Kristian John Radlinski

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(born 9 April 1976) 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 mainly as a . He played his entire professional career for his hometown club,

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 Northern Rugby Football Union followin ...

, making over 300 appearances between 1993 and 2006, and also represented

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 ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

at international level.

Background

Radlinski was born in

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 ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

, England. His family originated in Poland and have lived in Wigan since World War II.

Playing career

Radlinski signed for his hometown club in 1993, aged 17, and went on to play his entire professional career for them after having played for Wigan St Judes and

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 ...

at amateur level. In 1995, at age 19, he became the first player to score a hat-trick in a Premiership Final and also the youngest ever winner of the

Harry Sunderland Trophy The Harry Sunderland Trophy is awarded annually to the man of the match in the Super League Grand Final. Named after Harry Sunderland, who was an Australian rugby league football administrator in both Australia and the United Kingdom, the Troph ...

for man-of-the-match in Wigan's victory. Radlinski was selected to play for

in the 1995 World Cup Final at in their defeat by Australia. Radlinski was a Premiership winner with Wigan, playing in

's 44-14 victory over St. Helens in the Rugby League Premiership Final during

Super League I The year 1996's Stones Bitter Super League I was the official name for the 102nd season of top-level rugby league football, and the first year of Europe's new championship: Super League. It is also the first season of rugby league to be played ...

at Old Trafford,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

on Sunday 8 September 1996. Radlinski played left- and scored a

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

's 25-16 victory over St. Helens in the 1995–96 Regal Trophy Final during the 1994–95 season at

Alfred McAlpine Stadium Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to naming rights, sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of Association football, football club ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

on Saturday 13 January 1996. In the 1997 post season, Radlinski was selected to play for

at centre in all three matches of the

Super League Test series Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter / player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard butt ...

against Australia. Radlinski was named in the

Super League Dream Team The Super League Dream Team is an annually-selected rugby league All Star Team consisting of the players deemed to have been the best in their respective positions in the Super League competition. The team is selected by a panel of journalists an ...

of 1998. He also appeared for

at fullback in their

1998 Super League Grand Final The 1998 JJB Super League Grand Final was the first staging of the Super League Grand Final and the conclusive and championship-deciding game of 1998's Super League III, and the first Grand Final of the Super League era. It was held on Saturday 2 ...

victory over

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 ...

. Radlinski played for Wigan at centre in their

2000 Super League Grand Final The 2000 Super League Grand Final was the third official Grand Final and the conclusive and championship-deciding game of 2000's Super League V. Held on Saturday 14 October 2000 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between St. Helens ...

defeat by St. Helens. Radlinski played at in Wigan's

2001 Super League Grand Final The 2001 Super League Grand Final was the Fourth official Grand Final and the conclusive and championship-deciding match of Super League VI. The match was held on Saturday 13 October 2001 at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by Bradfor ...

loss against the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

. In the 2002 Challenge Cup Final at Murrayfield Stadium Radlinski won the

Lance Todd Trophy The Lance Todd Trophy is a trophy in rugby league, awarded to the annual Challenge Cup Final's man of the match. Introduced in 1945–46, the trophy was named in memory of Lance Todd, the New Zealand-born player and administrator, who was killed i ...

for man of the match. Kris competed in this match despite being in hospital all week prior to Wigan's 21–12 victory over St Helens with a serious foot infection,. Radlinski played for Wigan at in the

2003 Super League Grand Final The 2003 Super League Grand Final was the 6th official Grand Final conclusive and premiership-deciding match of Super League VIII. Held on Saturday 18 October 2003 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between Bradford Bulls and Wigan ...

defeat by

. He was given a testimonial year in 2005 for his loyal service to Wigan Warriors, and despite that year being very successful for the team, it was a difficult season for Kris with him making only 15 appearances for the team through a knee injury. His testimonial match was played at the

JJB Stadium The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...

on 29 January 2006 against the Huddersfield Giants. Wigan won this match 38–22. Internationally he was capped 20 times by Great Britain, and won 10 England caps. The pinnacle of his international career, in which he was a main stay in the international setup, saw him captain the team against New Zealand 'A'. He scored three tries in this match.

Retirement

Radlinski announced his retirement from the sport prematurely on 2 March 2006 due to persistent injuries. He had made 310 appearances for Wigan, scoring 183 tries. This brought down the curtain on a successful career during which the player was a loyal servant to his club.

Comeback

In June 2006 Radlinski came out of retirement and returned to Wigan for the remainder of 2006's

Super League XI Engage Super League XI was the official name for the year 2006's Super League season in the sport of rugby league in Europe. Bradford Bulls were looking to retain the title they won in Super League X. The competition kicked off the weekend after ...

, playing for "no fee" to aid the team during their personnel struggles that year. He once again retired at the conclusion of the season.

Post-retirement

In 2007, Radlinski was awarded an

for his services to rugby league. Radlinski returned to Wigan during the 2009 season to take a scholarship coaching role. As well as publishing an autobiography entitled ''Simply Rad'', he was given a place on the England coaching staff for the

2009 Four Nations The 2009 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (officially known as the Gillette Four Nations due to sponsorship) was the first Rugby League Four Nations since its expansion from the Tri-Nations tournament. Played in England and France over three ...

tournament. On 1 December 2009, Radlinski was appointed Rugby General Manager at Wigan, working alongside new head coach Michael Maguire.

Honours

Club * RFL Championship / Super League: 1994–95, 1995–96, 1998 * Premiership: 1994–95, 1996, 1997 *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

: 1995–96 * Challenge Cup: 2002 Individual *

: 1995 * Roy Powell Medal: 2001 *

: 2002 *

: 2007

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Kris Radlikski official websiteStatistics at wigan.rlfans.com
*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at wiganwarriors.com
*(archived by web.archive.org
2001 Ashes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radlinski, Kris 1976 births Living people British people of Polish descent England national rugby league team players English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players Lancashire rugby league team players Lance Todd Trophy winners Members of the Order of the British Empire Rugby league centres Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Wigan Wigan St Patricks players Wigan Warriors players