Tony Clubb
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Tony Clubb (born 12 June 1987) is a former 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 11 ...
footballer who played as a for 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 Northern Rugby Football Union followin ...
in the
Betfred 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 w ...
and has played for
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 ...
at international level. He played for London under the guises of
Harlequins RL The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...
and the London Broncos in the Super League.


Background

Clubb was born in Gravesend,
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, England.


London Rugby League

He is a London Broncos club-trained player having featured in the first team from 2006 until 2013. Tony Clubb started his rugby career playing for his local team Gravesend at Rugby Union. He switched to Rugby League after London Broncos helped found the
Greenwich Admirals Greenwich Admirals is a rugby league team based in Greenwich, London. They play in the South Premier of the Rugby League Conference. History The ''Greenwich Admirals'' side was founded in 2001 as the brainchild of Chief Executive of the Londo ...
in 2001. The Admirals produced several professional players including
Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook (born 14 January 1986) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for St Helens R.F.C., St Helens in the Super League, Betfred Super League. He has played for both England national rugby league team, ...
, Dave Williams and
Michael Worrincy Michael "Mikey" Worrincy (born ) also known by the nickname of "Black Pearl", is an English rugby league player for the London Skolars in the Kingstone Press Championship 1. He has previously played for the Harlequins RL, the Leigh and t ...
, each of who played for Greenwich, the London Broncos Academy and went on to play in the first team. By the time Clubb was ready to make his first team début, the London Broncos had been pushed into a kind of merger with Harlequins Rugby Union club and thus the team was called Harlequins RL by the time he played in the away fixture 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 ...
on 18 February 2006; a game which ended in a draw after the Bulls were awarded a controversial late equalizing penalty opportunity. Clubb was seen as very much a fill in for the first team and was thus made available for the Harlequins rugby union side in the
Middlesex Sevens The Middlesex Sevens was a Rugby Sevens tournament held annually at Twickenham stadium in London, England until 2011. It was first held in 1926, and started by Dr J.A. Russell-Cargill, a London-based Scot.Bath, ''Scotland Rugby Miscellany'', p82 Th ...
at
Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team plays ...
. He was, however, unable to play as he was called back for
Harlequins RL The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...
to replace the unavailable Paul Sykes - who missed most of 2006's
Super League XI Engage Super League XI was the official name for the year 2006's Super League season in the sport of rugby league in Europe. Bradford Bulls were looking to retain the title they won in Super League X. The competition kicked off the weekend after ...
- in the match against
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 ...
. Clubb was regarded as an outside back in London and featured mainly as a with the odd game as a . In 2008, England Rugby League was short of quality in the outside backs with the likes of Paul Sykes,
Ade Gardner Adrian Antonio Gardner (born 24 June 1983) is an English former professional rugby league footballer, who spent the vast majority of his career with St Helens in the Super League. He was an England and Great Britain representative er. Early ...
,
Mark Calderwood Mark Calderwood (born 25 October 1981) is an English former professional rugby league footballer. An England international representative winger, he has played in the Super League for the Leeds Rhinos, (with whom he won 2004's Super League IX) ...
and
Martin Gleeson Martin Gleeson (born 25 May 1980) is the assistant attack coach at the rugby union club; Wasps RFC. He is the former assistant coach at the rugby league club Salford Red Devils in the Super League, and an English former professional rugby lea ...
selected for the World Cup. Clubb thus represented England in the backs between 2008 and 2010. After this, he became arguably a better player as he grew stronger and heavier and he started to play as an interchange forward but with England having much better forwards than backs, his international career was unintentionally ended by this switch. He went on to play more than 150 games for Harlequins RL and London Broncos in all competitions, eventually becoming the Captain, though for a short period as he was agitating to leave the club as his enthusiasm waned. In 2013, the team now known as London Broncos had serious financial problems and faced potential liquidation as owner David Hughes wobbled in his support. 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 Northern Rugby Football Union followin ...
took full advantage by exploiting the situation to their fullest advantage. They approached Clubb despite him still having a contract, plus signed the out-of-contract England Knights half-back Dan Sarginson. London Broncos received a nominal fee for two of the best three club trained players they had ever produced and the next season was their last in Super League.


Wigan Warriors


2014

Clubb was a utility player perceived by some Wigan supporters as an outside back due to his international appearances but by the manager as a squad man who could play as a forward. He was on the bench 14 times, made 9 starts and was omitted from the squad for the other games. By the end of the season, he was mainly used as an interchange prop. He also scored seven tries including a brace against his former side London Broncos. He helped Wigan to the Super League Grand Final but was a losing finalist as Wigan lost against St Helens in a game infamous for Ben Flower knocking Lance Hohaia unconscious then continuing to attack him leading to a red card in the 3rd minute of the match. Ironically his long-term friend Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook was on the winning side.


