Joshua Charnley (born 26 June 1991) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

international 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 plays on the for the

Leigh Leopards The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in the Betfred Super League. The club was founded in 1878, and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern R ...

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 ...

. He previously played for the

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

and

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

, with whom he won the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and

2016 Super League Grand Final The 2016 Super League Grand Final was the 19th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XXI season. It was held on Saturday 8 October 2016, at Old Trafford, Manchester, with a 6pm kick-off time. Brit ...

s, and was on loan from

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, 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 nor ...

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 Challeng ...

in the

. He has also played for the

England Knights England Knights (previously known as Emerging England and England A) is considered the feeder team for the England rugby league team. The Knights play a key role in the development of emerging talent, allowing players to gain experience in an i ...

at international level. Charnley also played

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

for the

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

Background

Charnley was born in

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

Lancashire, England Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashir ...

on 26 June 1991. He originally started playing for Chorley Panthers and then local amateurs

Wigan St Patricks Wigan St. Patricks is an amateur rugby league football club based in the Scholes area of Wigan, Greater Manchester. The first team plays in the National Conference League Division One . In 1986, the club was one of ten founder members of the BA ...

leading to

Professional playing career

Charnley made numerous appearances for the Under 20s in 2010 before joining

Blackpool Panthers Blackpool Panthers RLFC was an English professional rugby league club based in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. They played at Bloomfield Road, between 2005-2007, then moved to the Woodlands Memorial Ground owned by Fylde rugby union club. They we ...

on dual registration and then

on loan. He was a player around the fringes of a first team opportunity at Wigan before the possibility came to join Hull Kingston Rovers for a month. Injuries meant he was given the chance to play first team rugby by Hull KR coach

Justin Morgan Justin Morgan (February 28, 1747 – March 22, 1798) was a U.S. horse breeder and composer. He was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, and by 1788 had settled in Vermont. In addition to being a horse breeder and farmer, he was a teacher of ...

, making his Super League début. Charnley showed great promise on his début for Hull KR against

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 ...

in 2010 and picked up the club man of the match award. He scored five tries in five appearances which included a hat-trick in Hull KR's home win over

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 ...

, and the opening try in the derby clash with

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 wer ...

Wigan Warriors

Charnley made his first team début for

at Craven Park against

in August where he scored a try off the bench. He played on the wing in the 2011 Challenge Cup Final victory over the

side at

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 Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Charnley scored the first try, and broke a bone in his hand in his side's victory over Leeds. Josh Charnley 2011

Charnley made his International début for the

in a friendly International against France in 2011. He scored 2 tries and kicked four goals on his début. He went on to make another Knights appearance against Cumbria one week later. In the 2012 Super League season he scored 31 tries to help Wigan to the

League Leaders' Shield The League Leaders' Shield is a shield awarded to the team finishing the season top of Super League in the sport of rugby league football. Currently, and for most of Super League's history, the championship is decided on the basis of a play-off se ...

. This put Charnley in third place in the all-time top try scorers in a regular season in the summer era as only

Lesley Vainikolo Lesley Paea 'I'muli Vainikolo (born 4 May 1979) is a former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. A dual code international, he has played for the New Zealand Kiwis in rugby league and England in rugby union. He began his caree ...

(36 tries) and

Danny McGuire Daniel Phillip McGuire (born 6 December 1982) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or , and is currently the interim head-coach of Hull Kingston Rovers. He spent the majority of his professional career play ...

(35 tries), both in 2004, have scored more tries in a Super League regular season. Charnley made his senior International début 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 ...

against Wales in the

2012 Autumn International Series The 2012 Autumn International Series is a rugby league tri-series between England, France and Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales ...

. Charnley scored four tries in his first appearance for England. Charnley then went onto an even better 2013 season helping Wigan to the double (Challenge Cup winners and Super League champions) scoring a record-breaking 43 tries ranking him first. He played in the 2013 Challenge Cup Final victory over

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 ...

. He played in the

2013 Super League Grand Final The 2013 Super League Grand Final was the 16th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of Super League XVIII. The game was held on Saturday 5 October 2013, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by Wigan Warrio ...

victory over the

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

. He represented England in the

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 ...

. Although the game ended in a 36–14 defeat for Wigan, Charnley scored two tries in the 2014 World Club Challenge against NRL champions the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

. On 18 June 2014, he scored five tries in a 48–4 victory over

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

. Despite missing two months of action due to a knee injury, Charnley still scored at a rate of over a try a game with 23 tries in 21 games in the 2014 season. He played in the

2014 Super League Grand Final The 2014 Super League Grand Final was the 17th official Grand Final and conclusive and deciding match of Super League XIX. It was held on Saturday 11 October 2014, at Old Trafford, Manchester with a 6pm kick-off time. The game was played between ...

defeat by St. Helens at

. He represented England at the 2014 Four Nations. During the 2016 season, it was announced that Charnley would switch codes to join

at the end of the 2016 Super League season. Charnley signed off in style as he scored the winning try in the

against

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 ...

, chasing and touching down a beautifully weighted kick from

Dan Sarginson Dan Sarginson (born 26 May 1993) is a retired England and England Knights international rugby league footballer who previously played as a or , for the Salford Red Devils. Sarginson played for the London Broncos and the Wigan Warriors over tw ...

Rugby Union

On 30 March 2016, Charnley made the cross-code switch to

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

with Manchester-based

, who compete in the

, for the 2016–17 season. Charnley was not able to repeat his scoring success in Rugby Union, bagging a meagre four tries in 32 games. Charnley then returned to Rugby League for the 2018 summer season. His last game in Rugby Union was against

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

in February 2018.

Warrington Wolves

Charnley returned to rugby league for the 2018 season with

club,

. He played in the

2018 Challenge Cup Final The 2018 Challenge Cup Final was the 117th cup-deciding game of the rugby league 2018 Challenge Cup Season. It was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 25 August 2018, kick off 15:00. The final was contested by Catalans Dragons and Warrington W ...

defeat by the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons ( French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ...

. He played in the

2018 Super League Grand Final The 2018 Super League Grand Final was the 21st official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXIII. It was held at Old Trafford in Manchester on 13 October 2018, kick off 18.00. The final was contested by Warrington Wolves a ...

defeat by the

. He played in the

2019 Challenge Cup Final The 2019 Challenge Cup Final was the deciding game of the Rugby Football League's 2019 Challenge Cup competition, the 118th staging of the competition. The match was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 24 August 2019 with kick off at 15:00. Th ...

victory over St. Helens at

Leigh

On 25 June 2022, Charnley signed an initial loan deal with Championship side Leigh with a permanent contract starting in 2023. On 10 July 2022, Charnley made his debut for Leigh, scoring a try during a 66–0 victory over

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...

. On 28 August 2022, Charnley scored two tries for Leigh in a 42–4 victory over

Honours

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

: 3 ::

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 ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

: 2 ::

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

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 ...

: 3 ::

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Super League Top Try Scorer: 2 ::

(31 tries),

(33 tries)

References

External links

Warrington Wolves profileSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charnley, Josh 1991 births Living people Blackpool Panthers players England Knights national rugby league team players England national rugby league team players English rugby league players English rugby union players Hull Kingston Rovers players Leigh Centurions players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Lancashire Rugby league wingers Rugby union players from Chorley Sale Sharks players Warrington Wolves players Wigan St Patricks players Wigan Warriors players