned out at Leeds to see Warrington battle hard but be beaten by two tries to nil. Warrington also appeared in the renamed South West Lancashire Cup against Leigh two days later. The strenuous game against Batley took its toll on the Warrington players and the match ended in a 0-0 draw, the replay never took place.

In 1903 - 1904, Warrington defeated Bradford in a semi-final replay to earn a place in the final of the Challenge Cup. Warrington put up a fine performance against Halifax but lost 8-3.

POST WW2

The early post-WW2 years saw a boom in rugby league in general, & the glory years of the Warrington club. With stars such as Brian Bevan, Harry Bath & Gerry Helme, the Wire won all the code's major honours, including the League Championship for the only times in their history in 1947/8, 1953/4 & 1954/5.

In 1954 a record 102,569 paid to see Warrington defeat Halifax 8-4 in the Challenge Cup final replay at Odsal, Bradford, but thousands more got in for free.

1970s onwards

Alex Murphy joined Warrington as player-coach and, in 1974, captained them to a 24-9 win in the cup final against Featherstone before retiring as a player. As coach in 1975, he took Warrington to the Challenge Cup final.

Paul Cullen was appointed head coach in 2002.

Their best season in Super League has been the 2005 season (Super League X), where they finished in 4th place and earned a home tie in the playoffs. They are one of only a handful of clubs never to have been relegated from the top flight of rugby league, throughout their long history.

Warrington's first season in the Halliwell Jones Stadium saw slight underachievement on the pitch reflected in their finishing position of eighth in Super League, though they did make the semi finals of the Challenge Cup. However they recorded a significant increase in their average attendances and midway through the season the club was purchased by events promoter Simon Moran. Moran immediately released fresh investment into the club, enabling coach Paul Cullen to sign Great Britain centre Martin Gleeson for a club record fee reported in the region of £200,000 as well as New Zealand internationals Henry Fa'afili and Logan Swann.

Australian half-back Andrew Johns played 3 games for the club when his Australian club Newcastle concluded their season. He wore the number 31 (the club was refused permission for Johns to wear 77) and is rumoured to have been paid around £40,000 (Aus$100,000) per match for the Wolves. The signing caused controversy for a couple of reasons. If the Wolves had made the Super League Grand Final, it would have clashed with the Kangaroos Tri-Nations test against New Zealand in Sydney.

Also, many people questioned why the Wolves were allowed to bring in a player in time for the Super League play-offs after he had finished playing a full season in Australia. The signing and subsequent confusion over the rules led other Super League clubs to follow the example set by the Wolves and signed their own Antipodean players on short-term contracts.

Warrington has also recently signed current Great Britain international Adrian Morley on a 4 year deal from the Sydney Roosters NRL club. The deal will commence from the start of Super League XII.

Current squad

As of 29 March, 2006:

Number		Player	Position	Previous Club
1		Brent Grose	FB	South Sydney Rabbitohs
2		Henry Faafili	W	New Zealand Warriors
3		Martin Gleeson	C	St Helens
4		Toa Kohe-Love	C	Bradford Bulls
5		Stuart Reardon	W	Bradford Bulls
6		Lee Briers	SO	St Helens
7		Michael Sullivan	SH	Cronulla Sharks
8		Chris Leikvoll	P	St George Illawarra Dragons
9		Jon Clarke	H	London Broncos
10		Mark Hilton	P	Warrington Wolves Academy
11		Logan Swann	SR	Bradford Bulls
12		Mike Wainwright	SR	Warrington Wolves Academy
13		Paul Noone	LF	Warrington Wolves Academy
14		Mark Gleeson	H	Warrington Wolves Academy
15		Ben Westwood	SR	Warrington Wolves Academy
16		Paul Wood	P	Warrington Wolves Academy
17		Danny Lima	P	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
18		Richie Barnett	P	Hull FC
19		Rob Parker	P	Bradford Bulls
20		Paul Rauhihi	P	North Queensland Cowboys
21		Simon Grix	SO	Halifax RLFC
22		Steve Pickersgill	P	Warrington Wolves Academy
23		Andy Bracek	SR	St Helens
24		Chris Riley	W	Warrington Wolves Academy
25		Chris Bridge	W	Bradford Bulls
26		Ben Harrison	P	Barrow Island

Major honours

• Championship: 1947-48, 1953-54, 1954-55 (3 times)
• Challenge Cup: 1904-05, 1906-07, 1949-50, 1953-54, 1973-74 (5 times)
• Lancashire League: 1937-38, 1947-48, 1948-49, 1950-51, 1953-54, 1954-55, 1955-56, 1967-68 (8 times)
• Lancashire Cup: 1921-22, 1929-30, 1932-33, 1937-38, 1959-60, 1965-66, 1980-81, 1982-83, 1989-90 (9 times)
• Regal Trophy: 1973-74, 1977-78, 1980-81, 1990-91 (4 times)

Some famous players

• Brian Bevan
• Allan Bateman
• Allan Langer
• Andrew Gee
• Harry Bath
• Iestyn Harris
• Paul Sculthorpe
• Lee Briers

External links

• Official Club Site
• Super League Official Site