Matt James (born 26 March 1987) is a retired

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 ...

international

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 ...

. He played 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 ...

for

Harlequins RL 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 ...

and 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 in the

Co-operative Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the Rugby Football League Championship Second Division, second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football Lea ...

for the

Barrow Raiders The Barrow Raiders are a semi-professional rugby league team in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club was formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club. For the 1995–96 and 1996 seasons the club was known as Barrow Braves, becoming the Ba ...

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship (rugby league), Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rover ...

and

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club that play in the Championship (rugby league), Betfred Championship. The club play their home games at the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) on the former site of Don Valley Stadium, their forme ...

Background

James was born in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England.

Early career

James made great progress after joining Bradford from Eastmoor on the advice of Brian McDermott. He represented the Senior side in his first two seasons whilst still eligible for the Junior Academy. James has played for both England and Yorkshire in his junior career. Matt James Bradford

Bradford Bulls

James played for

for three years, between 2006 and 2009. It was announced in September 2008 that James would be loaned to Halifax for the 2009 season, but returned to Bradford early in February 2009 having played just ten games for 'Fax'.

Harlequins RL

James signed for the London club in 2010, but failed to settle in the capital and was released from his contract after just three games. In March of the same he had his contract with

cancelled by mutual consent after an ineffective spell at the club.

Barrow Raiders

After leaving 'Quins' he moved to the

, spending two seasons with the Cumbrian club. In this spell he played a total of 32 game sin which he scored 7 tries.

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

James returned to the

to sign 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 2012. However, the return did not pan out well, as after playing 5 games at the top the level he was loaned to Halifax for a second time. This time James only made one appearance in his loan spell in a 36-6 victory over the

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 ...

. All six games he played in for both sides were substitute appearances.

Featherstone Rovers

In November 2012, James left the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and signed a two-year contract with the

. He finally found a long-term team again and played a total of 75 games for the Featherstone Rovers, he scored 16 tries during the course of these games.

Sheffield Eagles

He commenced playing for the

in 2016. In his second season with the Eagles, James was announced to be the 2017 season captain for the team. However, the Eagles made little improvement from the following season as they finished the regular season in 7th place. In 2021 it was announced James would retire from the game at the end of the season.

International

In 2007 James was given some extra games and made 12 appearances and ended 2007 with a call up to the Wales team for the 2008 World Cup qualifiers. He was named in the

squad to face

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 ...

at the

Keepmoat Stadium The Eco-Power Stadium (formerly known as Keepmoat Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Doncaster, England, with a capacity of 15,231. It cost approximately £20 million to construct, as part of the wider Lakeside Sports Complex that it ...

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 ...

, prior to England's departure for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

, but had to withdraw through injury.

References

External links

Sheffield Eagles profileHarlequins sign Matt James from Bradford at londonbroncosrl.comProfile at bradfordbulls.co.ukMeet Matt James at londonbroncosrl.comRaiders sign former Harlequins prop Matt James Gareth Thomas targets fitness for Wales' autumn Tests
1987 births Living people Barrow Raiders players Bradford Bulls players English people of Welsh descent English rugby league players Featherstone Rovers players Halifax R.L.F.C. players London Broncos players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Wakefield Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Sheffield Eagles captains Sheffield Eagles players Wakefield Trinity players Wales national rugby league team players {{England-rugbyleague-bio-stub