Hugh Waddell (13 November 1958 – 1 November 2019) was a Scottish professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s as a or . He played at representative level for Great Britain, England and Scotland, and at club level for

Blackpool Borough Blackpool Borough was a rugby league club based in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, that played in the Rugby Football League from 1954 until 1993. The club moved to Wigan in 1987 and was renamed Springfield Borough; to Chorley in 1988 and was ...

, Oldham, Leeds, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles,

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club that play in the Championship (rugby league), Betfred Championship. The club play their home games at the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) on the former site of Don Valley Stadium, their forme ...

Swinton Lions The Swinton Lions are a professional rugby league club based in Swinton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Championship. The club has won the Championship six times and three Challenge Cups. Before 1996, the club was known s ...

, Wakefield Trinity, Rochdale Hornets,

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

, and

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

. Waddell died on 1 November 2019, at the age of 60.

Background

Hugh Waddell was born on 13 November 1958 in

Irvine Irvine may refer to: Places On Earth Antarctica *Irvine Glacier *Mount Irvine (Antarctica) Australia *Irvine Island *Mount Irvine, New South Wales Canada *Irvine, Alberta * Irvine Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom *Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotla ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

in Scotland. During his childhood, he moved south with his family to Burton upon Trent,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

in England. Waddell initially played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, and had trials with Leicester City before switching to rugby union to play for

Burton RFC Burton Rugby Club is an English rugby union team based in Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire. The club operates six senior teams, including an under-22s team, academy sides and a full range of junior teams. The first XV currently plays in Midlands ...

Rugby league career

Club career

In 1980, Waddell had trials with rugby league club Keighley, but was not offered a contract. In 1983, while on holiday in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, he asked for a trial at

, and subsequently accepted an offer to sign for the club. In January 1987, Waddell was signed by Oldham for a fee of £15,000. Waddell joined Leeds in September 1988. He played in Leeds' 33–12 victory over Castleford in the

1988 Yorkshire Cup File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Final during the 1988–89 season at

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

, Leeds on Sunday 16 October 1988. Waddell joined

in 1990, and went on to play for Swinton, Wakefield Trinity and Rochdale Hornets. In 1994, he joined

. He was briefly appointed as player-coach at the club following the departure of

Cameron Bell Cameron Bell (born 18 September 1986) is a Scottish football coach and former player. Bell played as a goalkeeper for several Scottish clubs and once for the Scotland national team. Bell began his senior career with Kilmarnock and, after loa ...

, but was replaced as coach a few months later by Paul Charlton. He played for South Wales RLFC in 1996 before finishing his professional career with

Representative career

Waddell made his international debut in 1984 while at Blackpool Borough, making his first (and only) appearance for England against Wales. He debuted for Great Britain while at Oldham in 1988, playing in two matches against France. He was selected for the

1988 Great Britain Lions tour The 1988 Great Britain Lions tour was the Great Britain national rugby league team's 18th tour of Australasia and took place from May to July 1988. It started with a Test match against Papua New Guinea before the best-of-three series against Austr ...

later that year, and was the only player from a Second Division club to be chosen in the squad. He played in two Test matches during the tour; the 26–12 victory against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the 3rd Ashes Test, and the 10–12 defeat against New Zealand. He made one further appearance for Great Britain while at Leeds in 1989 against France. Waddell also made four appearances for the newly-formed

Scotland national team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the thr ...

in 1995, including playing all three games for the team at the

1995 Emerging Nations Tournament The 1995 Rugby League Emerging Nations World Championship was held alongside the Centenary Rugby League World Cup. Although the competition received little build-up or promotion, the novelty value of the teams taking part encouraged relatively ...

References

External links

Statistics at orl-heritagetrust.org.uk
*(archived by web.archive.org

* ttp://official.sportnetwork.net/main/s347/st61143.htm Scotland Rugby League International Honours Board*(archived by web.archive.org
Masters of Rugby LeagueHugh Waddell, one of the heroes of Great Britain’s wonderful 1988 win in Sydney, spoke to me for Rugby League World’s ‘Blast from the Past’ section.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waddell, Hugh 1958 births 2019 deaths Barrow Raiders players Blackpool Borough players Carlisle RLFC coaches Carlisle RLFC players England national rugby league team players Great Britain national rugby league team players Leeds Rhinos players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Rochdale Hornets players Rugby league players from Irvine, North Ayrshire Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Rugby union players from Irvine, North Ayrshire Scotland national rugby league team captains Scotland national rugby league team players Scottish rugby league coaches Scottish rugby league players Scottish rugby union players Sheffield Eagles (1984) players Swinton Lions players Wakefield Trinity players South Wales RLFC (1995) players