Chris Johnson (born 1981) is an English

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 ...

footballer, currently playing at

Fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for Sale in

National League 1 National One, up until 2023 known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Lea ...

. An outstanding player who can kick points, drop goals, and score tries, he is one of the most prolific scorers of all time in both

National League 2 North National League 2 North is one of three level four leagues in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in Northern England. The remainder of England is covered by the two counterpart leagues National L ...

and

, with over 3,000 points spread across the two divisions from his time with

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

, Fylde and Sale. Johnson has also had a very successful representative career, winning the Bill Beaumont Cup five times with

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, and captaining the

England Counties XV England Counties XV is a representative rugby union team, formed in 2002, open to English players who play in the County Championship and the third tier (and below) of the English rugby union system. Players from the Premiership and RFU Champi ...

Career

Huddersfield

Growing up in Lancashire where he played junior rugby at

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

, upon finishing school Johnson moved across the Pennines to study at the

University of Huddersfield The University of Huddersfield is a public research university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has been a University since 1992, but has its origins in a series of institutions dating back to the 19th century. It has made te ...

. While at university Johnson came to the attention of local rugby union side,

, who were playing in North Division 1 (now known as National League 3 North) and signed with them for the 2006–07 season. In 2008 Huddersfield finished runners up in the league to

Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...

, qualifying for a promotion playoff against Midlands Division 1 runners up

Luctonians Luctonians Sports Club is an English sports club based in Kingsland, Herefordshire. The rugby union team currently plays in National League 2 West, the fourth tier of the English rugby union system, following their promotion from the Midlands P ...

, with the Yorkshire side gaining home advantage due to a better comparable league standing. Johnson was outstanding in the playoff game at Lockwood Park, kicking 18 points in the 22–7 victory against Luctonians, and helping Huddersfield achieve a first ever promotion to the National Leagues. The 2008–09 season was the first for Huddersfield in National Division 3 North and they managed to finish 10th out of the 14 teams, way clear of relegation. Johnson also adapted well to the higher level with 248 points making him the third top scorer in the division, which included 7 drop goals across the season. Outside of the league, Chris starred in a Huddersfield side that made it to the semi-finals of the Yorkshire Cup, going out 6–13 to eventual winners

Leeds Carnegie Leeds Carnegie was a brand name used by several sports teams associated with the Carnegie School of Physical Education, now part of Leeds Beckett University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LM ...

. This form saw Lancashire born Johnson selected by reigning county champions

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

as member of their 2009 Bill Beaumont Cup squad, although he could not help the side retain the cup. He also made his

debut in March 2009, starting in the 19–27 defeat to France Federale XV at the match at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

. The 2009–10 season saw National Division 3 North re-branded as National League 2 North as part of the RFU's changes to the English league system, which would also see the division increase by 2 teams to 16. Huddersfield ended the season in 11th while Johnson scored 327 points to one more finish as the third most prolific points scorer in the division. At the end of the season Johnson's form with his club side would once again see him called up by Yorkshire for the 2010 Bill Beaumont Cup. The 2010–11 season saw Huddersfield finish 8th in the league with Johnson becoming the top scorer in the division with 387 points, including a career best 15 tries. He also played a key role in Huddersfield winning the Yorkshire Cup for the first time in the club's history, scoring 15 points in a 25–18 win over

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

in the final held at York. The final act of Johnson's season saw him switch his county allegiance from Yorkshire to the county of his birth,

, and he was part of the squad that would win the 2011 Bill Beaumont Cup. 2011–12 would be Johnson's final season at the club and he went out on a successful note as he helped Huddersfield to a highest ever position in the league as they finished in 6th place. Once again he would also finish as top scorer in the league with 362 points. He was also picked once for Lancashire for the 2012 Bill Beaumont Cup, playing in the final at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...

in a 38 – 20 defeat to

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. Despite finishing runners up, Johnson had a fantastic tournament scoring 62 points, with 24 of those coming in the 54–33 victory away to former county side Yorkshire in front of 2,023 supporters at Scarborough – a record crowd for the ground.

Fylde

In the summer of 2012, after six seasons with Huddersfield and over 1,800 points scored, Johnson decided to move back to Lancashire to sign for Fylde, playing one division higher in

. His first season in National League 1 saw him became a regular in a Fylde side that finished the 2012–13 season in 6th place, scoring 251 points (the 4th highest tally in the division). As well as playing league games, Johnson also took part in the Fylde side that reached the semi-finals of the Lancashire Cup, losing 24–25 to rivals

Preston Grasshoppers Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club is an England, English rugby union team from Preston, Lancashire. The men's senior team play in the RFU National League 2 North, a level 4 league in the RFU league pyramid. History The club was founde ...

at home. Johnson was also called up to the Lancashire for the 2013 Bill Beaumont Cup where he had an excellent tournament, scoring 36 points (the second highest in the competition), 15 of which came the final in a 35–26 victory against

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. He finished off the year by being selected for the

side on their tour summer tour of Belgium. He played against Belgium 'A', leading his side out as captain and scoring 28 points (including 1 try) in a 78–0 victory. A second appearance would follow as he scored a try in a 57–5 win over

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

to cap off a very successful season. The 2013–14 season with Fylde saw his club finish an excellent 3rd in the league with Johnson once more one of the top scorers in the league with 272 points including 10 tries. Consistent good performances with Fylde saw Johnson come to the attention of Premiership side,

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

, and he was picked to play for the Jets development side, making his A-League debut in October 2013, scoring a try and drop goal in a 40–19 win against Northampton Wanderers at

Heywood Road Heywood Road (currently known as CorpAcq Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a multi-use rugby stadium in Sale, Greater Manchester, England, which has been the home ground of rugby union side Sale F.C. since 1905. It was the home ground of sp ...

