Martin Gleeson (rugby league)

Martin Gleeson (born 25 May 1980) is the assistant coach at Featherstone Rovers. He is the former assistant coach at the rugby league club Salford Red Devils in the Super League, and an English former professional rugby league footballer. He represented both Great Britain and England internationally as a centre. His previous clubs include the Huddersfield Giants, St. Helens, the Warrington Wolves, the Wigan Warriors,[3] Hull F.C. and the Salford City Reds.[2] His honours include winning the Super League in 2002 and 2010 and the Challenge Cup in 2004.

Martin Gleeson
Personal information
Full nameMartin Gleeson
Born (1980-05-25) 25 May 1980
Wigan, Greater Manchester, England
Playing information
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight14 st 13 lb (95 kg)[1]
PositionCentre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1999 Swinton Lions 1 0 0 0 0
1999–01 Huddersfield Giants 60 18 0 0 72
2002–04 St Helens 69 31 0 0 124
2005–09 Warrington Wolves 117 48 0 0 192
2009–11 Wigan Warriors 54 22 0 0 88
2011 Hull F.C. 7 5 0 0 20
2013–14 Salford City Reds 30 4 0 0 16
Total 338 128 0 0 512
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2002–07 Great Britain 20 3 0 0 12
2008 England 6 8 0 0 32
2002–03 Lancashire 2 0 0 0 0
Source: [2]

Gleeson was banned for three years (with half being suspended) in 2011 for failing a drugs test. His ban expired on 12 November 2012.[4]

Early life

Gleeson was born in Wigan. Much of his early rugby development took place in Australia, where he emigrated with his family at age 10 to live in Queensland, where he played his junior rugby league for the Slacks Creek Red Lions club based in Daisy Hill, Queensland. He also played alongside the future Australian and Queensland representative Brad Meyers at Brothers St. Paul, in Brisbane. In 2005, Gleeson revealed his desire to represent Queensland in State of Origin.[5] He returned to England aged 17 and embarked on a professional career, signing for Huddersfield Giants in 1999.

Playing career

Huddersfield Giants

After three seasons with the Giants, he left the club following its relegation from Super League in 2001 and signed for St Helens.

St Helens

Gleeson made his début for Great Britain against Australia in Sydney in July 2002, also participating in the test series against New Zealand at the end of the season.

At the end of his first season with St. Helens Gleeson played as a centre and scored a try in the 2002 Super League Grand Final victory against the Bradford Bulls. Having won Super League VI, St. Helens contested the 2003 World Club Challenge against the 2002 NRL Premiers, the Sydney Roosters, he played as a centre in Saints' 0-38 defeat.

An injury lay off disrupted him in 2003. Although he missed seven games between July and September, he came back at the end of the 2003's Super League VIII to win back his place in the Great Britain squad after a fine performance for England 'A' against the touring Australians.

He opened the 2004's Super League IX for St. Helens, and won the Challenge Cup against the Wigan Warriors at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. He and teammate Sean Long were later involved in a betting scandal that saw both players fined and suspended for the last four months of the 2004 Super League IX.[6]

Gleeson was selected in the Great Britain team to compete in the end of season 2004 Rugby League Tri-Nations tournament. In the final against Australia he played as a centre in the Great Britain's4 4-4 defeat.

Warrington Wolves

While serving his suspension, Gleeson was signed by the Warrington Wolves for a club record fee reported in the region of £200,000, and he made his début for the Warrington Wolves in the 2005's Super League X. He recorded a personal best scoring tally of 17 tries in 27 Super League appearances, and he was named as a centre in the Super League Dream Team 2005. He was also heavily involved in providing scores for his wing partner, the New Zealand international Henry Fa'afili.

In September 2008, he was named in the 2008 England training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,[7] and, in October 2008, he was named in the final 24-man England squad.[8]

He was chosen for the England team to face Wales at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster prior to England's departure for the World Cup.[9]

In Group A's first match against Papua New Guinea, he played as a centre and scored a try in England's victory.

Gleeson signed a two-year extension until 2011 but, on 4 April 2009, he signed for local rivals, Wigan, on a 3½-year contract.

