Robert Irving (rugby league) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Robert "Bob" A. Irving (born 15 February 1948 in Castle Hill

Castle Hill, Huddersfield

Taken and adapted from Rumsby, J. 'A Castle Well Guarded: the archaeology and history of Castle Hill, Almondbury' Castle Hill is a Scheduled Ancient Monument situated on a hilltop overlooking Huddersfield, in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees. It has been settled for at least 4,000 years....

, Huddersfield

Huddersfield

Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....

— died 18 April 1999 in Blackpool

Blackpool

Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...

) was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

professional Rugby League World Cup

Rugby League World Cup

The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by members of the Rugby League International Federation . It has been held nearly once every 4 years on average since its inaugural tournament in France in 1954...

winning footballer of the 1960s and '70s. A Great Britain

Great Britain national rugby league team

The Great Britain national rugby league team represents the United Kingdom in rugby league football. Administered by the Rugby Football League , the team is nicknamed "The Lions" or "Great Britain Lions"....

and England

England national rugby league team

The England national rugby league team represent England in international rugby league football tournaments. The team has now seen a revival, having largely formed from the Great Britain team, who also represented Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The team is run under the auspices of the Rugby Football...

international, and Yorkshire representative , he played at club level for Oldham

Oldham Roughyeds

Oldham Roughyeds is an English professional rugby league club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester. They currently play in the Championship One. Oldham is one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895....

, 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....

, Salford

Salford City Reds

Salford City Reds are an English rugby league club based in Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1873, they currently play in the Super League. They have won six Rugby Football League Championships and one Challenge Cup...

, Barrow

Barrow Raiders

Barrow Raiders are an English professional rugby league team from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, who are coached by Dave Clark. Formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club, the club is the oldest of the current professional sports teams in Cumbria....

, Blackpool Borough

Blackpool Borough

Blackpool Borough was a rugby league club based in Blackpool, Lancashire.The team wore tangerine, black and white jerseys.-Blackpool Borough:...

, and Swinton

Swinton Lions

Swinton Lions is an English professional rugby league club from Swinton, Greater Manchester. The club has won the Championship six times and three Challenge Cups. They currently play in the Championship.-Early years:...

during the era of contested scrums.

Irving was signed by Oldham from Huddersfield's amateur side St. Joseph's at 16 years of age and within weeks was playing in the first team.

International honours

Irving won caps for England

England national rugby league team

while at Wigan in the 1975 Rugby League World Cup

1975 Rugby League World Cup

The 1975 Rugby League World Cup was the seventh staging of rugby league football's World Cup tournament...

against Wales, France, and Australia, and won caps for Great Britain

Great Britain national rugby league team

while at Oldham in 1967 against France (2 matches), and Australia (3 matches), in 1970 against Australia (sub), and New Zealand, in 1971 against New Zealand, in 1972 against France (sub), and in the 1972 Rugby League World Cup

1972 Rugby League World Cup

The sixth Rugby League World Cup was held in France in October and November of 1972. Australia started as the favourites to retain the trophy they had won just two years previously. New Zealand had beaten all three of the other nations in 1971 and France were expected to be tough opponents on their...

against New Zealand, and Australia (sub).

County Cup final appearances

Irving played in Wigan's 19-9 victory over Salford

Salford City Reds

in the 1973–74 Lancashire Cup

Rugby league county cups

Historically, British rugby league clubs competed for the Lancashire Cup and the Yorkshire Cup, known collectively as the county cups. The leading rugby clubs in Yorkshire had played in a cup competition for several years prior to the schism of 1895...

final.

Outside of rugby league

Irving was a hotelier

Hotel manager

A hotel manager or hotelier is a person who holds a management occupation within a hotel, motel, or resort establishment. Management titles and duties vary by company. In some hotels the title hotel manager or hotelier may solely be referred to the General Manager of the hotel...

in Blackpool, and studied for a degree, becoming a senior lecturer in business studies at Blackpool and The Fylde College

Blackpool and The Fylde College

Blackpool and The Fylde College is a university college linked to the University of Lancaster.It has 49 buildings spread over the towns of Blackpool, St Annes, Bispham and three locations in Fleetwood. The college brands itself an "associate college of Lancaster University".The College offers...

. He was active in the Catholic Church, and undertook charity work in his spare time, regularly manning a soup kitchen for homeless and displaced people. He died aged 51, in 1999, following a heart attack.

Note

The "Tracking down the heroes of 1972" reference misstates his year of death as 2002, it was 1999. The "Obituary: Bob Irving at independent.co.uk" reference misstates his month of birth as December, it was February.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.