Ian Millward
Encyclopedia
Ian Millward is an Australian rugby league
coach and former player. Millward is currently the head coach at Super League
side Castleford
.
Millward is the former head coach of Wigan
, St. Helens and Leigh
. He was in charge at Wigan
from May 2005, his appointment coming just two weeks after an acrimonious departure from the club's fiercest rivals, St Helens. He was sacked by Wigan on 11 April 2006 for their poor start to the Super League XI
season - having won just one of eight league games. In October 2006 he returned to Australia.
, and played rugby league for Illawarra Steelers
lower grades in his youth, after impressing for the state's schoolboys team. His hopes of a successful playing career were ended when he was forced to retire in 1983 after suffering a serious neck injury.
He turned to coaching, taking up a position with Illawarra Western Suburbs. He also had spells with Wollongong University
and as an assistant coach with the Steelers. His first senior appointment came in 1998 when he took charge of struggling English side Leigh
, who had then come close to relegation to the game's third tier. He soon transformed Leigh from relegation candidates to promotion contenders, catching the eye of a number of Super League
clubs in the process. He moved to St. Helens in March 2000 after the sacking of Ellery Hanley
.
Under Millward, St Helens retained their Super League title in 2000 and won it again in 2002. They also won the Rugby League Challenge Cup
in 2001 and 2004 and the World Club Challenge
in 2001. In 2001 Millward was named Super League Coach of the Year.
His time there was not without controversy, however. His decision to field an under-strength side due, he said, to injuries in a Super League
match against Bradford
, just a week before the Challenge Cup
final backfired badly. The move incurred the wrath of the game's authorities and St Helens were beaten in the final, when all the injured players returned, by Wigan.
He repeated the trick in another match against Bradford over Easter 2004, claiming a heavy fixture burden had taken its toll. St Helens were well beaten in the game at Odsal
and the fall-out overshadowed the rest of the club's season. It later emerged that two St Helens players, Sean Long
and Martin Gleeson
, had bet on their side to lose before the team was announced. Both were later banned and the Rugby Football League (RFL) tightened up rules by insisting squads had to be named 72 hours in advance.
Millward's St Helens career also ended controversially after he was suspended pending a disciplinary hearing in May 2005. He was sacked for gross misconduct a week later, his offences including three incidences of foul and abusive language: to a club employee; Warrington's
press officer; and a fourth official at a match against Bradford. St Helens also claimed that Millward lied to an RFL disciplinary hearing and distorted the truth about the club's sale of Gleeson to Warrington in 2004.
Within a fortnight, Millward was at Wigan
as head coach above Denis Betts
. He had a difficult start with Wigan
, losing a Super League match 70-0 to Leeds
and, more humiliatingly, a Challenge Cup
tie at St Helens 75-0. Wigan ended the season seventh in the Super League, missing out on the play-offs for the first time in the competition and club's history.
After a disastrous start to the 2006 Super League, Millward was relieved of his duties as head coach of Wigan on 11 April 2006. During this time, a combination of poor performances and injuries to key players had seen Wigan slump to bottom of the engage Super League. Wigan had won just one of eight league games. The club issued this statement:
"Following a meeting of the board of directors the Wigan club can confirm that head coach Ian Millward has been dismissed with immediate effect. Ian will be leaving the club and team affairs will be managed in the short term by the assistant coaches Stuart Wilkinson and Andrew Farrar
." He was replaced the following week by then Bradford
coach, Brian Noble
.
Millward enjoyed some time away from rugby league after being sacked by Wigan
but later in 2006 he returned to the club where he started his English coaching career to become coaching co-ordinator at National League 1
side Leigh
. Millward also worked as a co-presenter on rugby league
matches shown on Sky Sports
or BBC
.
In 2007 Millward was appointed the assistant coach at National Rugby League
side North Queensland Cowboys
. After Graham Murray
resigned in May 2008, Millward took over as a head coach for the remainder of the season.
Millward was appointed as assistant coach to David Furner
at the Canberra Raiders on a two-year contract from 2009.
On 30 June 2009 it was announced that Millward would be re-joining Championship side Leigh
in England
from 2010. Ian has signed a three-year contract after Canberra agreed to release Millward from his current contract.
