Ian Henderson (born 23 April 1983) is a 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 last played for the Sydney Roosters in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. A

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international , his brothers, Andrew Henderson and Kevin, are also international rugby league players.,

Early years

Henderson was born in

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

, Devon, England but his family later moved to the Central Coast of Australia and he attended

Terrigal High School Terrigal is a coastal town in the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, located east of Gosford on the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the local government area. History Terrigal was first settled in 1826 by European Settler John Gray, ...

Playing career

Australia

He made his National Rugby League premiership début for the Sydney Roosters against the Parramatta Eels in round 1 of the

2003 NRL season The 2003 NRL premiership was the 96th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the sixth run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen teams competed, with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles returning in place of their failed joint ...

. After two years at the Roosters he moved to Parramatta however did not achieve more game time and left halfway through the

2005 NRL season The 2005 NRL season was the 98th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the eighth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen teams contesting the 2005 Telst ...

. He is sporadically called up to don the famous colours of 'Dinner Club', representing the local third division Oz Tag team and subsequently securing eligibility for their end of season trip.

England

Henderson signed with the Bradford Bulls in 2005, where he made a massive impact in helping Bradford win the championship. He played for the Bulls at hooker in their

2005 Super League Grand Final 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

victory against 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 ...

. As

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 ...

champions, Bradford played National Rugby League premiers Wests Tigers in the

2006 World Club Challenge The 2006 World Club Challenge was a Rugby league match held on Friday, 3 February 2006, at Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield, UK. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Wests Tigers. Qualification Bradford Bulls Bradford Bulls qualified for ...

. Henderson started at hooker in the Bulls' 30-10 victory. With the arrival of

Terry Newton Terry Newton (7 November 1978 – 26 September 2010) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England and Lancashire, and at club level for the L ...

, Henderson found it hard to gain selection into the Bulls starting team. On 23 June 2007, the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

announced they had signed Henderson for two years. The Hendersons are a Scottish family and all three brothers have played for

at international level. Ian Henderson

New Zealand

Henderson made his début for the Warriors in round 1 2008, playing against the Melbourne Storm. While a Warriors player, Henderson said

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins the ...

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 ...

was the worst place he had lived. He said that residents have rotten teeth, spend too much time drinking and need a bath. All three Henderson brothers featured in the Scotland 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 ...

. In May 2009 the Warriors announced they had re-signed him until the end of the 2011 season. Danny Brough and Ian Henderson 2013 RLWC

On 23 August, it was announced by the Warriors that they had released Henderson from the final year of his contract so he could sign a three-year deal with the Catalans Dragons in the

starting in 2011.

France

Henderson joined the Dragons in 2011. Henderson was again part of Scotland's

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...

campaign.

Return to Australia

On 3 August 2015, Henderson announced his return to Australia to play for his former club, the Sydney Roosters, in 2016. Henderson's move back to the NRL ended his five-year stay in France. On 17 March 2016, Henderson suffered a broken leg in the Roosters' 0-40 defeat by the North Queensland Cowboys. This eventually lead him to announcing his retirement from rugby league later in the year. 2018 Henderson returned to Rugby League on the Central Coast leading the Kincumber Colts.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Ian Henderson Official Player ProfileHenderson bent on revenge
''The Telegraph and Argus'', 30 May 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Ian 1983 births Living people Auckland rugby league team players Bradford Bulls players Catalans Dragons players English people of Scottish descent English rugby league players

Ian Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

New Zealand Warriors players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Devon Scotland national rugby league team players Sportspeople from Torquay Sydney Roosters players