Darrell Griffin (born 19 June 1981) 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 112 ...

footballer who plays for 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 League 1. An

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 ...

international representative , his former clubs include the

Oxford Cavaliers Oxford Cavaliers Rugby League Football Club is the first amateur rugby league club formed in Oxford in the summer era. Over 16 years the Cavaliers have coached and developed several players who have gone on to play the game both professionally a ...

, the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

(Academy), the

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, betw ...

, the

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...

, 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 ...

, the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

and

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship (rugby league), Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rover ...

Background

Darrell Griffin was born in

Witney Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. The place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest known record of it is as ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, England.

Playing career

Griffin came through the youth system at both Oxford and Witney Rugby Club. He joined

in June 2003 from

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

side Harlequins. He made his Super League début in 2003 and played for Wakefield Trinity for three years. He was transferred from Wakefield Trinity Wildcats to the

, where he had a successful spell, making over 100 appearances in five years. He was named in the England training squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

. He was also named in the England team to face

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

at the

Keepmoat Stadium The Eco-Power Stadium (formerly known as Keepmoat Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Doncaster, England, with a capacity of 15,231. It cost approximately £20 million to construct, as part of the wider Lakeside Sports Complex that it ...

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

prior to England's departure for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. Griffin was transferred from

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

on a three-year contract in October 2011. He played in the

2012 Challenge Cup Final The 2012 Challenge Cup Final was the 111th cup-deciding game of the rugby league 2012 Challenge Cup Season. It was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 25 August 2012, kick off 14:30. The final was contested by Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves ...

defeat 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 ...

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 ...

. Griffin was a member of the Leeds team that won the

2012 Super League Grand Final The 2012 Super League Grand Final was the 15th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XVII season. The match was held on Saturday 6 October 2012, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by ...

with victory over

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

. He was transferred from Leeds to

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 ...

in 2013 and played for three seasons before leaving at the end of the 2015 season. At the start of the 2016 season Griffin joined

, and played for the club until the end of the 2017 season.

Featherstone Rovers - RFL Dispute

In early January 2018 he was sacked by Featherstone Rovers. Featherstone Rovers cited a breach of contract in that Griffin had played some rugby union games for

Morley R.F.C. Morley Rugby Union Football Club is a rugby union club based in Morley, West Yorkshire. England. The club are famous for playing in a maroon kit and thus are nicknamed "The Maroons". They currently play in North 1 East, a level six league in the ...

without the written consent of Featherstone Rovers. Griffin took Featherstone to an RFL tribunal disputing the allegation. In April 2018 the tribunal announced that Griffin was not in breach of his contract and had not committed any gross misconduct. After the tribunal, with compensation from Featherstone still to be settled, Griffin signed a one-year contract with

Personal life

His younger brothers

Josh Griffin Josh Griffin (born 9 May 1990) is an English rugby league footballer who plays as a or er for Hull F.C. in the Betfred Super League. He has previously played for the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby le ...

, and George Griffin are also rugby league players. All three brothers played together for Salford in the 2015 season.

References

External links

London Broncos profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Featherstone Rovers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Darrell 1981 births Living people England national rugby league team players English rugby league players English rugby union players Featherstone Rovers players Harlequin F.C. players Huddersfield Giants players Keighley Cougars players Leeds Rhinos players Morley R.F.C. players People from Witney Rugby league players from Oxfordshire Rugby league props Rugby union players from Oxford Salford Red Devils players Sportspeople from Oxford Wakefield Trinity players