Jack Riley (c. 1874 – 19 June 1924) was 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 played in the 1900s. He played at representative level for

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, and at club level for Halifax, as a

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(prior to the specialist positions of; ), during the era of contested

scrum Scrum may refer to: Sport * Scrum (rugby), a method of restarting play in rugby union and rugby league ** Scrum (rugby union), scrum in rugby union * Scrum, an offensive melee formation in Japanese game Bo-taoshi Media and popular culture * M ...

s, and represented

in the first ever international rugby league game in 1904.

Playing career

Riley started his rugby career with his local team in the village of Luddenden Foot, aged 17. In October 1893, he was signed by Halifax.

International honours

Jack Riley won a

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playing as a

, i.e. number 10 (in an experimental 12-a-side team), for England in the 3–9 defeat by

Other Nationalities The Other Nationalities rugby league team are a rugby league representative team that usually consists of non-English players. They have also played under the name The Exiles and more recently Combined Nations All Stars. They competed in the first ...

at Central Park, Wigan on Tuesday 5 April 1904, in the first ever international rugby league match.

Challenge Cup Final appearances

Jack Riley played as a

, i.e. number 8, in Halifax's 7–0 victory over

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 the

1902–03 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

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 during the 1902–03 season at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...

Rugby Stadium,

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 Saturday 25 April 1903, in front of a crowd of 32,507,Irvin Saxton (publish date tbc) "History of Rugby League – № 7 – 1902–03". Rugby Leaguer ISBN n/a and played as a

, i.e. number 12, in the 8–3 victory over

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 ...

in the 1903–04

Final during the 1903–04 season at

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on Saturday 30 April 1904, in front of a crowd of 17,041.Irvin Saxton (publish date tbc) "History of Rugby League – № 8 – 1903–04". Rugby Leaguer ISBN n/a

Personal life

After retiring from rugby, Riley became a pub licensee. On 19 June 1924, Riley died at the Old King Cross Inn in Halifax, aged 50. He was buried in Stoney Royd Cemetery.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Jack 1870s births 1924 deaths England national rugby league team players English rugby league players English rugby union players Halifax R.L.F.C. players Publicans Rugby league forwards Rugby league players from Halifax, West Yorkshire Rugby union players from Halifax, West Yorkshire Rugby union forwards