Paul Deacon (born 13 February 1979) is an English

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 ...

coach who is the head coach of 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 ...

Premiership Rugby 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 ...

, and former a 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 and coach. A

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 is ...

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 ...

international representative or , 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

Oldham Bears Oldham R.L.F.C., also known as the Roughyeds, is a professional rugby league football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. The club currently competes in the RFL League 1, the third tier of British Rugby League. Formed in 1876 as Oldh ...

, 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 ...

(who named him in their "Team of the Century", having won the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Super League Grand Final The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition. It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League Play-Off series. The winning team receives the Super League Trop ...

s, the

2003 Challenge Cup The 2003 Challenge Cup was sponsored by Powergen and was held during the 2002–03 season. The final was held on Saturday 26 April 2003, at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, UK. The game was won by Bradford Bulls who defeated Leeds Rhinos. First ...

, and the 2002 World Club Challenge), and his home-town club, the

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 2010 Super League Grand Final and

2011 Challenge Cup The 2011 Challenge Cup (also known as the Carnegie Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 110th staging of the most competitive European rugby league tournament at club level and was open to teams from England, Wales, Scotland, France and R ...

). Deacon followed this with becoming a member of Wigan's coaching staff, working closely with manager

Shaun Wane Shaun David Wane (born 14 September 1964) is an English professional rugby league coach who is the head coach for the England national rugby league team and former professional rugby league footballer He is a former head coach of the Wigan War ...

Background

Deacon was born in

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 ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England.

Playing career

1990s

Hailing from Standish near

, a former Hindley amateur, Deacon made his senior professional début four days before his 18th birthday as a substitute for

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

in a 48–6 RL Challenge Cup fourth round home victory over

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the Championship, the second tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs ...

on 9 February 1997. He made only four appearances for Oldham before moving to the Bradford Bulls. He has been one of Bradford Bulls' most influential players in the 21st century so far. He signed for the Bradford Bulls from

, and came through the youth system at the same time as

Jamie Peacock James Darryl Peacock MBE, (born 14 December 1977) is a motivational speaker, leadership mentor and former English professional rugby league footballer. He played for Leeds Rhinos and the Bradford Bulls in the Super League, and captained both ...

and

Stuart Fielden Stuart Fielden (born 14 September 1979) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He was formerly an assistant coach for the Huddersfield Giants in the Super League, and now is a Person ...

. Deacon scored a try and goal on his début for the Bradford Bulls at in a 36–10 Super League home victory over

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...

on 28 June 1998. Deacon won

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

s for England while at the Bradford Bulls in 1999 against France (2 matches). Deacon played for the

from the interchange bench in the

1999 Super League Grand Final The 1999 Super League Grand Final was the Second official Grand Final conclusive and championship-deciding game of the Super League IV season. The match was played between St. Helens and Bradford Bulls on Saturday 9 October 1999, at Old Traffo ...

which was lost to St. Helens.

2000s

Deacon played for England in their 2000 World Cup campaign against Russia, Fiji, Ireland and New Zealand, and in 2001 against Wales. He went on to be one of Bradford Bulls' key players, a superb organiser with a tremendous kicking game. For Great Britain he won

s while at the Bradford Bulls in 2001 against France and Australia. Deacon played for the

from the interchange bench in their 2001 Super League Grand Final victory against the

. As Super League VI champions, the Bradford Bulls played against 2001 NRL Premiers, the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

in the 2002 World Club Challenge. Deacon played at , kicking eight goals and one field goal in Bradford Bulls' victory. Deacon played for the

at , kicking three goals in their 2002 Super League Grand Final loss against St. Helens. He was awarded 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 Trophy ...

as grand final man-of-the-match despite being on the losing side. In the seasons of 2002 and 2003 Deacon's goal kicking percentage was near 80%. He represented Great Britain in 2002 against New Zealand (3 matches), in 2003 against Australia (2 matches, plus 1 as sub). Deacon played for the

at , kicking six goals and one drop goal in their 2003 Super League Grand Final victory against the

. He also played for the Bradford Bulls at in their

2004 Super League Grand Final The 2004 Super League Grand Final was the 7th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding game of Super League IX. It was held on Saturday 16 October 2004, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was played between Leeds Rhinos, who fi ...

loss against the

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 ...

. Deacon played for the

at , kicking three goal from five attempts in their

2005 Super League Grand Final 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

victory against

He played in the 2005 Tri Nations against Australia and New Zealand (2 matches). On 23 June 2006, Paul Deacon broke the record points scored for a Bradford Norther/Bradford Bulls player (1,834), which was previously held by

Keith Mumby Keith Mumby (born 21 February 1957), also known by the nickname of "Sir Keith", is an English former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, who most famously played for Bradford Northern between 1973 and 1993, and Sh ...

. 200px, Deacon taking the field for Wigan in 2011 In 2007 Paul became the Bradford Bulls captain taking over from

Iestyn Harris Iestyn Rhys Harris (born 25 June 1976), also known by the nickname of "Welsh Wizard", is a former dual-code international professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s, and coach in rugby league in the ...

. In August 2007 he was named in Bradford Bull'

Team of the Century In team sport, team of the century and team of the decade are hypothetical best teams over a given time period. For the century team, it can be either 100 years, or for a century (always the 20th). Similarly the team of the decade can be for 10 ...

. In September 2007 Deacon reached 2,000 goals for the Bradford Bulls. Deacon was recalled for the Great Britain train-on squad for the 2007 test series with New Zealand, but pulled out due to injury. In 2008 Deacon celebrated his testimonial year with the Bradford Bulls after 10-years of service for the Super League club. As well as a testimonial match against his hometown club

in January, Paul Deacon's name also appeared on all away jerseys to commemorate his loyalty to the Bradford Bulls. On 16 April 2008 Paul signed a new 2-year contract until 2010. He was forced to rule himself out of contention for the England training squad 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 ...

through injury. In November 2009, Deacon signed for Wigan after 11-years at the Bradford Bulls.

2010s

Deacon appeared in his first Grand Final in 5-years by playing in the 2010 Super League Grand Final victory over St Helens 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 ...

. Deacon played in the 2011 Challenge Cup Final 28–18 victory over the

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 ...

. Deacon warming up for the Wigan Warriors in 2012

Coaching career

Rugby League

Following his retirement from playing, Deacon joined Wigan's coaching staff where he remained for four years. In 2013, Deacon was appointed assistant to

Steve McNamara Steve McNamara (born 18 September 1971) is an English professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Catalans Dragons in the Betfred Super League and a former professional player. He is a former coach of England, and a Gr ...

at the

England national rugby league team The England national rugby league team represents England in international rugby league. The team, largely formed from the Great Britain team which also represented Wales and Scotland, is run under the auspices of the Rugby Football League. ...

, just before the beginning of 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 ...

Rugby Union

In July 2015 it was confirmed that Deacon would switch codes and join Premiership

side

as attack/skills coach. He was promoted to head coach in December 2020 following the departure of director of rugby

Steve Diamond Steve Diamond (born 7 July 1953) is an English-born former rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played club level rugby union for Newport RFC, as a fly-half, and rugby league for Wales, and ...

Background

Playing career

1990s

2000s

2010s

Coaching career

Rugby League

Rugby Union

Statistics

Club career

Representative career

References

External links