Stuart Littler

Stuart Littler (born 19 February 1979) is the former head coach of Oldham in RFL League 1. He is a former Ireland international rugby league footballer and a former head coach of Ireland.

Stuart Littler
Personal information
Born (1979-02-19) 19 February 1979
Higher End, Wigan, England
Playing information
Height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight15 st 6 lb (98 kg)
PositionCentre, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1998–10 Salford City Reds 329 113 0 0 452
2011–14 Leigh Centurions 101 32 0 0 128
2014 Rochdale Hornets 12 3 0 0 12
2015–16 Swinton Lions 55 24 0 0 96
Total 497 172 0 0 688
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2004–16 Ireland 21 13 1 0 54
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2017–21 Swinton Lions 60 10 2 41 17
2021–23 Oldham 0 0 0 0
Total 60 10 2 41 17
Representative
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2018–22 Ireland 5 3 0 2 60
Source: [1][2][3]

Littler played for the Salford City Reds in the Super League, playing for his hometown club, Leigh Centurions and finishing his career with Swinton Lions, retiring at the end of the 2016 season.

Littler's position of choice was as a centre. He could also operate in the second-row and also played some games on the wing.

Background

Littler was born in Higher End, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. He is of Irish descent.

He is a lifelong resident of Leigh.

Career

Littler is an Ireland international.

Littler was expected to leave the club following Salford's relegation to National League One. Littler was expected to seal a move to Harlequins RL, however Chairman Ian Lenagan decided not to offer him a deal.

Littler joined Salford in 1998 – his first professional club and is equal top-try scorer in a season for the club, alongside David Watkins.

He was named in the Ireland training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,[4] and the Ireland squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.[5]

In October and November 2014, Stuart played in the 2014 European Cup competition.

In 2016, he was called up to the Ireland squad for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup European Pool B qualifiers.[6]

Coaching

Swinton Lions

After retiring with Swinton he remained with the club as an assistant coach under head coach John Duffy. When Duffy left the club in July 2017, he stepped into the head coach's shoes commencing with an away match at Bradford Bulls' Odsal Stadium on 23 July 2017. He parted company with Swinton in July 2021.[7]

Oldham RLFC

On 6 October 2021, he was reported as the new head coach for Oldham RLFC.[8]

On 1 Aug 2023 it was reported that Oldham had announced his departure amid speculation that he was about to take up the vacant Widnes Vikings head coach role.[9]

References
  1. loverugbyleague
  2. RLP
  3. "Player Summary: Stuart Littler". Rugby League Records. Rugby League Record Keepers Club. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  4. "Ireland Name World Cup 40 Man Training Squad". Rugby League Ireland. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  5. "Cassidy included in Ireland squad". BBC. 7 October 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  6. "Warrington Wolves trio named in Ireland squad for World Cup qualifiers". Warrington Guardian. 24 September 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  7. SARL - Championship club sack head coach
  8. "Ireland boss Stuart Littler is back in club coaching". Love Rugby League. 6 October 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  9. "Widnes Vikings: League 1 coach 'relieved of position' amid speculation with vacant Championship job". Love Rugby League. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
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