Liam James Botham (born 26 August 1977) is a former English sportsman who played both codes of
rugby football
Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league.
Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...
and
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
. He is the son of
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 ...
cricketer
Ian Botham, the Baron Botham.
Career
Cricket
Botham was born in
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
and initially followed in his father's footsteps, playing county cricket for
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
. He played three matches in the 1996 season. He took the wicket of former England captain
Mike Gatting
Michael William Gatting (born 6 June 1957) is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex (1975–1998; captain 1983–1997) and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test mat ...
on his County Championship debut.
After retiring from rugby, there were signs that Botham might return to playing competitive cricket; in 2006, he played in an England XI victory against Lancashire in a testimonial match for
Andrew Flintoff
Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff (born 6 December 1977) is an English television and radio presenter and former international cricketer. Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all-rounders, a fast bowler, middle-orde ...
at
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 ...
.
Rugby union
Botham left cricket in 1997 after one senior season and signed for
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 ...
club
West Hartlepool
West Hartlepool was a predecessor of Hartlepool, County Durham, England. It developed in the Victorian era and took the name from its western position in the parish of what is now known as the Headland.
The former town was originally formed in ...
, where he played as a wing or fullback. He later moved to
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
and
Newcastle Falcons
Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union.
The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...
.
While at Newcastle the club won the 2001
Tetley Bitter Cup
The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...
, in the final of which he was a replacement, and reached the final of the
European Shield
The European Shield (known as the Parker Pen Shield for sponsorship reasons) was a repechage tournament for teams knocked out in the first round of the European Challenge Cup. As such, it formed Europe's third-tier club rugby union competition ...
.
Botham made his début for the England under-21 team in 1997 against France, and then played in the SANZAR tournament in South Africa in 1998. He was called up to the senior
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 ...
squad by
Clive Woodward
Sir Clive Ronald Woodward (born 6 January 1956) is an English former rugby union player and coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also coached the 2005 British & Irish Lions ...
for their
2000 tour of South Africa. He played in tour matches against the Leopards and Griqualand West but never won a senior international cap.
Rugby league
After becoming disillusioned with rugby union, he switched sports again in 2003 to rugby league. He initially joined 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 ...
and had a short spell playing for their academy team. He then signed a dual-code contract with
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 ...
club
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 ...
, who felt that signing the inexperienced Botham was less of a risk as he also played for their partner rugby union club
Leeds Tykes
Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 1.
The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 when it j ...
.
In 2004, Botham also played for
London Broncos
The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England.
The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...
on loan, and in 2005 signed for
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 ...
, feeling he could not get a regular place in the Rhinos team. In his three seasons in rugby league, usually as a , he played 28 senior games, scoring 7 tries and 6 goals.
In 2005, Botham announced his retirement aged 27 after a
neck
The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...
injury.
Post-playing career
Since retiring, Botham has run a sports travel company, established in 2016.
Personal life
Botham married Sarah-Jayne, with whom he has three children. Their son
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
plays rugby union for
Cardiff Blues
Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions.
Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms ...
and made his full international debut for
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–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
in 2020.
The couple later divorced and Botham married Lisa Harrison in 2013. She gave birth to their son Benji in July 2015.
Lisa Harrison and Liam Botham bowled over by birth of baby son
Belfast Telegraph
The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Botham, Liam
1977 births
Living people
Bradford Bulls players
Cricketers from Doncaster
Cumberland cricketers
English cricketers of 1969 to 2000
English cricketers
English rugby league players
English rugby union players
Hampshire cricketers
Leeds Rhinos players
Leeds Tykes players
London Broncos players
Newcastle Falcons players
People educated at Rossall School
Rugby league players from Doncaster
Rugby union players from Doncaster
Sons of life peers
Wigan Warriors players