Paul Cullen (born 4 March 1963) 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 ...

football coach and former player. He was the Director of Rugby at

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at the Halton Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twenty-two rug ...

of 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 ...

after being the club's head coach prior to promotion from the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. Cullen previously coached the

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

as well as

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 ...

. He also provides commentary for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

rugby league coverage.

Playing career

Paul Cullen joined

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

in 1980 from local Amateur side Crossfields ARLFC , where he stayed for 17 years. He played mainly in the position at the club. Nicknamed "psycho", despite limited attacking flair, Cullen had an aggressive defence which made him a crowd favourite.

County Cup Final appearances

Paul Cullen played in

's 16–0 victory over St. Helens in the 1982 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1982–83 season at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

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 ...

on Saturday 23 October 1982, and played right- in the 8–34 defeat by

in the 1985 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1985–86 season at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For a period, the venue also hosted ...

, St. Helens, on Sunday 13 October 1985.

John Player Special/Regal Trophy Final appearances

Paul Cullen played right- in

's 4–18 defeat by

in the 1986–87 John Player Special Trophy Final during the 1986–87 season at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of English football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup Final replay, it was the scene in 1946 of one of the greatest disasters in English footba ...

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

on Saturday 10 January 1987, played in the 12–2 victory over

Bradford Northern 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 predomi ...

in the 1990–91 Regal Trophy Final during the 1990–91 season at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingle ...

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 ...

on Saturday 12 January 1991, and played left- in the 10–40 defeat by

in the 1994–95 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 28 January 1995.

Coaching career

After ending his playing career in 1996, Cullen moved into coaching. He had spells on the coaching staff at

. He worked in both the under-21s and as assistant coach. In 2000 he moved to

Cumbrian The Cumberland dialect is a local Northern English dialect in decline, spoken in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands, not to be confused with the area's extinct Celtic language, Cumbric. Some parts of Cumbria have a mo ...

side

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is th ...

He accepted his first

head coaching role at Warrington in August 2002, replacing David Plange. Cullen successfully steered Warrington away from relegation, by winning 2 games against Halifax and Castleford ending the season with a thumping 50–10 loss at Wakefield., and towards play-off football. It was this success which bought Cullen an extended rein at the helm due to the loyalty of the fans despite falling short of expectations with the playing roster he had. In 2006 he was appointed the Head Coach of England 'A' ahead of the

Federation Shield The inaugural Federation Shield rugby league competition was held in 2006. This competition is organised by the Rugby Football League and was contested by England, France, Samoa and Tonga. England defeated Tonga 32-14 in the final to lift the Feder ...

tournament in the autumn. On 26 May 2008, following a run of poor form that culminated in a 36–28 to struggling

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins the ...

, Cullen resigned from his position as Head Coach amid heavy pressure from fans and pundits. He was the longest-serving coach in the league at the time of his departure, having spent six years in charge of the Wires and guided them to a Challenge Cup semi-final and a play-off victory. His replacement at Warrington was James Lowes, who was later replaced by Tony Smith. Widnes unveiled Paul Cullen as Head Coach on a two-year deal on 9 March 2009. Speaking on his appointment he said "I'm really excited to be joining Widnes. The plan is simple, we need to get Widnes into Super League where we belong". In November 2010, he moved upstairs at the club to become Director of Rugby while

Denis Betts Denis Charles Betts (born 14 September 1969) is an English rugby league coach and former player. He was assistant coach of the England national team. A , Betts played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s for the Wigan Warriors, with whom he won numer ...

took over his position as head coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cullen, Paul 1963 births Living people England national rugby league team coaches English rugby league coaches English rugby league commentators English rugby league players People educated at Boteler Grammar School Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Warrington Warrington Wolves coaches Warrington Wolves players Whitehaven R.L.F.C. coaches Widnes Vikings coaches