Lee Radford (born 26 March 1979) is an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

coach for the Castleford Tigers. He previously worked in

as the head coach of Hull F.C., in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of ...

, from 2013–2020. He is also a former professional

footballer. As a player, he was an

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

international forward who played for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, and for Hull F.C. and the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is pre ...

in the

Background

Radford was born in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from ...

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West ...

, England.

Playing career

Radford made his professional début for hometown club Hull Sharks before moving to Bradford in 1998. Radford played for the

from the interchange bench in their

2003 Super League Grand Final The 2003 Super League Grand Final was the 6th official Grand Final conclusive and premiership-deciding match of Super League VIII. Held on Saturday 18 October 2003 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between Bradford Bulls and Wigan ...

victory against the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

. Having won

Super League VIII Tetley's Super League VIII was the official name for the year 2003's Super League championship season, the 109th season of top-level professional rugby league held in Britain, and the eighth championship run by Super League. The season culminat ...

, Bradford played against 2003 NRL Premiers, the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penri ...

in the

2004 World Club Challenge The 2004 World Club Challenge was held on Friday, 13 February 2004, at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and the Penrith Panthers. Background Bradford Bulls Penrith Panthers Match ...

. Radford played at in the Bulls' 22–4 victory. He also played for Bradford at in their

2004 Super League Grand Final The 2004 Super League Grand Final was the 7th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding game of Super League IX. It was held on Saturday 16 October 2004, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was played between Leeds Rhinos, who f ...

loss against the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Head ...

. Radford played for the

at in their

2005 Super League Grand Final 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on each ...

victory against the

. Radford later returned to his hometown club of

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and wer ...

, who he joined for the start of 2006's

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. The competition kicked off the weekend after ...

. Hull reached the 2006 Super League Grand final to be contested against St. Helens, playing at in his side's 4–26 loss. Lee Radford Hull FC

Radford would also play in Hull's 28-16 2008 Challenge Cup final loss to St Helens. Lee Radford took part in a boxing match, ''the Rumble in the Humber'', against fellow rugby league player, Stuart Fielden which raised £50,000 for Steve Prescott. He won the fight, stopping Fielden in the second round. He was appointed Hull's captain for 2007. On 6 October 2011 Lee Radford announced his retirement from the game, to take up a 3-year deal as an assistant coach at Hull F.C.

Statistics

The table below shows a cumulative points and scoring records for Radford at the end of the 2012 Super League season.

International career

Radford won a cap for

against Wales while at Bradford Bulls in 2001. He played for England again in 2005 against, France and New Zealand. Radford again played for England while at Hull in 2006 against France, Tonga, and Samoa.

Coaching career

Hull FC

On 18 September 2013, Radford was unveiled as the new head coach at

, where he had been the assistant coach under

Peter Gentle Peter Gentle (born ) is an Australian rugby league coach and former footballer who played in the 1980s. Gentle is currently the Assistant Coach at the St. George Illawarra Dragons. Club career A halfback and St. George junior, Gentle played t ...

. His first game in charge was a pre-season friendly against

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated i ...

, and his first competitive game was against the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ou ...

Super League XIX The 2014 Super League season (known as the First Utility Super League XIX due to sponsorship by First Utility) was the 19th season of rugby league football since the Super League format was introduced in 1996. Fourteen teams competed for the ...

. After a shaky start to his coaching career he found success in 2016 becoming the first Hull F.C. coach to lead the team to a challenge cup victory at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, the victory coming in the

2016 Challenge Cup The 2016 Challenge Cup, (also known as the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 115th staging of the Challenge Cup the main rugby league knockout tournament for teams in the Super League, the British National Leagues and a ...

final. The win came against

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warringto ...

with a score of 12-10. Hull F.C. had previously lost 8 finals at the national stadium (despite having won the cup on 3 previous occasions at other venues). That year he would also lead his team to the

play-off semi-finals but would fail to reach the final after being defeated by the

28-18. Radford's coaching success would continue the following year when he once against led Hull F.C. to victory in the

2017 Challenge Cup The 2017 Challenge Cup, (also known as the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 116th staging of the Challenge Cup the main rugby league knockout tournament for teams in the Super League, the British National Leagues and a numb ...

final with an 18-14 win over the

, having now led Hull F.C. to two Challenge Cup victories in a row. Lee Radford

Immediately after their loss to the

on 12 March 2020, Hull FC chief executive Adam Pearson told a live TV interview that Radford had been sacked, minutes after the 38-4 loss.

Dallas Jackals

In June 2020, it was announced that Radford had joined

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Of ...

side Dallas Jackals as defensive coach.

Castleford Tigers

On 27 April 2021 it was announced that he would take over the head coach role for the 2022 season, on a two-year deal, when Daryl Powell leaves at the end of the 2021 season. In round 1 of the 2022 Super League season, Radford coached his first game in charge of Castleford which ended in a 26-16 defeat against

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

Honours

Playing career

Bradford Bulls

: (2) 2003, 2005 **Runner-up: (1) 2004 *

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves a ...

: (1) 2003 *

World Club Challenge The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australasian National Rugby League (NRL) and the European Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. The first such match was pl ...

: (1) 2004

Hull FC

**Runner-up: (1) 2006 *

**Runner-up: (1) 2008

Coaching career

Hull FC

: (2) 2016, 2017.

References

External links

Hull FC profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
History → Coaches & Captains at hullfc.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radford, Lee 1979 births Living people Bradford Bulls players Castleford Tigers coaches England national rugby league team players English rugby league players Hull F.C. captains Hull F.C. coaches Hull F.C. players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from Kingston upon Hull Yorkshire rugby league team players