Mal Reilly

Mal Reilly

Personal information
Full name	Malcolm J. Reilly
Born	19 January 1948 (1948-01-19) (age 63) Barkston Ash district, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Playing information
Position	Loose forward/Lock
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1974–86	Castleford
1971–75	Manly-Warringah	89	13	1	0	41
	Total	89	13	1	0	41
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1973–77	England	3	0	0	0	0
1970	Great Britain	9	1	0	0	3
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
06/12/1974–26/04/1987	Castleford	513	276	25	212	54
19??–??	Halifax
1995–98	Newcastle Knights	98	62	3	33	63
1999–04	Huddersfield Giants	30	5	0	25	17
2004	Hull KR
	Total	641	343	28	270	54
Representative
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
1987–94	Great Britain	56	38	0	18	68
Source: RLP Yesterday's Hero

Malcolm J. Reilly (born 19 January 1948 (1948-01-19) (age 63) in Barkston Ash district, West Riding of Yorkshire^[1]) is an English former rugby league footballer and coach. A Great Britain international representative Loose forward/Lock, Reilly played club football for Castleford Tigers in England and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in Australia. Post-playing, Reilly coached the Great Britain and also worked in Australia, taking the Newcastle Knights to their first premiership in 1997.

Playing career

Mal Reilly played Loose forward/Lock, i.e. number 13, and won the Lance Todd Trophy in Castleford’s 11–6 victory over Salford in the 1969 Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium on 17 May 1969.^[2] After the 1969 Rugby League Challenge Cup final he was awarded the Lance Todd Trophy for his man-of-the-match performance. The following year he played in the 7–2 victory over Wigan in the 1970 Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium on 9 May 1970.^[3] He later became a Tigers Hall Of Fame Inductee.^[4] That year he also helped Great Britain to victory in the 1970 World Cup.

Reilly later played in Australia, helping the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles to their first premiership in 1972 and to their second the following year. He thus became only the third ever Englishman to play in a grand final-winning team in Australia.

Coaching career

After retiring from playing, Reilly went on to coach Halifax and Great Britain. He opened his reign as head coach of Great Britain with six wins, four against France and two over Papua New Guinea, in 1987. He stood down as Great Britain's coach in 1994. Reilly then took over Australian side Newcastle Knights in 1995 as coach and their results improved markedly. He later coached them to their 1997 ARL Grand Final success.

In 2001 Reilly's book, Reilly: A Life in Rugby League was published. His coaching career continued but he had less success as head coach of the Huddersfield Giants, who finished bottom of Super League under his stewardship. He left Leeds at the end of the 2003 season following a major coaching re-structuring. In December 2004, Hull Kingston Rovers appointed Mal Reilly as director of rugby and first team coach. However, Reilly left the club mid way through the season.

Outside of rugby league

Reilly now works as a sales representative in the Newcastle, New South Wales area.

Honoured by Arriva Yorkshire

Arriva Yorkshire honoured 13 rugby league footballers on Thursday 20 August 2009, at a ceremony at The Jungle, the home of the Castleford Tigers. A fleet of new buses were named after the 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team'. Members of the public nominated the best ever rugby league footballers to have played in West Yorkshire, supported by local rugby league journalists; James Deighton from BBC Leeds, and Tim Butcher, editor of Rugby League World. The 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team' is; Trevor Foster MBE, Neil Fox MBE, Albert Goldthorpe, Alan Hardisty, Stan Kielty, Lewis Jones, Roger Millward MBE, Malcolm Reilly, Garry Schofield, Keith Senior, David Topliss, Dave Valentine, and Adrian Vowles.^[5]

References

1. ^ "Birth details at freebmd.org.uk". freebmd.org.uk. 2010-12-31. http://www2.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?scan=1&r=191207139&d=bmd_1295915451. Retrieved 2011-01-01. 
2. ^ "Sat 17th May 1969 – Challenge Cup – Neutral Ground – 97,939". thecastlefordtigers. 2008-12-31. http://www.thecastlefordtigers.co.uk/viewreport.php?page=report&id=2539. Retrieved 2009-01-01. 
3. ^ "Sat 9th May 1970 – Challenge Cup – Neutral Ground – 95,255". thecastlefordtigers. 2008-12-31. http://www.thecastlefordtigers.co.uk/viewreport.php?page=report&id=2590. Retrieved 2009-01-01. 
4. ^ "Hall of Fame at castigers.com". castigers. 2008-12-31. http://www.castigers.com/cgi-bin/halloffame.cgi. Retrieved 2009-01-01. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ "Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team". Arriva Yorkshire. 2009-08-20. http://www.arrivabus.co.uk/content.aspx?id=7044. Retrieved 2009-08-20. 

Further reading

Malcolm Reilly & Ian Heads (1998). Reilly: a life in rugby league. Ironbark. ISBN 0330361201, 9780330361200. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=IQKkAQAACAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 

External links

• International Statistics at englandrl.co.uk
• Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
• Malcolm Reilly at eraofthebiff.com
• Steadman looking less than steady (from the BBC)
• Profile at thecastlefordtigers.co.uk

Persondata
Name	Reilly, Malcolm
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1948-01-19
Place of birth	Castleford
Date of death
Place of death