2015

Clubb was moved permanently to the front row at the start of the new Super League season after expressing his desire to play at prop. Clubb made 26 appearances scoring tries against Wakefield Trinity and Warrington Wolves. In late May he signed a new deal just 18 months into his original 4-year contract due to his impressive performances and also the fact that his original deal did not really reflect his ability. Clubb made his second appearance at Old Trafford in the Super League Grand Final and again did not win the Grand Final, losing out to 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 Headin ...
22–20 at Old Trafford.


2016

Clubb started the season impressively making 15 appearances and scoring one try before an illegal crusher tackle against Hull FC saw him requiring surgery. Due to the crusher tackle he did not play for another nine months meaning he was not part of the squad that won the 2016 Super League Grand Final against Warrington, thus he had still not been on the winning side at Old Trafford despite Wigan's three visits in three years.


2017

After nine months out he made his comeback against Salford Red Devils in Round 1 of Super League. He played an important role against Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks helping Wigan to win the World Club Challenge for a record-breaking fourth time. His early season form was not overly impressive and after he withdrew early against Castleford Tigers it was announced that he was to have surgery to remove a kidney which had been troubling him. Incredibly just two months later he made his comeback against Widnes Vikings helping Wigan to a 28–12 victory. He played an important role in the narrow Challenge Cup final loss, his controversially disallowed try the reason Hull FC claimed the trophy. Hull coach Lee Radford said after the game "I honestly thought that was a try for Tony Clubb". After the ball was stolen from Clubb he grounded the ball however the video referee deemed he had lost control of the ball, therefore, had knocked on. The controversy increased a week later when St Helens were awarded a similar try against Wigan in the Super League. In total Clubb played 22 times scoring one try for a feeble Wigan team that finished in the bottom half of the table.


2018

In the 2018 season, Wigan Warriors released eight players including stars like McIlorum and Gelling but made only two signings. This saw many players handed a lower number than before and Clubb was handed the number 8 shirt after Wigan released Frank-Paul Nu'uausala. This was the first time since his days at London Broncos that Clubb was given a number that suggested he was in the starting line-up. He played in the
2018 Super League Grand Final The 2018 Super League Grand Final was the 21st official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXIII. It was held at Old Trafford in Manchester on 13 October 2018, kick off 18.00. The final was contested by Warrington Wolves ...
victory over 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 ...
at Old Trafford.


2019

Clubb played 23 games for games for Wigan in 2019 including their shock semi-final loss against Salford.


2020

Clubb played in the
2020 Super League Grand Final The 2020 Super League Grand Final was the 23rd official Grand Final and championship-deciding game of Super League XXV. The game was won 8–4 by St Helens over their local rivals Wigan Warriors. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the first S ...
which Wigan lost 8–4 against St Helens.


2021

In round 5 of the
2021 Super League season Super League XXVI, known as the Betfred Super League XXVI for sponsorship reasons, was the 26th season of the Super League and 127th season of rugby league in Great Britain. The 2021 season was originally scheduled to begin on 11 March 2021, how ...
, Clubb was placed on report for an alleged racist remark towards
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 were ...
player Andre Savelio. He was subsequently suspended from playing by Wigan until the investigation was concluded. On 4 May, Clubb was suspended for eight matches and handed a £500 fine for his on-field comments towards Savelio. Clubb announced he will retire at the end of the 2021 super league season on 22 September 2021.


Honours

Clubb has, as of 2021, played for Wigan for eight seasons, securing two major honours. He won one League Leader's Shield in 2020 and the Grand Final in 2018. He has missed out on five more honours, losing in the Grand Final in 2014, 2015, and 2020, and the Challenge Cup Final in 2017 plus missing one successful final due to injury.


Career Statistics


England Rugby League

Clubb has previously been selected in 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 ...
. He was selected for the team to face
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
at the
Keepmoat Stadium The Eco-Power Stadium (formerly known as Keepmoat Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Doncaster, England, with a capacity of 15,231. It cost approximately £20 million to construct, as part of the wider Lakeside Sports Complex that i ...
prior to England's departure 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 ...
. He made his
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 ...
début in the victory over
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
on 10 October 2008. On 6 November 2010 he became the tenth ever England rugby league player to score 4 tries in an international fixture. This was achieved in England's 36–10 win over Papua New Guinea in their last match of the
2010 Four Nations The 2010 Rugby League Four Nations tournament was played in Australia and New Zealand in October and November 2010. The tournament was the second time the Four Nations had been held, following on from the 2009 edition held in England and France. ...
tournament.


References


External links


Wigan Warriors profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Quins RL profileprofile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clubb, Tony 1987 births Living people England national rugby league team players English rugby league players London Broncos captains London Broncos players Rugby league players from Gravesend, Kent Rugby league utility players Wigan Warriors players