Thomas McKinney (31 December 1926 – 10 November 1999) was an Irish

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 it ...

and 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 11 ...

footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for

Jed-Forest RFC Jed-Forest Rugby Football Club are a rugby union team who are based at Riverside Park in Jedburgh. The team was founded in 1885 and currently play in Scottish Premiership and the Border League. Jed-Forest Sevens The club organises the Jed-Fore ...

, and representative level rugby league (RL) for

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Other Nationalities The Other Nationalities rugby league team are a rugby league representative team that usually consists of non-English players. They have also played under the name The Exiles and more recently Combined Nations All Stars. They competed in the first ...

British Empire XIII The British Empire XIII was a rugby league football team in that played a fixture against New Zealand in 1952 at Stamford Bridge. List of players * Trevor Allan * Robert "Bob" Ayres * William "Billy" Banks * Robert Bartlett * Frank Barton *Har ...

Rugby League XIII The Rugby League XIII was an invitation team run along the same lines as the Rugby Union Barbarians team. Particularly in the Second World War, when international fixtures were restricted to England V Wales. The Rugby League would play representat ...

and Combined Nationalities, and at club level for

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

(two spells),

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 ...

( Heritage No. 560) and St. Helens ( Heritage No. 737), as a , i.e. number 8 or 10, or 9, during the era of contested

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Background

Tom McKinney was born in Ballymena, Ireland.

Playing career

International honours

Tom McKinney represented Combined Nationalities, and scored a

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in the 15–19 defeat by France at

Stade de Gerland The Stade de Gerland (known for sponsorship reasons as Matmut Stadium de Gerland and otherwise known as Municipal de Gerland or Stade Gerland ) is a stadium in the city of Lyon, France, which serves as home to Top 14 rugby club Lyon OU. It has a ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

on Sunday 3 January 1954, won 7(8?)-caps for

(RL), represented

(RL) while at Salford in 1952 against New Zealand, represented

while at Salford in 1954 against France, and won

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s for

while at Salford in 1951 against New Zealand, in 1952 against France (non-

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), Australia (2 matches), in 1953 against France (non-

), in 1954 against France (non-

), Australia (3 matches), New Zealand, while at Warrington in 1955 against New Zealand (2 matches), France (non-

), New Zealand, in 1956 against France (non-

), while at St. Helens in the

1957 Rugby League World Cup The second Rugby League World Cup was held in Australia in 1957. As before a group stage was held first, with matches being held at locations in Sydney and Brisbane. The 1957 World Cup marked the 50th anniversary of rugby league in Australia bu ...

against New Zealand. In the 1954

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n Tour he was brought out of the scrum by Darcy Lawler

Australia's most controversial referee at the time, and accused of biting. A flabbergasted McKinney just opened his mouth to reveal his toothless gums.

Championship Final appearances

Tom McKinney played in

's 7–3 victory over

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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 ...

Final during the 1954–55 season at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest a ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

on Saturday 14 May 1955.

County Cup Final appearances

Tom McKinney played in St. Helens 2–12 defeat by

in the 1958–59

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Final during the 1958–59 season at

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on Saturday 25 October 1958, and played in the 4–5 defeat by

in the 1959–60

Final during the 1959–60 season at

on Saturday 31 October 1959.

Club career

Raised in Scotland, Tom McKinney played

for

, in November 1949 he changed to the

code and transferred to

, in January 1955 he transferred to

, on Tuesday 22 January 1957 he transferred to St. Helens for £2000 (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £101,200 in 2013), winning a

medal during the 1958–59 season, after Friday 25 December 1959 he transferred to

Honoured by Rugby League Ireland

On Thursday 25 March 2004 six footballers were inducted into

Rugby League Ireland Rugby League Ireland (RLI) is the internationally recognised governing body for the development of rugby league football in Ireland, having secured official recognition from the RLIF in 2000. It is recognised within the Irish Sports Council a ...

's inaugural Hall of Fame at the

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, they were; John "Jack" Daly (

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

), Robert "Bob" Kelly (

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of ...

Wakefield Trinity 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 Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the ...

/ Batley), Seamus McCallion ( Halifax/

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 popula ...

/ Bramley), Thomas "Tom" McKinney, (

/ St. Helens), Terry O'Connor (

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 Northern Rugby Football Union followin ...

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 r ...

), Patrick "Paddy" Reid (

/ Halifax).

References

External links

Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk (statistics currently missing due to not having appeared for both Great Britain, and England)
*(archived by archive.is
U.K. League Hooker in Doubt
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinney, Thomas 1926 births 1999 deaths British Empire rugby league team players Combined Nationalities rugby league team players Great Britain national rugby league team players Irish rugby league players Irish rugby union players Jed-Forest RFC players Other Nationalities rugby league team players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from County Antrim Rugby league props Rugby League XIII players Salford Red Devils players Sportspeople from Ballymena St Helens R.F.C. players Warrington Wolves players