Mark Calderwood (born 25 October 1981) is an English former 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 ...

footballer. An England international representative winger, he has played 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 ...

for 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 ...

, (with whom he won 2004's

Super League IX Tetley's Super League IX was the name of the 2004 Super League championship season due to sponsorship by Tetley's Bitter. This was the 110th season of top-level professional rugby league held in Britain, and the ninth championship decided by Supe ...

), 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 ...

, Hull F.C. and Harlequins RL.

Early life

Calderwood was born in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwic ...

, London, England. He started his playing career at Stanningley ARLFC before signing for the

Academy in 2000

Playing career

Leeds Rhinos

Calderwood scored over 40-tries in his first season at the

Academy which earned him a call up into the first team during 2001. He made his début against London from the bench in the first match of the season he scored his first try for the Leeds Rhinos in a

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 ...

semi-final against St. Helens, and went to score 12-tries in the rest of the 2001 season. He also won the Eddie Waring Memorial Award as the best try in the 2001

. He gained international and representative experience with England and Yorkshire. At the end of the 2001's

Super League VI Tetley's Super League VI was the official name for the year 2001's Super League championship season, the 107th season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the sixth championship run by the Super League. The season began ...

he was selected by

John Kear John Kear (born 25 November 1954) is an English professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Widnes Vikings in the Betfred Championship and the Wales national rugby league team. He also works as a pundit for BBC Sport and is a ...

for the England Under-21 tour to South Africa. He scored 4-tries in the first match, when England won 112–6 and a further 2-tries in the second match. He was also eligible to represent Jamaica national rugby league team, and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...

He retained his place in the England team during 2002 and was part of the squad that lost 12-34 to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. In 2002 the England 'A' squad toured Fiji and Tonga and he played a part in both of England's victories, beating Fiji 44–8 and Tonga 30–18. In 2002 and 2003 he finished the leading try-scorer at the Leeds Rhinos, and the leading try-scorer in the

. He played for the Leeds Rhinos as a 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 ...

victory over 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 ...

. As

champions, the Leeds Rhinos faced

2004 NRL season The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...

premiers, the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facili ...

in the

2005 World Club Challenge The year 2005 Carnegie World Club Challenge was contested by Super League IX champions Leeds Rhinos and 2004 NRL season premiers, the Bulldogs. The match was played on 4 February at Elland Road, Leeds before 37,208 spectators. Australian Sean H ...

. He played as a and scored a try in the Leeds Rhinos' 39–32 victory. 2005 was another good season, he finished leading

try-scorer for the third time with 27 touchdowns in 28 appearances during 2005 and 35-tries in all competitions. During the season he received a runners-up medal in the

2005 Challenge Cup The 2005 Powergen Rugby League Challenge Cup was played by teams from across Europe during the 2005 rugby league season. Hull F.C. won the cup defeating Leeds Rhinos in the final. Qualifying Round First Round Second Round Third Round Fou ...

final, having scored a try in the Leeds Rhinos' 24-25 defeat to

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 ...

, and another runners-up medal in the

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 ...

in the Leeds Rhinos' 6-15 defeat to the

. Despite his success with the Leeds Rhinos, he declined a contract extension with the Leeds Rhinos and instead signed a 2-year contract with the

starting in 2006.

Wigan Warriors

Calderwood made his début for the

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 ...

but it took him 3-months to get his first try for the Wigan Warriors which came against

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed ...

during May 2006. The Wigan Warriors spent most of 2006 struggling against relegation from the Super League but despite this he managed to form a good playing connection with the Wigan Warriors

Chris Ashton Christopher John Ashton (born 29 March 1987) is an English rugby union and former rugby league player, and one of the few players who have represented England in both rugby codes. A wing or fullback, he joined Leicester Tigers of Premiership R ...

. He did miss several months 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 ...

with an injury and finished the season with 6-tries. He represented England in the 2006 Federation Shield, scoring 2-tries in the opening match against France. 2002 saw him make his début for Yorkshire in the Origin match, in the 18-22 defeat and retained his place in 2003, scoring a sensational try at Odsal when Yorkshire defeated Lancashire 56–6. He also lifted the European Nations Cup with England, helping them reach the final with a hat trick against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

in the qualifiers and then four against France in the final, with a

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

performance and scored a

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mech ...

of tries in the Wigan Warriors's epic 31–30

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

victory over the

on 21 September 2007 as the Warriors fought back from a 30–6 deficit but was forced off the field in the following match against Hull F.C. with a broken bone in his lower leg which forced him to miss the Wigan Warriors's last match of 2007's

Super League XII Engage Super League XII is the official name for the year 2007's Super League season in the sport of rugby league. The 2007 season kicked off on the weekend of 2 February 2007 at the Galpharm Stadium. For the first time, the league had a stagger ...

against the

. The next season turned out to be his last one for the club. His form was mixed throughout the campaign and was signalled out for poor performances especially in the 10-46 defeat by local rivals St. Helens. Throughout his Wigan career he was criticised for not producing the form that gave him his name at the Leeds Rhinos, many fans thought that he had pace but was not giving everything into every match which began to have negative effect on his future at the club. He withdrew from the Scotland training squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

after being called up by

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 ...

. In September 2008 he was named in the England training squad for the

, and during October 2008 he was named in the final 24-man

squad. He was named in the

team to face

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

at the

Keepmoat Stadium The Eco-Power Stadium (formerly known as Keepmoat Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Doncaster, England, with a capacity of 15,231. It cost approximately £20 million to construct, as part of the wider Lakeside Sports Complex that it ...

prior to England's departure for the

. but he like many other England stars produced many disappointing performances.

Hull F.C.

Calderwood signed for Hull F.C. for the 2009's

Super League XIV The 2009 Super League season (known as the Engage Super League XIV for sponsorship reasons) is the 14th season of rugby league since the Super League format was introduced in 1996. Fourteen teams competed for the Minor Premiership over 27 rounds ( ...

Following his departure from Hull FC, he was linked with the likes of the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, the Crusaders RL and the Salford City Reds, however, no deal was reached. With

the coach at Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, they were the favourites to secure his signature for 2011. However, he accepted a contract at Harlequins RL following a month-long trial. During May 2012, he signed for Co-operative Championship 1 club

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 a ...

Early life

Playing career

Leeds Rhinos

Wigan Warriors

Hull F.C.

References

External links