Craig Lingard (born 11 December 1977) is an English

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 112 ...

coach and former professional rugby league footballer who is the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

in the

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 wh ...

. Lingard played as a for the

Batley Bulldogs Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of th ...

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 ...

, where he is the all-time leading try scorer. He has previously been head coach of the

Bramley Buffaloes Bramley Buffaloes RLFC is a rugby league club from the Bramley area of West Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. History At the end of the 1999 season Bramley RLFC resigned from the Northern Ford Premiership to become a feeder team for Leeds, b ...

. He was assistant coach to

John Kear John Kear (born 25 November 1954) is an English professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Widnes Vikings in the Betfred Championship and the Wales national rugby league team. He also works as a pundit for BBC Sport and is a f ...

at Batley before taking on the top job at the

Keighley Cougars The Keighley Cougars are a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England who compete in League 1, the third tier of English rugby league. Keighley's home ground, Cougar Park has a capacity of 7,800. History Early y ...

in Betfred League 1. He returned to Batley as head coach for the 2020 season.

Background

Lingard was born in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

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 ...

Playing career

Lingard played as an amateur with Sharlston Rovers before turning professional. His professional playing career was at

, where he played from 1998 to 2008. Playing at , Lingard scored 142 tries and is Batley's all-time leading try scorer. In a tribute to this record, the club named one of the terraces at the

Fox's Biscuits Stadium Mount Pleasant stadium, officially known for commercial sponsorship purposes as Fox's Biscuits Stadium, is a rugby league stadium in Batley, West Yorkshire, England. It is the home of the Batley Bulldogs. The Mount Pleasant pitch is sloped and ...

the Craig Lingard Terrace.

Coaching career

Early career

After retiring from playing, Lingard joined the

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

coaching staff before being appointed head coach of

National Conference League The National Conference League (known as the Kingstone Press National Conference League for sponsorship reasons) is the top English amateur rugby league competition in the Rugby Football League pyramid, and as such is the leading amateur rugby l ...

team,

, in 2012. After just one season at Bramley, Lingard left and rejoined Batley as assistant head coach to

. He continued in his Batley role until the end of the 2016 season.

Keighley Cougars

In September 2016, Lingard was appointed head coach at

on a two-year contract. Lingard's contract was extended for a third year but in May 2019 he was sacked by Keighley.

Batley Bulldogs

Lingard's return to the

was announced in September 2019, this time being appointed the role of head coach. In the 2022 Championship season, Lingard guided Batley to the

Million Pound Game Million Pound Game (stylized as £1M Game) was an annual playoff final rugby league game that decides which Championship team will be promoted to Super League the following season. Between 2015 and 2018, the game was played as part of The Qualif ...

. Batley went on to be defeated by

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

44–12. In his final season in charge, Lingard led Batley to the 2023 RFL 1895 Cup final, the club's first match to be played at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. The Bulldogs fell to a narrow 10–12 defeat against the

Halifax Panthers The Halifax Panthers are a professional rugby league club in Halifax, West Yorkshire, which formed in 1873. Halifax were one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895. They have been Rugby Leag ...

Castleford Tigers

In May 2023, it was announced that Lingard had joined

, working as an assistant coach under Andy Last. He was appointed on a two-and-a-half-year contract, although would continue as

Batley Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...

's head coach for the remainder of the 2023 season. In August, following Last's dismissal and with Castleford level on points at the bottom of the table, he was joined by a new short-term coaching staff of Danny Ward and

Dane Dorahy Dane Dorahy () is an Australian rugby league coach and former professional rugby league footballer. He played as a , or in the 1990s and 2000s. He played at club level for Western Suburbs ( Heritage No. 1052) in the NRL, the Wakefield Trinit ...

and was tasked with securing Super League survival. The Tigers won two games to confirm their top flight status in the final six rounds, although Ward and Dorahy's departures meant that the head coach role was left vacant upon the season's completion. On 17 October 2023, Castleford announced the appointment of Lingard as the new head coach on a two-year deal. He said, "I am massively honoured. Something I've always aspired to be is a head coach in Super League and I've got that opportunity now." He would be working alongside new assistant coach

Danny McGuire Daniel Phillip McGuire (born 6 December 1982) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or , and is currently the interim head-coach of Hull Kingston Rovers. He spent the majority of his professional career play ...

, who was joining from

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...

Outside rugby league

Lingard's involvement with rugby league has always been part-time and away from the game he was previously a

prison officer A prison officer or corrections officer is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation of prisoners. They are responsible for the care, custody, and control of individuals who have been ...

. While head coach at Bramley, Lingard was a competitor on British gameshow ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lingard, Craig 1977 births Living people Batley Bulldogs coaches Batley Bulldogs players Bramley Buffaloes coaches British prison officers Castleford Tigers coaches English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Keighley Cougars coaches Rugby league players from Wakefield Rugby league fullbacks