Jon Sharp (born 8 March 1967) was the head coach of

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

from 2015 to 2017. Between 2004 and 2008 he was head coach of the

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 ...

, having been appointed in 2003 when Tony Smith left the club for 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 ...

. He was also part of the

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 ...

coaching set-up under head coach Brian Noble. As a player, he played for

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 ...

, and he has also worked as a member of the backroom staff there.

Playing career

Hull

Jon Sharp played in

's 24-31 defeat by

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 ...

in the

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

County Cup The county football associations are the local governing bodies of association football in England and the Crown dependencies. County FAs exist to govern all aspects of football in England. They are responsible for administering club and player ...

Final during the 1986–87 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 11 October 1986. Jon Sharp's

Testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

Hull F.C. 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 were ...

took place in 1994.

Coaching career

2004-2005

In 2004, Sharp's début season as coach of

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 ...

the club finished 7th in Super League and made an appearance in the Semi Finals of the Challenge Cup for the first time since 1971. The team lost to St. Helens. In 2005 the club signed Michael De Vere from Brisbane Broncoes, the highest profile Australian signing since the 1950s. The team finished in 8th place.

2006

In 2006, Sharp led Huddersfield to their first Challenge Cup final in over 40 years, including a 30-12 win over

in the semi finals held at

Odsal Odsal is an area of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Odsal Stadium is the home of Bradford rugby league club. The Richard Dunn Sports Centre is named after the boxer who lived in Bradford at the time of his 1976 bout against Muh ...

. Huddersfield lost in the final 42-12 against favourites St Helens.

2007

After a nightmare start to 2007's

Super League XII Engage Super League XII is the official name for the year 2007's Super League season in the sport of rugby league. The 2007 season kicked off on the weekend of 2 February 2007 at the Galpharm Stadium. For the first time, the league had a stagge ...

in which Huddersfield lost all of their opening 7 games, some might have expected Sharp's job to be under threat. However, Huddersfield's faith was repaid when Sharp led the team from 5 points adrift at the bottom to being 4th in Super League after, winning a club record 7 along the way including a first win over

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 ...

in 35 years. Sharp won consecutive Coach of the Month awards in April and May as a result. The club made their first appearance in the Play Off competition losing to Hull at the

KC Stadium The MKM Stadium (also known as the Hull City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a multi-purpose facility in the city of Kingston upon Hull, England. The stadium was previously called the KC Stadium, but was renamed the KCOM Stadi ...

, 22-16.

2008

The opening 2 matches in 2008 were lost, to

, and to

. However the 3rd match saw Sharp's team beat

64-12. After a 48-0 loss to

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 ...

, and a run of disappointing results, Sharp's contract was terminated by Huddersfield and for the 2009 season, Nathan Brown, former coach at

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

, took over the helm. He then moved to

in a voluntary advisory role to caretaker coach Danny Evans.

2009

In 2009, Sharp joined his former club

as 'football operations manager', working alongside head coach

Richard Agar Richard Agar (born 20 January 1972) is an English professional rugby league coach who is the former head coach of the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League and a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He play ...

. However, the partnership didn't work out as Hull slipped to a disappointing 12th-place finish, and Sharp left the club at the end of the year.

2010

In October 2009, Sharp was appointed as first team coach for

Crusaders Rugby League Crusaders Rugby League ( cy, Croesgadwyr Rygbi'r Gynghrair) was a professional rugby league club based in Bridgend and later in Wrexham, Wales. They played for six seasons in the Rugby Football League competitions, including three years in the ...

, where he will link up with former Great Britain colleague Brian Noble (Head coach) and assistant coach

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 ...

2011

In February 2011, it was confirmed that Sharp had joined the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

on a consultancy basis as a technical adviser. As a Technical Adviser he will offer a coach's perspective of playing trends to match officials, as well as serving on the

disciplinary panel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Jon 1977 births Living people category:Batley Bulldogs coaches English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Featherstone Rovers coaches Featherstone Rovers players Huddersfield Giants coaches Hull F.C. players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Pontefract