. At the start of 2014 Johnson captained England Counties XV as they lost very close games against France Federale XV and an Irish Club XV. His season finished with for Lancashire at the 2014 Bill Beaumont Cup, finishing as the competition's top scorer with 60 points as his county retained the trophy with a 36–26 victory over last year's finalists, Cornwall. The 2014–15 season saw Fylde drop one place down to finish 5th in the league, with Johnson ending up as the second highest scorer in the division with 252 points (behind Richmond's Rob Kirby). Johnson would also return to action with England Counties XV at the start of 2015, scoring 7 points in a 37–3 victory against a Scottish Club XV in front of 1,200 supporters at Fylde's

Woodlands Memorial Ground Woodlands Memorial Ground is a rugby stadium in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England. It is the home of Fylde Rugby Club and was the home of the Blackpool Panthers between 2006 and 2010. The Northern Rail Nines group matches, quarter and semi f ...

. He was even better in the next game for Counties as he bagged all 24 points in a 24 – 15 win against France Federale XV at

Périgueux Périgueux (, ; or ) is a commune in the Dordogne department, in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. Périgueux is the prefecture of Dordogne, and the capital city of Périgord. It is also the seat of ...

. The year would finish with Lancashire at the 2015 Bill Beaumont Cup, scoring 21 points as his side reached their fourth successive final, only to lose 18–13 against Cornwall, who avenged the two previous final defeats. The 2015–16 season was the last for Johnson at Fylde, scoring 215 points from 25 games as his side finished in 6th place. He also made further appears for England Counties in a 27 – 57 defeat against Scottish Clubs XV at

Netherdale Netherdale is a sports complex in Galashiels, Scottish Borders, consisting of two adjacent stadiums used for rugby union and Association football, football. The rugby ground is the home of Gala RFC and was formerly used by the professional Border ...

, as well as appearing for Lancashire at the

2016 Bill Beaumont Cup The 2016 Bill Beaumont Cup, also known as Bill Beaumont Cup Division One, was the 116th version of the annual, English rugby union, County Championship organized by the RFU for the top tier English counties. Each county drew its players from r ...

as his side failed to make the final for the first time in eight years.

Sale FC

In the summer of 2016, after four seasons with Fylde, over 900 points scored for the club, and multiple county championship triumphs with Lancashire, Johnson decided to sign for Sale FC, playing one division below in

. Reasons given for the move were that Johnson wanted to cut down on travel (Sale FC were closer to where he worked) and that his new club had more potential for winning silverware in the future. Although he was relegated to reserve kicker behind team-mate Luke McGovern he featured in all of Sale's games as they finished second to league champions

Caldy Caldy (historically spelt Calday) is a small, affluent village on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, England, south-east of West Kirby. It is part of the West Kirby & Thurstaston Ward (country subdivision), Ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wi ...

. Unfortunately for Johnson his team were unable to grab promotion at the second chance of asking as they lost their promotion playoff game at home to

National League 2 South National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, N ...

runners up Old Elthamians. The disappointment of missing out on promotion was tempered as Johnson was called up to the

who went on to win the

2017 Bill Beaumont Cup The 2017 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 was the 117th version of the annual, England, English rugby union, County Championship (rugby union), County Championship organised by the RFU for the County Championship (rugby union), top t ...

. He started the final and kicked two conversions as his side beat Cornwall 19–8 at

for the counties 24th title and the first since 2014. His second season (2017–18) at Sale FC was an excellent one. With Luke McGovern leaving the club, Johnson once again became the main kicker. He was ever present in the Sale FC that went on to become champions of National League 2 North, contributing 324 (second highest in league) as his club finished five points clear of runners up

Sedgley Park Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester, north of Salford and south of Bury. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ...

to gain promotion to

. Promotion was followed by more silverware as Johnson scored 55 points for Lancashire during the

2018 Bill Beaumont Cup The 2018 Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 was the 118th version of the annual, English rugby union, County Championship organised by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for the top tier English counties. Each county drew its players fr ...

, including 22 points in the 33-16 win over

in the final.

Second spell at Huddersfield

Although Johnson started the 2018–19 season with Sale FC in

, in November 2018 he decided to drop down a league and return to play for former club,

, after an absence of six years. The reasons for him leaving were due to family commitments and the greater amount of travel required in National League 1. Despite not playing a full-season, he still managed to finish in the top 5 scorers in the league, scoring 222 points, and helping Huddersfield to a best-ever 4th place finish.

Second spell at Sale FC

In June 2019, Johnson resigned with Sale FC, once more playing in

for the 2019-20 season.

Season-by-season playing stats

Club

County/Representative

Honours and records

Club

Huddersfield * North 1 v Midlands 1 promotion play-off winner: 2007–08 * Yorkshire Cup winner: 2011 Sale FC *

champions: 2017–18 Yorkshire *Represented county in Bill Beaumont Cup: 2009, 2010 Lancashire * Bill Beaumont Cup winner (5): 2011,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Personal

top points scorer (2):

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

(387 points), 2011–12 (362 points) * Bill Beaumont Cup top points scorer (2): 2014 (60 points), 2018 (55 points) *Capped by

: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

Notes

References

External links

Huddersfield RUFCFylde RugbySale FC RugbyLancashire RFUEngland RFU
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Chris Living people English rugby union players 1986 births Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union centres Fylde Rugby Club players Sale Sharks players Lancashire County RFU players Huddersfield R.U.F.C. players