Richard Owen (born 25 April 1990) is an English former 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 played as a or on the . He has played for

Featherstone Lions Featherstone Lions are an amateur rugby league club from Featherstone, West Yorkshire who play in the National Conference League and the Yorkshire Men's League The juniors (U7 - U18) play in the Yorkshire Junior & Youth League. The club also ha ...

ALRFC, Westgate Redoubt ARLFC,

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 ...

( Heritage № 863),

Keighley Cougars The Keighley Cougars are a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England who compete in League 1, the third tier of English rugby league. Keighley's home ground, Cougar Park has a capacity of 7,800. History Early y ...

(

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

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 ...

(two spells, first one on

Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in the Betfred Super League. The club was founded in 1878, and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern R ...

and

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 ...

in Kingstone Press League 1.

Background

Owen was born in Normanton,

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.

Career

Owen made an impressive start to his Super League career for Castleford in 2008 - scoring 13 tries in 24 games. Due to the team suffering some key injuries he was moved to the wing and formed a good partnership with

Michael Shenton Michael Shenton (born 22 July 1986), also known by the nickname of "Shenny", is a former English professional rugby league footballer who played as a and was the captain of the Castleford Tigers ( Heritage № 810) in the Super League. An ...

towards the end of that year. Owen played mainly at full back for the Castleford Tigers in 2009 where he showed some excellent form. In round three of 2010 Richie suffered a badly broken leg against 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 ...

. After signing a new two-year deal for the Castleford Tigers in 2010, Owen made a try scoring return for his club in a round eight victory over

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and wer ...

. In May 2014, Owen joined

on loan until the end of the season. In October 2014, he joined Wakefield Trinity Wildcats on a permanent deal, signing a three-year contract. He was a free agent having been released from his contract with the

by mutual consent in 2016.

Controversy

In 2012 Owen was given a 12 months suspended sentence and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service for affray and actual bodily harm. The charges related to his role in a brawl outside a

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wake ...

nightclub the previous year. The court heard Owen punched a man dressed as

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

who was rendered unconscious and sustained a fractured jaw as a result. Owen was remanded in custody between December 2016 and January 2017 on suspicion of three counts of sexual assault, actual bodily harm and theft. He was later cleared of all offences after being found not guilty in May 2017.

References

External links

Doncaster profileWakefield Trinity Wildcats profileCastleford Tigers profile
1990 births Living people Castleford Tigers players Doncaster R.L.F.C. players English rugby league players Keighley Cougars players Leigh Leopards players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Pontefract Rugby league wingers Sportspeople from Normanton, West Yorkshire Rugby league players from West Yorkshire Wakefield Trinity players {{England-rugbyleague-bio-stub