Ian Kirke (born 26 December 1981) 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 11 ...

footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played the majority of his career for 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 Headin ...

in the Super League, for whom he made over 200 appearances and won the

Super League Grand Final The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition. It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League Play-Off series. The winning team receives the Super League Trop ...

on five occasions. He also played for 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 ...

in the Super League, and for the

York City Knights The York Knights are the men's professional rugby league team of York RLFC (known as the York City Knights from 2002 to 2022) based in York, England. The Knights played their home games at Huntington Stadium before moving to Bootham Crescent. ...

in National League Two.

Playing career

Kirke started his career at

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 Challen ...

, making his senior debut in 2000. After spending a year in

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

's Alliance side, he joined

York Wasps The York Wasps (known simply as York from 1868 to 1989, Ryedale-York from 1989 to 1996 and York Wasps from 1996 to 2002) was an English professional rugby league club based in York. At the start of the 2002 season, the club was dissolved. A ne ...

for the 2002 season. In April 2002, he signed for

Dewsbury Rams The Dewsbury Rams are a professional English rugby league club based in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire that compete in the Championship. They play their home games at the Tetley's Stadium, on Owl Lane. The Rams' main fanbase comes from their hometo ...

. He made his Leeds début on Sunday 5 March 2006 when Leeds played

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 th ...

. During the

close season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

2006 he had surgery on both his shoulders to fix a long-term injury. He was a pupil at Hornsea School and Language College. After spells at Dewsbury,

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

and

, Kirke's breakthrough came at

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

as he quietly set about laying the foundations for their National League Two triumph.

Tony Rea Tony Rea (born 25 July 1966) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and a former head coach for Super League club, London Broncos. A former , he played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League for Brothers, in the New Sout ...

took him on loan to London Broncos, and Leeds acted on the hint and snapped him up. His father, Bob Kirke, used to play for Hull Kingston Rovers, and as of 2011, he is a Year-3 teacher at Hornsea Community Primary School. Kirke played in the

2008 Super League Grand Final The 2008 Super League Grand Final was the 11th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XIII season. Held on Saturday 4 October 2008, at Old Trafford, Manchester, the match was between League Leaders ...

victory over St Helens. Kirke played in the

2009 Super League Grand Final The 2009 Super League Grand Final was the 12th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XIV season. It was held on Saturday 10 October 2009, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by defen ...

victory over St Helens at Old Trafford. Kirke played in the 2010 Challenge Cup Final 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 original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

. In July 2011, Kirke was given a new two-year contract at

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 popula ...

. Later that year he played from the substitute bench for Leeds in the 2011 Challenge Cup Final defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

. Kirke played in the

2011 Super League Grand Final The 2011 Super League Grand Final was the 14th official Grand Final and the championship-deciding game of the Super League XVI season. It was held on Saturday, 8 October at Manchester, England's Old Trafford stadium. The match was contested by ...

victory over St Helens at Old Trafford. Kirke 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

. Kirke played in 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 b ...

victory over

at Old Trafford. Kirke played in the 2014 Challenge Cup Final victory over the Castleford Tigers at

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirke, Ian 1980 births Living people English rugby league players People from Hornsea Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Hull Kingston Rovers players York Wasps players Dewsbury Rams players York City Knights players Leeds Rhinos players London Broncos players Wakefield Trinity players