Daniel Sculthorpe (born 8 September 1979), also known by the

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

"Scully", 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. He last played as a for the

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the RFL Championship, Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at DCBL Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twe ...

. He also played for 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 ...

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 ...

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Wheldon Road (currently known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship reasons) and compete in the Super League, t ...

, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, and the

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 ...

Background

Sculthorpe was born in

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

, England. He is the younger brother of former player Paul Sculthorpe.

Career

Sculthorpe started his career as an academy player at

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 ...

. In 1997, he was sold to

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 ...

as part of the £350,000 transfer of Iestyn Harris from Warrington to Leeds. In 1998, after being deemed surplus to requirements by Warrington, he was signed by

on a free transfer. Sculthorpe was signed by

in December 2001. He injured his back training with weights in January 2002, keeping him out of the Wigan first team squad. He returned to fitness with a four-week loan spell at his former club, Rochdale. Wigan coach Stuart Raper commented: "Danny is fit, but we've nowhere to play him. At Rochdale he's in an environment he'll be comfortable in and it will enable us to assess his return to fitness. It is another step on his road back to match action." Raper's confidence in Sculthorpe was confirmed when he was recalled from Rochdale in September 2002. He made his first team début on his 23rd birthday, helping the Warriors to crush St Helens, a team that contained his brother Paul, 48-8 at the JJB Stadium. He consolidated his position as a first team regular during 2003. In 2004 Danny signed a new 3-year contract with Wigan despite speculation linking him with a move to St Helens. Assistant coach Denis Betts said: "I never had any doubt that Danny would stay here. He has developed into a top-quality player and we are pleased he has committed his future to us." He spent 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 ...

on loan at

from

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 ...

, before joining Wakefield Trinity Wildcats for 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 stagge ...

. Sculthorpe joined

in a swap loan deal with Michael Korkidas, before moving on to Bradford. He failed to make a single appearance for Bradford after his diabetes forced him into taking a year off from the sport. His contract with Bradford ended and he quickly moved onto the Widnes Vikings in the Championship before leaving the club at the end of the 2011 season.

International career

Danny toured South Africa in 2001 with the U21 England squad, coached by Wigan assistant coach John Kear. He was later named in the 2003 England A squad to face

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and to play in the European Nations Cup. Sculthorpe was also picked to play for Lancashire in the 2003 Origin match.

Personal life

Sculthorpe was diagnosed with

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

as a teenager. In 2015, Sculthorpe was awarded compensation for a training injury he suffered while at

Bradford Bulls 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sculthorpe, Danny 1979 births Living people Castleford Tigers players England Knights national rugby league team players English rugby league players Lancashire rugby league team players Leeds Rhinos players Rochdale Hornets players Rugby league players from Oldham Rugby league props Wakefield Trinity players Wigan Warriors players