The O'Loughlin Farrell family of

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

, England have produced a number of notable

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

and

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 ...

footballers. The majority of those players started their professional careers at their home club,

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors is an English professional rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club competes in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system. Formed in 1872, the club is a founding member of the Ru ...

, and many have gone on to make a significant impact at club and international level. The family has Irish heritage.

Family Tree

:Bold indicates rugby playing members of the family. :Non-notable family members are not included unless they help illustrate the relation between notable family members.

Playing members

Records and statistics

England

''As of 5 November 2022 for League; As of 15 October 2023 for Union'' ;Points and appearances *

Andy Farrell Andrew David Farrell (born 30 May 1975) is an English professional rugby union coach and former rugby league and rugby union player. Farrell has been head coach of the Ireland national team since 2019. Farrell earned 34 caps for Great Britai ...

has scored the seventh most points for the

England national rugby league team The England national rugby league team represents England in international rugby league since the first international match in 1904. It is controlled by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the governing body for rugby league in England, and part ...

with 78. *

Owen Farrell Owen Andrew Farrell (born Owen Andrew O'Loughlin, 24 September 1991) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half for Premiership Rugby club Saracens F.C., Saracens. He was the England captain fr ...

has scored the most points for the

England national rugby union team The England national rugby union team represents the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France national rugby union team, France, Ireland national rugby union team, ...

with 1206. In addition, he has scored the eighth most point for the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

with 34. *

Sean O'Loughlin Sean O'Loughlin (born 24 November 1982) is an English rugby league coach and former professional rugby league footballer. He is an assistant coach of Wigan Warriors where he spent his entire playing career, playing as a loose forward for the ...

is joint ninth highest appearance maker for the

with 28 caps. ;Captaincy *

and

have both captain the

from 1996–2001 and 2015–2018 respectively. *

is the second longest serving, and current captain of the

, serving for 46 matches since 2018. *

captained the

to the

2020 Six Nations Championship The 2020 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 21st Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England national rugby union team, England ...

Wigan Warriors

''As of 15 October 2023'' *Collectively, the family has made 1,124+ appearances, and scored 338 tries and 4,034 points for

.https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/teams/wigan-warriors/players.html?pos=&ord=~appstarts *

's most capped player of all time with 425 appearance, Andy and

Liam Farrell Liam Matthew Farrell (born 2 July 1990) is an English rugby league footballer who plays as a forward for the Wigan Warriors in the Super League, and has played for England at international level. He has spent time on loan from Wigan at the Wi ...

rank forth and fifth on that list with 304 and 293 appearance recectfully. *The family has delivered several majoir honours as captain of

: **

: ***

Super League II Stones Bitter Super League II was the official name for the year 1997's Super League championship season, the 103rd season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the second to be played in summer. Teams Twelve teams were ...

*** 2002 Challenge Cup **

: ***

Super League XV Engage Super League XV was the official name for the 2010 Super League season. Fourteen teams competed over 27 rounds. The season officially kicked off on 5 February with the Crusaders versus the Leeds Rhinos on 29 January at Crusaders' new homeg ...

***

2011 Challenge Cup The 2011 Challenge Cup (also known as the Carnegie Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 110th staging of the most competitive European rugby league tournament at club level and was open to teams from England, Wales, Scotland, France and ...

*** 2013 Challenge Cup ***

Super League XVIII Super League XVIII was the official name for the 2013 Super League season. Fourteen teams competed over 27 rounds, after which the highest finishing teams entered the play-offs to compete for a place in the Grand Final and a chance to win the cha ...

***

Super League XXI Super League XXI, known as the First Utility Super League XXI for sponsor reasons, was the 21st season of the Super League and 122nd season of Rugby Football League Championship, rugby league in Britain for 2016. Twelve teams competed over 23 r ...

*** 2017 World Club Challenge ***

Super League XXIII Super League XXIII, known as the Betfred Super League XXIII for sponsor reasons, was the 23rd season of the Super League and 124th season of rugby league in Britain for 2018. Wigan Warriors were crowned champions after beating Warrington Wolve ...

: ***

2022 Challenge Cup The 2022 Challenge Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2022 Betfred Challenge Cup, was the 121st edition of the Challenge Cup, the main rugby league knockout cup tournament in British rugby league run by the Rugby Football League (RFL). It s ...

***

Super League XXVIII Super League XXVIII, known as the 2023 Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th season of the Super League and 129th season of rugby league in Great Britain. The season began on 16 February 2023, and ended with the Grand Final ...

***

2024 World Club Challenge The 2024 World Club Challenge was the 30th staging of the World Club Challenge, an annual rugby league match between the reigning champions of the Super League and the National Rugby League. The Wigan Warriors hosted the Penrith Panthers at DW S ...

***

2024 Challenge Cup The 2024 Challenge Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2024 Betfred Challenge Cup, is the 123rd edition of the Challenge Cup, the main rugby league knockout cup tournament in British rugby league, run by the Rugby Football League (RFL). I ...

***

Super League XXIV Super League XXIV, known as the Betfred Super League XXIV for sponsorship reasons, was the 2019 iteration of and the 24th season of the Super League and 125th season of rugby league in Great Britain. Twelve teams competed over 29 rounds, incl ...

Saracens

captained

Saracens F.C. Saracens Rugby Club () are an English professional rugby union club based in North London, England, currently playing in Premiership Rugby, which is the highest level of competition in English rugby. Established in 1876, the club has spent mo ...

to the

2022–23 Premiership Rugby The 2022–23 Premiership Rugby was the 36th season of the top flight of English domestic rugby union competition and the fifth to be sponsored by Gallagher. The competition was broadcast by BT Sport for the tenth successive season, with six le ...

title.

Hall of Fames

*Andy Farrell was inducted into the British Rugby Football League Hall of Fame in 2022. *Andy Farrell and Sean O’Loughlin were inducted into the Wigan Warriors Hall of Fame in ???? and 2020 respectfully.

Notes

References

;Inline ;Genealogical references

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200111051659/http://wigan.rlfans.com/readarticle.php?article_id=768 , date=2020-01-11

English rugby league players