Eorl Crabtree (born 2 October 1982) is an English former 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 played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for

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 ...

, and at club level 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 ...

for 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 ...

, where he spent his entire club career, primarily as a , but also as a or .

Early years

Born in

Cleethorpes Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, England with a population of 38,372 in 2020. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry, then develo ...

, Lincolnshire, Crabtree has lived in

Meltham Meltham is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Holme Valley, below Wessenden Moor, four and a half miles south-west of Huddersfield on the edge of the Peak District Na ...

since he was three years old and attended

Honley High School Honley High School is a coeducational secondary school situated on the edge of the village of Honley in the Holme Valley, West Yorkshire, England. The catchment area includes the neighbouring villages of Brockholes, Honley, Meltham and Netherto ...

. He is the nephew of legendary professional wrestler Shirley "Big Daddy" Crabtree, himself a former professional

footballer who played for

Bradford Northern 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 predomi ...

, although he never made an appearance for the first team. Eorl Crabtree

Playing career

Club career

Crabtree signed for Huddersfield on his 17th birthday and he made his début for the club in 2001. The following season he scored 25 tries in 37 league and cup appearances whilst playing at during Huddersfield's

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

promotion season. His breakthrough year in Super League was 2004 where, under coach

Jon Sharp Jon Sharp (born 8 March 1967) was the head coach of Featherstone Rovers from 2015 to 2017. Between 2004 and 2008 he was head coach of the Huddersfield Giants, having been appointed in 2003 when Tony Smith left the club for the Leeds Rhinos. He ...

, he established himself as a regular in Huddersfield's first team and developed a reputation as an imposing figure with his mix of size and athleticism. Crabtree played for Huddersfield in the

2006 Challenge Cup The 2006 Challenge Cup (also known as the Powergen Challenge Cup due to sponsorship from Powergen) was the 105th tournament played for rugby league's Challenge Cup. It features teams from across Europe including England, Scotland, Wales, France ...

Final as a against St. Helens but the Giants lost 12–42. Crabtree had a superb 2009 campaign at

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 ...

. Having helped them to a third-place finish in the

, and to

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

for the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

final, Crabtree also impressed national coach Tony Smith who selected Eorl in the

squad for the

2009 Four Nations The 2009 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (officially known as the Gillette Four Nations due to sponsorship) was the first Rugby League Four Nations since its expansion from the Tri-Nations tournament. Played in England and France over three ...

. At the end of the year, Crabtree signed a new long-term contract until the end of the 2015 season. Crabtree was an integral part of the Huddersfield team that finished top of

Super League XVIII The 2013 Super League season was the 18th season of rugby league football since the Super League format was introduced in 1996. Fourteen teams competed for the League Leaders' Shield over 27 rounds (including the Magic Weekend), after which the h ...

, and was one of four Huddersfield players selected in the

Super League Dream Team The Super League Dream Team is an annually-selected rugby league All Star Team consisting of the players deemed to have been the best in their respective positions in the Super League competition. The team is selected by a panel of journalists and ...

that year. In April 2014, Crabtree made his 350th appearance for the Giants in a 33–14 win over Warrington in

Super League XIX The 2014 Super League season (known as the First Utility Super League XIX due to sponsorship by First Utility) was the 19th season of rugby league football since the Super League format was introduced in 1996. Fourteen teams competed for the Le ...

. With this appearance he is currently the 14th most capped Huddersfield club player ever. In 2015, he signed an extension to his contract taking him until the end of the 2017 season. On 3 September 2015, Crabtree made history and became the 10th most capped club player of the Huddersfield Giants. He also scored a rare try on his 400th appearance for the club. Crabtree announced his retirement as a player on 7 November 2016 to become an ambassador for the Giants. He also makes regular appearances as a commentator and pundit for

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

's rugby league coverage.

International career

Crabtree played 13 times at international level for

. He featured in the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Four Nations tournaments, but missed out on selection in 2011.

References

External links and notes

*(archived by web.archive.org
Huddersfield Giants profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crabtree, Eorl 1982 births Living people Crabtree family England national rugby league team players English rugby league players Huddersfield Giants players People from Cleethorpes Rugby league centres Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Lincolnshire Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows