John Garin Liley (born 21 August 1967) is an English former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. A full back who played 230 games for

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

from 1988 to 1997 scoring 2,518 points, the second most of all time, he also toured with

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

but did not play in a test match.

Career

Liley was born in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

, and joined Leicester from

Wakefield RFC Wakefield RFC was an English rugby union club, founded in 1901 and folded in 2004 as a result of poor finances, with a trading loss of £105,000 for the season and unsecured creditors' loans of approximately £640,000. The club's final season w ...

. He made his Leicester debut as a replacement against Orrell on 8 October 1988 at Welford Road. His first season overlapped the last season of

Dusty Hare William Henry "Dusty" Hare (born 29 November 1952) is a former international rugby union footballer who played fullback. Hare holds the world record for points scored in a first-class rugby career, with 7,337 points. He was born in Newark ...

which limited Liley to only 4 starts and one further appearance from the bench. Liley was the first choice full back for Leicester's pre-season tour to

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, in 1989 scoring a hat-trick of tries against Vail and scoring 8 points as Tigers lost to the USA national side. In 1989-90, his first season as first choice full back, Liley played 33 games and scored 439 points; this broke Hare's record for points scored in a season by a single point. Liley was to break the record again with 446 points in 1995-96. Belying his reputation as a kicking full back Liley scored 18 tries in that 1989-90 season leading to his selection for 's summer tour to Argentina. He played in 4 of the 7 matches on tour, scoring 15 points, but did not feature in either international to gain his cap. Against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

on 4 September 1990 Liley became the quickest Leicester Tigers player to 500 points after only 43 games. Against Orrell on 29 February 1992 he became the quickest Tigers player to 1,000 points after only 92 games. Both records have subsequently been broken by

Joel Stransky Joel Theodore Stransky (born 16 July 1967) is a South African former rugby union player. A fly-half, he is known for scoring all of South Africa's points, including the winning drop goal, against New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final ...

and

Tim Stimpson Timothy Richard George Stimpson (born 10 September 1973 in Liverpool) is a former rugby union international full back (and occasional wing). During his career he played for Wakefield, West Hartlepool, Newcastle Falcons, Leicester Tigers, Perpi ...

respectively. Against

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

on 23 December 1995 he became only the second player to score 2,000 points for

. Liley played in the Pilkington Cup Finals of

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, winning the 1993 final against Harlequins and losing in 1996 to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. Liley was also part of the Leicester side which won the league in 1995. He played in 1997 Heineken Cup Final which Leicester lost to

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of ), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglome ...

. After the 1996-97 season Liley was considered surplus to requirements by then Leicester coach

Bob Dwyer Bob Dwyer AM (born 29 November 1940) is an Australian rugby union coach. Early life Educated at Sydney Boys High School, from which he graduated in 1957, Dwyer played 2nd XV rugby for the school, lining up alongside former Canterbury-Bankstow ...

, initially he joined

Moseley Moseley ( ') is an affluent suburb in south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. It is located within the eponymous Moseley ward of the constituency of Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley (UK Parliament constituency), Hall Green and ...

in the second division but financial difficulties meant a quick move to

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

who at the time were in the third tier. Liley spent a season and a half at Sixways helping the club to promotion before moving onto a player-coach role at

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

. He also coached Leicester's sevens side at the 2000 Middlesex Sevens tournament. Since 2009 Liley has been expert summariser on BBC Radio Leeds covering

Yorkshire Carnegie Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 2 North. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 whe ...

games alongside Gareth Jones, son of Leicester Tigers legend

Bleddyn Jones Bleddyn Jones (7 August 1948 ― 27 April 2021) was a Welsh rugby commentator who worked principally for BBC Radio Leicester, commentating on Leicester Tigers matches since 1987. As a player, he made 333 appearances for Tigers, mostly at fly-h ...

. Liley, for 13 years was the Director of Sports for independent school Cundall Manor School, located in North Yorkshire. He is currently working at Highfield Prep School, Harrogate.

Sources

Farmer,Stuart & Hands, David ''Tigers-Official History of Leicester Football Club'' (The Rugby DevelopmentFoundation )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liley, John 1967 births Living people English rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Wakefield Leicester Tigers players Yorkshire County RFU players 20th-century English sportsmen