Wigan Warriors

Seven rounds into the 2009's Super League XIV, with both Warrington Wolves and Wigan Warriors at the time drifting outside of play-off positions, Gleeson was transferred to the Wigan Warriors on a 3½-year contract, with fullback Richie Mathers moving in the other direction. Gleeson was an integral part of Wigan Warriors' 2010's Super League XV, scoring two tries as they won the 2010 Super League Grand Final against St. Helens at Old Trafford.[10]

His start of 2011's Super League XVI was against St. Helens in the first regular round.[11] He also played in the side's win at the Bradford Bulls but had to be taken off in the first-half because of a hamstring injury.[12] He recovered in time for the 2011 World Club Challenge fixture against St George Illawarra Dragons, but was ineffective and again had to be withdrawn during the match because of the injury.[13] Before the match, the Manchester Evening News reported that, in December 2010, Gleeson had contacted the police alleging he was the victim of blackmail but had decided to drop the charge.[14] Amid growing speculation, the club released a statement saying that he had left his hometown club with immediate effect citing his injury, disciplinary problems and a "serious distraction in his personal life"[15] as the reasons for the departure.

Hull F.C.

Gleeson signed for the Super League club Hull F.C. on 15 April 2011 on an 18-month contract, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2012 Super League XVII. He made a try scoring debut in the 36–18 defeat of city rivals Hull Kingston Rovers in the Good Friday derby at the KC Stadium. In June, it was announced that he was suffering a stress-related illness and he was granted leave by the club. His contract with the club was terminated in September. In December, it was announced that he had failed a drugs test on 13 May in a game against Salford in which he scored two tries. He was subsequently banned for three years (with half being suspended) from 12 June which was his final game for the club against Harlequins.

Salford City Reds

In November 2012, Salford City Reds announced they had signed Gleeson on a 2-year contract for the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons. He scored his first try for Salford in the Magic Weekend fixture against Widnes Vikings on 26 May 2013 at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester.

Gleeson announced his retirement in September 2014.[16]

Personal life

Martin Gleeson is the older brother of the rugby league footballer, Mark Gleeson, and the cousin of the rugby league footballer, Sean Gleeson.

References
  1. "Statistics at hullfc.com". hullfc.com. 17 August 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  2. "Martin Gleeson". Love Rugby League. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
    - "Martin Gleeson Playing Career". Rugby League Project. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
    - "England international stats". England Rugby League. 31 December 2017. Archived from the original on 16 April 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
    - "Great Britain international stats". England Rugby League. 31 December 2017. Archived from the original on 16 April 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  3. "Heritage Numbers - In Debut Order". Cherry and White. 31 December 2019. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  4. "Drugs ban for ex-Hull FC player Martin Gleeson". BBC News. 29 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  5. "Pom Gleeson's Origin dream". Rugby League Week. 23 March 2005. p. 117. Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2018 – via EBSCOhost Connection.
    - Ricketts, Steve (17 October 2008). "England centre Martin Gleeson wants NRL spot in 2010". BBC News.
  6. Hadfield, David (18 June 2004). "Gleeson and Long banned for betting scandal". The Independent.
  7. "Myler gets England call". England Rugby League. 29 September 2008. Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
  8. "Purdham earns World Cup call-up". BBC News. 7 October 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  9. "Gleeson to lead new-look England". BBC News. 9 October 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2008.
  10. "St Helens 10–22 Wigan". BBC News. 2 October 2010.
    - Wilson, Andy (2 October 2010). "Wigan turn St Helens into sinners with Super League Grand Final win". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  11. Scott, Ged (12 February 2011). "St Helens 16–16 Wigan". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  12. "Bradford 10 Wigan 44: match report". The Daily Telegraph. 20 February 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  13. Wilson, Andy (27 February 2011). "Wigan Warriors make brave attempt but Dragons are still worlds apart". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  14. Keegan, Mike (25 February 2011). "Wigan rugby league star Martin Gleeson 'received death threats in blackmail plot'". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  15. "Wigan Warriors part with troubled Martin Gleeson". BBC News. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  16. "Martin Gleeson: Salford centre retires and takes academy role". BBC Sport. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014.


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