Chris Riley (born 22 February 1988) is an English 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 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for the

England Knights England Knights is the feeder team for the England national rugby league team. The Knights play a key role in the development of emerging talent, allowing players to gain experience in an international environment and to compete for a place in ...

, and at club level for

Woolston Rovers Woolston Rovers are a rugby league team based in Warrington. The open age teams play in the National Division of the Rugby League Conference. History Woolston Rovers Woolston Rovers Rugby Club was founded at the Lido Country Club on Manchester ...

ARLFC,

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

, Harlequins RL (

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

Swinton Lions The Swinton Lions are a professional rugby league club based in Swinton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the RFL League 1 . The club has won the Rugby Football League Championship, Championship six times and three Challenge Cups ...

(

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby le ...

(two spells, including initially on

) and the

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the League 1, the third tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs tha ...

, as a or er.

Background

Chris Riley was born in

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He was a pupil at

Penketh High School Penketh High School is a secondary school in Penketh, Warrington. It is a co-educational, non-denominational academy school for 11 to 16 year olds. It converted from comprehensive to academy status in April 2013. In April 2018, Mr. John Carli ...

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 ...

Playing career

Riley had a fine strike rate at Super League level, Riley was primarily a fullback with England Academy and the Warrington junior grades, but he forged his first team career on the wing. A well balanced and elusive runner who added some strength to his build since débuting in late 2005 at the age of 17. A graduate of

ARLFC and the Warrington Scholarship Scheme, he won Junior Academy titles in 2003 and 2004, represented England U17 against the Australian Institute of Sport in 2005 and made a try scoring début for England Academy the same season. Riley attended

in Warrington where he won the Warrington Schools Rugby League Final in years 7, 8, 9 and 10. On 7 February 2010, he was in his sixth season of rugby during 2010's

Super League XV Engage Super League XV was the official name for the 2010 Super League season. Fourteen teams competed over 27 rounds. The season officially kicked off on 5 February with the Crusaders versus the Leeds Rhinos on 29 January at Crusaders' new homeg ...

. Riley played for

in three winning

Challenge Cup Final The Challenge Cup of rugby league was instituted in the 1896–97 and the final was contested between Batley and St. Helens at Headingley, Leeds. In the seasons during the Second World War the final was played over two legs, with the aggregate s ...

s of 2009, 2010 and 2012 where he scored his first try in a Cup Final for his hometown club. Riley played in the 2010 Challenge Cup Final victory over the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

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 ...

. Riley joined Harlequins RL in May 2011 after agreeing an initial one-month loan deal, he made his début on the against Castleford Tigers in a disappointing 56-24 loss, in which he scored two tries. Riley later returned to Warrington and made the trip to Australia with the team for their pre-season games and will be included in a squad to play Russell Crowe's South Sydney Rabbitohs at Redfern Oval on Saturday, 28 January 2012. Riley played in the 2012 Challenge Cup Final victory over the

. Riley played in the

2012 Super League Grand Final The 2012 Super League Grand Final was the 15th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XVII season. The match was held on Saturday 6 October 2012, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by ...

defeat by the

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

. Riley played in the

2013 Super League Grand Final The 2013 Super League Grand Final was the 16th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of Super League XVIII. The game was held on Saturday 5 October 2013, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by Wigan Warri ...

defeat by the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors is an English professional rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club competes in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system. Formed in 1872, the club is a founding member of the Ru ...

. In 2014, Riley signed to play for the

on loan for one month, during April it was confirmed that he would stay for at least another month after his loan was extended.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Rochdale Hornets profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at warringtonwolves.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Chris 1988 births Living people England Knights national rugby league team players English rugby league players London Broncos players Rochdale Hornets players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Warrington Rugby league wingers Swinton Lions players Wakefield Trinity players Warrington Wolves players Woolston Rovers players