He will be taking over Terry Matterson as the coach of Castleford
starting for the 2012 season he has signed a 3 year deal to stay with the club
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
coach and former player. Millward is currently the head coach at Super League
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
side Castleford
Castleford Tigers
Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club based in Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. They participate in the professional European competition Super League. They are sometimes known as 'Cas', 'Cas Tigers', 'Classy Cas' or the 'Black & Amber'...
.
Millward is the former head coach of Wigan
Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
, St. Helens and Leigh
Leigh Centurions
Leigh Centurions is an English professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester who play in the Co-operative Championship.The club was founded in 1878 as Leigh Rugby Football Club and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in...
. He was in charge at Wigan
Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
from May 2005, his appointment coming just two weeks after an acrimonious departure from the club's fiercest rivals, St Helens. He was sacked by Wigan on 11 April 2006 for their poor start to the Super League XI
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....
season - having won just one of eight league games. In October 2006 he returned to Australia.
Biography
Millward was born in Wollongong, New South WalesWollongong, New South Wales
Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney...
, and played rugby league for Illawarra Steelers
Illawarra Steelers
The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level Rugby League competition from 1982, when they, along with the Canberra Raiders, were admitted into the then New South Wales Rugby Football...
lower grades in his youth, after impressing for the state's schoolboys team. His hopes of a successful playing career were ended when he was forced to retire in 1983 after suffering a serious neck injury.
He turned to coaching, taking up a position with Illawarra Western Suburbs. He also had spells with Wollongong University
University of Wollongong
The University of Wollongong is a public university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney...
and as an assistant coach with the Steelers. His first senior appointment came in 1998 when he took charge of struggling English side Leigh
Leigh Centurions
Leigh Centurions is an English professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester who play in the Co-operative Championship.The club was founded in 1878 as Leigh Rugby Football Club and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in...
, who had then come close to relegation to the game's third tier. He soon transformed Leigh from relegation candidates to promotion contenders, catching the eye of a number of Super League
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
clubs in the process. He moved to St. Helens in March 2000 after the sacking of Ellery Hanley
Ellery Hanley
Ellery Cuthwyn Hanley MBE is a British former rugby league footballer of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, and former head coach of Great Britain, St. Helens and Doncaster. As a player he played most of his games at /, or /. Over a period of nineteen years, he played for Bradford Northern, Wigan, Balmain,...
.
Under Millward, St Helens retained their Super League title in 2000 and won it again in 2002. They also won the Rugby League Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
in 2001 and 2004 and the World Club Challenge
World Club Challenge
The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league football match held between the champions of the Australasian National Rugby League and the European Super League competitions to determine the world's best rugby league club...
in 2001. In 2001 Millward was named Super League Coach of the Year.
His time there was not without controversy, however. His decision to field an under-strength side due, he said, to injuries in a Super League
Super League
Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
match against Bradford
Bradford Bulls
Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....
, just a week before the Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
final backfired badly. The move incurred the wrath of the game's authorities and St Helens were beaten in the final, when all the injured players returned, by Wigan.
He repeated the trick in another match against Bradford over Easter 2004, claiming a heavy fixture burden had taken its toll. St Helens were well beaten in the game at Odsal
Odsal
Odsal is a village in the metropolitan district of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated outside the village of Wibsey. Odsal's main attraction is Odsal Stadium which is the home of the four times Super League champions the Bradford Bulls...
and the fall-out overshadowed the rest of the club's season. It later emerged that two St Helens players, Sean Long
Sean Long
Sean Long is an English former professional rugby league and current rugby union footballer with Preston Grasshoppers. He has played for Wigan, Widnes and Hull but is best known for playing for St Helens in the Super League. Internationally he has represented England and Great Britain at /...
and Martin Gleeson
Martin Gleeson
Martin Gleeson is an English professional rugby league footballer, who plays for Hull in the Super League. A Great Britain and England international representative , and /, he previously played for Wigan Warriors, Huddersfield Giants, St. Helens and Warrington...
, had bet on their side to lose before the team was announced. Both were later banned and the Rugby Football League (RFL) tightened up rules by insisting squads had to be named 72 hours in advance.
