About Me

Hi, as you may know I have spent much of my professional life immersed in the fantastic sport of rugby. I started off playing rugby at the innocent age of 4, following in my brother’s footsteps and coached by our rugby dedicated father, Walter. Knowing what I know now, I am sure this early routine played its part when it came to competing with the big boys in the world of professional sports. Playing has been my passion throughout my life and representing my country was my ultimate goal, however the steadying influence of my mother made sure, at 18, I had some academic substance behind me and I packed myself off to art school in Auckland (New Zealand).

Half way through my first year in higher education the Rugby Gods came calling. Bradford Northern as they were called at the time had heard of my “wannabe” skills through my brother Henry who had signed with Wigan. I had no hesitations about signing and was itching to join my big brother and get one step closer to that dream of playing professionally. Bradford soon became my home and once I had purchased my first woollen coat, I surrounded myself with some wonderful friends, fell in love with England’s rolling hills and made myself at home.

My first two seasons saw “Northern” transform into the Bulls and in 1996, the Superleague was launched and the honour of captaining the Bradford Bulls was bestowed upon me by the coaching staff. The rest, as they say is history. I may have dreamt it before but the real feeling of pride that comes from captaining a winning team couldn’t have been more fulfilling.

In the twelve seasons I spent playing for the Bulls I enjoyed 5 Super League grand finals at Old Trafford, and trips to 5 Challenge cup finals played at Wembley, Murrayfield, Twickenham and the Millennium Stadium. The luxury of playing alongside some truly world class athletes allowed me to acquire 4 Superleague titles and a couple of Challenge Cup winners medals in the effort. It was at one of these early finals (1996) at the “old” Wembley that I made my most notable club achievement scoring a hat-trick on the hallowed turf and going down in history as the first person to do so (although we actually lost the game!). One of my most asked questions by members of the rugby league fraternity is would I swap the hat-trick of tries and the Lance Todd trophy for a winners medal? Well to find out the answer to that you will have to hear me speak in person.

In 2006 and after playing with Bradford for well over a decade, I left them to join neighbouring West Yorkshire club the Huddersfield Giants. Some might say it was a new lease on life for this aging dog but we worked hard in my debut season there and I again was involved in another Challenge Cup final played at the home of Rugby Union, Twickenham.

I left the Giants at the end of the 2007 season and moved away from Yorkshire to the Lancashire based Salford City Reds until the end of 2009. I am currently playing for the Leigh Centurions, which is an exhilarating challenge and I love every moment of this new stage in my life. As I now play in the Championship I have been given the wonderful opportunity of Rugby League Ambassador for the “Northern Rail Cup”.

As for my ultimate dream of representing my country, I had the immense honour of gaining 28 caps in an international career that spanned from 1997-2006. The high-light for me in that career was been asked to lead the “Haka” before a test match against England in 2004 as I am very proud of both my British and Maori Roots. After a couple of years part time.

I am now studying full time at Huddersfield University doing a degree in Sports Marketing and Public Relations. So it probably comes as no surprise to anyone that I really enjoy getting into the nitty gritty of all things sport.

I have many stories to share of my career and I enjoy nothing more than regaling the highs and lows that occur in the sporting world with true sports fans. This has led me into the entertaining world of after dinner speaking; see the Event Speaking and Sports Marketing section for more details on this.

As I am still playing, the journey continues……………
Yours sincerely, Robbie