Andrew Ackers (born 25 December 1993) is an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer who plays as a for the

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

in the

Betfred Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at international level. He previously played for the Swinton Lions in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

and Championship 1, for the London Broncos in the Championship, and for the

Toronto Wolfpack The Toronto Wolfpack are a Canadian professional rugby league club based in Toronto, Ontario, who compete in the North American Rugby League. The club originally competed in the British rugby league system but withdrew in the 2020 Super Leagu ...

in the

Betfred Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football League, the governing body for the sport in England, ...

and the Super League.

Background

Ackers was born in

Golborne Golborne (pronounced or ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south-southeast of Wigan, northeast of Warrington and to the west of the city of Manchester. Combined with the village of Lowt ...

, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. He started playing Rugby League as a 12-year-old for Golborne Parkside, before signing for Hindley.

Playing career

Early career

Ackers was recruited as an 18-year-old into the Wigan Warriors Academy. He played for the under-18's during the 2012 season, but was released without making a single first team appearance. Ackers was then signed by

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

after a successful trial, and captained their under-19's team in 2013. Ackers joined

side Swinton Lions on loan for the 2014 season before signing a permanent deal with the club a year later. He scored 26 tries in 56 games over a two-year period.

London Broncos

Ackers became a full time professional as a 23-year-old at the London Broncos signing for the 2016 and 2017. It was announced on 9 May 2016, that Ackers extended his contract to the end of the 2018 season. The London Broncos finished 2nd in both 2016 and 2017, thus he played in the Qualifiers Super 8's for a place in Super League. Ackers last game for London was an away game against

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at the Halton Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twenty-two r ...

in the Qualifiers on 16 September 2017. Shortly after, he left the club after the Broncos accepted his request to be released for family reasons.

Toronto Wolfpack

Ackers signed for

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-based club

a few days after his release. The move was criticised by London Broncos, as Ackers had initially requested his release in order to spend more time with his family in the north of England. In both seasons in the Championship his team made the finals stages. His first season saw his club beaten by 4 points at 2 in the Million Pound Game with Ackers sinbinned in the final for a high tackle. Andy Ackers Toronto

His second season saw his club beat part-time Featherstone to be promoted. His third season saw Toronto lose all their Super League games and become hot favourites for relegation. Ackers suddenly left in June 2020; a few weeks before the events at Toronto that would see them ultimately liquidated.

Salford

On 4 June 2020, Ackers left

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

and signed a contract with

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

that would run until 2022. Following an impressive start to the 2022 season it was announced Ackers had signed one-year contract extension with

which would keep him at the AJ Bell Stadium until the end of the 2023 season.

England

Following an outstanding season with

, Ackers was announced as part of Shaun Wane's England World Cup squad on 30 September 2022. In the third group stage match at the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £ ...

, Ackers scored two tries for England in a 94-4 victory over minnows Greece.

References

External links

Salford Red Devils profileSL profileToronto Wolfpack profileBroncos profileEngland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ackers, Andy 1993 births Living people England national rugby league team players English rugby league players London Broncos players People from Golborne Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Wigan Salford Red Devils players Swinton Lions players Toronto Wolfpack players