Mike McMeeken (born 10 May 1994) is 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 plays as a forward for 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 ...

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 ...

and

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 international level. He started his career in the

with the

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 ...

, also playing on loan in League 1 at the

London Skolars The London Skolars are a professional rugby league club based at the New River Stadium, Wood Green, Haringey in north London. They were founded in 1995 and have been professional since 2003, operating in the Betfred League 1. They also run an ...

before joining the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

in 2015. He joined

in December 2020, ahead of the 2021 season.

Background

McMeeken was born in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

, and raised in

Fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet *Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles *Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada *Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beach, ...

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 ...

, England. He initially 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 ...

from an early age, but was introduced to

at ten years old, and began playing for amateur side

West London Sharks West London Sharks RLFC was a rugby league team based in Chiswick, London. West London Sharks are now playing at Chiswick RFU, Dukes Meadow, in Chiswick under the name of South West London Chargers. They compete in the South Premier Division of t ...

Club career

He started his professional career at

, making his senior début in 2012. During the 2014 season, he scored his first try for the club in a defeat against

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

. He also spent time at Championship One clubs

and

Hemel Stags Hemel Stags are an amateur rugby league club based in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. They were semi-professional and played in Betfred League 1 from 2013 until 2018. They withdrew from the professional system when their licence was purchased ...

on dual-registration. Following London's relegation from Super League at the end of the 2014 season, McMeeken joined

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

on a two-year deal. He then signed a two-year extension, keeping him at Castleford until 2018. In 2017, McMeeken signed a further two-year extension until the end of the 2020 season. He played in the 2017 Super League Grand Final defeat by

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 ...

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 ...

. In December 2020, McMeeken signed a two-year contract with

. On 9 October 2021, he played for Catalans Dragons in their

2021 Super League Grand Final The 2021 Super League Grand Final was the 24th official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXVI. The game was contested between Catalans Dragons and St Helens at Old Trafford. Background The two finalists finished first ...

defeat against St Helens. In April 2022, McMeeken signed a two year contract extension with Catalans. On 14 October 2023, McMeeken played in Catalans

2023 Super League Grand Final 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

loss against

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 ...

International career

In 2011, McMeeken was selected in the England academy squad. In February 2017, he was included in the England elite performance squad announced by coach Wayne Bennett. In May 2017, McMeeken made his international début for the

senior team in the 30–10 victory over Samoa in Campbelltown Australia. He was also selected in the England squad for the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

, making one appearance during the tournament in England's 36–6 win against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. McMeeken was recalled to the England setup in 2022, and was selected for the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

. He played in four of England's five games, scoring his first international try against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

References

External links

Castleford Tigers profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at castigers.comSL profile2017 Statistics at rlwc2017.comEngland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMeeken, Mike 1994 births Living people Castleford Tigers players Catalans Dragons players England national rugby league team players English rugby league players London Broncos players London Skolars players Rugby league players from Basingstoke Rugby league second-rows