Gary Broadbent (born 31 October 1976), also known as "Broady", is an English former

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 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for

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 ...

, and at club level 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 ...

and the Salford City Reds in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

and

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

and the

Barrow Raiders The Barrow Raiders are a semi-professional rugby league team in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club play home games at Craven Park (Barrow), Craven Park and compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rug ...

National League One 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 ...

, as a or .

Background

Broadbent was born in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, England and raised on Walney Island.

Club career

Broadbent left the

for the Salford City Reds in 1997 for a fee of £50,000 (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £86,080 in 2013). He then joined

in 2003. In 2008, he became the club record holder for most consecutive appearances, breaking the previous record set by

David Fatialofa David Fatialofa is a New Zealand rugby league player who played professionally in England for Whitehaven R.L.F.C., Whitehaven. Playing career Fatialofa was an Auckland Warriors junior and played in the 1995 Lion Red Cup final. He also represen ...

. He went on to make 83 appearances without missing a game for the club. He finished his career with hometown club Barrow, playing his last game in September 2011 against

Toulouse Olympique Toulouse Olympique or TO XIII is a professional rugby league club in Toulouse, south-west France. Founded in 1937, two years after the French Rugby League Federation, the club is a six-time winner of the French Rugby League Championship. The clu ...

International honours

Gary Broadbent won a

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for Emerging England while at Salford in 1998 in a 15–12 victory over

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

Personal life

Broadbent is employed by BNFL at

Sellafield Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste storage, nuclear waste processing and storage and nucle ...

, and currently resides in Barrow-in-Furness with his wife, Emma and together they have two children, Sophie (born 1999) and Luke (born 2002).

References

External links

Barrow Raiders profileStatistics at rugby.widnes.tv
1976 births Living people Barrow Raiders players Cumbria rugby league team players England Knights national rugby league team players English rugby league players Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Barrow-in-Furness Rugby league utility players Salford Red Devils players Whitehaven R.L.F.C. players Widnes Vikings players {{England-rugbyleague-bio-stub