Millward's St Helens career also ended controversially after he was suspended pending a disciplinary hearing in May 2005. He was sacked for gross misconduct a week later, his offences including three incidences of foul and abusive language: to a club employee; Warrington's
Warrington Wolves
Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league football club based in Warrington, England that competes in Super League. They play at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2003....
press officer; and a fourth official at a match against Bradford. St Helens also claimed that Millward lied to an RFL disciplinary hearing and distorted the truth about the club's sale of Gleeson to Warrington in 2004.
Within a fortnight, Millward was at Wigan
Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
as head coach above Denis Betts
Denis Betts
Denis C. Betts is an English rugby league coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Widnes Vikings in the Engage Super League. He played for Wigan in the Rugby League Premiership and the Australian NRL, for the Auckland Warriors, and also represented England at the 1995 Rugby...
. He had a difficult start with Wigan
Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
, losing a Super League match 70-0 to Leeds
Leeds Rhinos
Leeds Rhinos is an English professional rugby league football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The club won the 2011 Super League and became the most successful club in the Super League era, beating St Helens 32-16 on 8th October 2011. Formed in 1890, Leeds competes in Europe's Super League...
and, more humiliatingly, a Challenge Cup
Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....
tie at St Helens 75-0. Wigan ended the season seventh in the Super League, missing out on the play-offs for the first time in the competition and club's history.
After a disastrous start to the 2006 Super League, Millward was relieved of his duties as head coach of Wigan on 11 April 2006. During this time, a combination of poor performances and injuries to key players had seen Wigan slump to bottom of the engage Super League. Wigan had won just one of eight league games. The club issued this statement:
"Following a meeting of the board of directors the Wigan club can confirm that head coach Ian Millward has been dismissed with immediate effect. Ian will be leaving the club and team affairs will be managed in the short term by the assistant coaches Stuart Wilkinson and Andrew Farrar
Andrew Farrar
Andrew Farrar is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the Canterbury Bulldogs, Western Suburbs Magpies, Wigan Warriors and Illawarra Steelers. Farrar also played for New South Wales in the State of Origin on several occasions and played for Australia in the 1988...
." He was replaced the following week by then Bradford
Bradford Bulls
Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....
coach, Brian Noble
Brian Noble (rugby league)
Brian 'Nobby' D. Noble is an English former rugby league footballer. Noble is also the former coach of the Great Britain National Rugby League team. He was also the captain of the 1984 Great Britain touring team to Australia...
.
Millward enjoyed some time away from rugby league after being sacked by Wigan
Wigan Warriors
Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
but later in 2006 he returned to the club where he started his English coaching career to become coaching co-ordinator at National League 1
National League 1
National League 1, , is the third level of domestic rugby union competition in England.This is the lowest level of the English rugby union league system which is nationwide...
side Leigh
Leigh Centurions
Leigh Centurions is an English professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester who play in the Co-operative Championship.The club was founded in 1878 as Leigh Rugby Football Club and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in...
. Millward also worked as a co-presenter on rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
matches shown on Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
or BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
In 2007 Millward was appointed the assistant coach at National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
side North Queensland Cowboys
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...
. After Graham Murray
Graham Murray
Graham Murray is an Australian rugby league player and coach. Murray is currently the High Performance Unit Director of Coaching at the Newcastle Knights.-Playing career:...
resigned in May 2008, Millward took over as a head coach for the remainder of the season.
Millward was appointed as assistant coach to David Furner
David Furner
David Furner is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Canberra Raiders of the NRL...
at the Canberra Raiders on a two-year contract from 2009.
On 30 June 2009 it was announced that Millward would be re-joining Championship side Leigh
Leigh Centurions
Leigh Centurions is an English professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester who play in the Co-operative Championship.The club was founded in 1878 as Leigh Rugby Football Club and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
from 2010. Ian has signed a three-year contract after Canberra agreed to release Millward from his current contract.
He will be taking over Terry Matterson as the coach of Castleford
Castleford Tigers
Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club based in Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. They participate in the professional European competition Super League. They are sometimes known as 'Cas', 'Cas Tigers', 'Classy Cas' or the 'Black & Amber'...
starting for the 2012 season he has signed a 3 year deal to stay with the club
External links
- Ian Millward Wigan Coaching Career Page on the Wigan RL Fansite.