Billy McGinty (born 6 December 1964) is a Scottish

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

coach and former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played in the forwards for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

during the period in the 1990s when they dominated the sport, and later for

Workington Town Workington Town is a semi-professional rugby league club based in Workington, West Cumbria, England. The club plays home games at Derwent Park and competes in the RFL League One, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, Briti ...

Background

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland, McGinty grew up in

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

, and attended

Wade Deacon High School Wade Deacon High School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status in Widnes, Cheshire, England. Admissions Wade Deacon has a Public Admissions Number of 300 per year and is oversubscribed. It is situated on ''Birchfield Road'' ...

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

. He played both codes of rugby when growing up, playing

at school, and

for local amateur club, Widnes Tigers.

Playing career

Warrington

McGinty was signed by

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

in 1982. He appeared as a substitute in the club's 38–10 win against Halifax in the 1985–86 Premiership final at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. McGinty was also a substitute in

's 14–36 defeat by

in the

1989–90 Challenge Cup The 1990 Challenge Cup was the 89th staging of rugby league's oldest knockout competition, the Challenge Cup. Known as the Silk Cut Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons, the final was contested by Wigan Warriors, Wigan and Warrington Wolves, War ...

Final during the 1989–90 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on Saturday 28 April 1990, in front of a crowd of 77,729. Billy McGinty played right- and was

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) 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 chose ...

's 12–2 victory over

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

in the

1990–91 Regal Trophy The 1990–91 Regal Trophy was a British rugby league knockout tournament. It was the 20th season that the competition was held, and was the second staging of the competition since it was re-named the Regal Trophy. The final was won by Warrington, ...

Final during the 1990–91 season at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

on Saturday 12 January 1991.

Wigan

In August 1991, McGinty was signed by

for a fee of £60,000. During the

1991–92 Rugby Football League season The 1991–92 Rugby Football League season was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Fourteen teams competed from August, 1991 until May, 1992 for the Stones Bitter Championship, Premiership Trophy and Silk Cut Chall ...

, McGinty played for defending champions Wigan as a in their

1991 World Club Challenge The 1991 World Club Challenge (marketed as the Foster's Lager, Foster's World Club Challenge due to sponsorship from the brewer) was contested by 1990–91 Rugby Football League season, 1990–91 RFL Championship winners, Wigan Warriors, Wigan and ...

victory against the visiting

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

. He was selected to go on the

1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1992 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team, nicknamed the 'Lions', of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand which took place between May and July 1992. The tour was the last of such length un ...

. He played as a in Great Britain's victory over Australia in Melbourne. During the

1992–93 Rugby Football League season The 1992–93 Rugby Football League season was the 98th ever season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams competed from August, 1992 until May, 1993 for the Stones Bitter Championship, Premiership Trophy and Silk Cut C ...

McGinty played as a for defending RFL champions Wigan in the

1992 World Club Challenge The 1992 World Club Challenge match was contested by the 1991–92 Rugby Football League season champions Wigan Warriors, Wigan and the 1992 NSWRL season's premiers, the Brisbane Broncos. The match took place on Friday night, 30 October in Engla ...

against the visiting

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

. McGinty played right- in

's 5–4 victory over St. Helens in the

1992–93 Lancashire Cup The 1992–93 Lancashire Cup was the 80th and last occasion on which the Lancashire Cup competition was held. Wigan won the trophy by beating St Helens by the score of 5-4 in the final. Background The failure of London Crusaders to enter, ...

Final during the 1992–93 season at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road is a former football stadium in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. It was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For ...

, St. Helens on Sunday 18 October 1992. McGinty played right- in

's 15–8 victory over

in the

1992–93 Regal Trophy The 1992–93 Regal Trophy was a British rugby league knockout tournament. It was the 22nd season that the competition was held, and was the fourth staging of the competition since it was renamed the Regal Trophy. Wigan defeated Bradford Northern ...

Final during the 1992–93 season at

on Saturday 23 January 1993. After the

1993–94 Rugby Football League season The 1993–94 Rugby Football League season was the 99th ever season of professional rugby league football in Britain. Sixteen teams competed from August 1993 until May 1994 for a number of titles, primarily the Stones Bitter Championship. Season ...

McGinty travelled with defending champions

to Brisbane for the

1994 World Club Challenge The 1994 MMI World Club Challenge was a replay of the 1992 World Club Challenge, with 1993–94 Rugby Football League season champions Wigan facing the 1993 NSWRL season premiers, the Brisbane Broncos, this time in Australia. Wigan were clearly ...

. Due to injuries to

Andy Platt Andrew Platt (born 9 October 1963) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a and forward in the 1980s and 1990s. A Great Britain international representative , he played for English clubs St Helens, Wigan, W ...

and

Kelvin Skerrett Kelvin Skerrett (born 22 May 1966) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and Coach (sports), coached in the 2000s. He played at representative level for Great Britain national rugby league t ...

, he played as a in the 20–14 victory against

. The match was his last for Wigan, as he had already agreed to join

for a fee of £15,000.

Coaching career

Rugby league

In 1998, McGinty was in charge of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

before being replaced by

Shaun McRae Shaun McRae (born 21 December 1959) is a rugby league coach, who is a former director of rugby at Hull F.C. after a spell with the Salford City Reds. Career Shaun McRae, nicknamed 'Bomber', was born in 1959 and began his rugby league coachin ...

a year later. He became head coach again after McRae stepped down in 2001. In May 2003, he was appointed as head coach at

. A few months later, he joined

Huddersfield Giants The Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Huddersfield play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league sy ...

as an assistant coach to

Jon Sharp Jon Sharp (born 8 March 1967) was the head coach of Featherstone Rovers from 2015 to 2017. Between 2004 and 2008 he was head coach of the Huddersfield Giants, having been appointed in 2003 when Tony Smith left the club for the Leeds Rhinos. He ...

, but resigned a few months later to spend more time with his family.

Rugby union

In 2004, McGinty joined the coaching staff at

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

. In 2009, he was appointed as the club's backs and defence coach. In 2011 McGinty was appointed defence coach of

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

under head coach Michael Bradley. In 2017, he was appointed by Tewkesbury as their new head coach.

School coaching

In 2013, McGinty joined

Royal Grammar School Worcester The Royal Grammar School Worcester (also known as RGS Worcester and RGSW) is an 11-18 co-educational, private day school and sixth form in Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Founded before 1291, it is one of the oldest British independent day ...

's rugby coaching set-up.

References

External links

Profile at wigan-warriors.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGinty, Billy 1964 births Living people 20th-century Scottish sportsmen 21st-century Scottish sportsmen Great Britain national rugby league team players Lancashire rugby league team players Rugby league players from Glasgow Rugby league second-rows Scotland national rugby league team coaches Scottish rugby league coaches Scottish rugby league players Scottish rugby union coaches Warrington Wolves players Wigan Warriors players Workington Town coaches Workington Town players