Jamie Thackray (born 30 September 1979) is a former Great Britain international

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 as a or forward. He played for over a dozen professional clubs throughout his career, most notably appearing for Halifax,

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 ...

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Hull play their home games at the MKM Stadium and compete in Super League, the t ...

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 ...

and

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

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 ...

Biography

Early career

Born in

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 ...

, Thackray played junior

for

Oulton Raiders Oulton Raiders are an amateur rugby league football club from Oulton in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The club's open age team currently compete in the top division of the National Conference League. The club also operates many youth teams. The club ...

before turning professional with

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

, where he made his debut in 1997. He appeared as a substitute in the club's 12–11 win over

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

in the 1999 Northern Ford Premiership Grand Final.

Super League career

After a stint with Halifax, Thackray moved to

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

. During these seasons, Thackray played some games as a before settling into his permanent role as a prop forward. His appearances at Castleford were limited due to suffering a broken arm twice during his two seasons at the club. After Castleford, Thackray moved to

. Thackray played for Hull in the

2005 Challenge Cup The 2005 Powergen Rugby League Challenge Cup was played by teams from across Europe during the 2005 rugby league season. Hull F.C. won the cup defeating Leeds Rhinos in the final. Qualifying round First round Second round Third round F ...

Final from the interchange bench in their victory against the

. He was named in the

Super League Dream Team The Super League Dream Team is an annually-selected rugby league All Star Team consisting of the players deemed to have been the best in their respective positions in the Super League competition. The team is selected by a panel of journalists and ...

at the end of the season, and was selected by

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

for the

2005 Tri-Nations The 2005 Rugby League Tri-Nations was played in Great Britain and Australasia. The final was played between Australia and New Zealand at Elland Road on Saturday 26 November. New Zealand won the match 24-0 and were crowned 2005 Tri-Nations champio ...

, winning three caps during the tournament. He then moved to

in 2006. In February 2007, he scored a memorable try in a 22–30 defeat against

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

which won the club's try of the season award. After a spell on loan to

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

in the

Northern Rail Cup The Championship Cup (known as the Northern Rail Cup for sponsorship reasons), previously known as the National League Cup, was a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom's British rugby league system, Rugby League Champ ...

, he re-joined Hull in March 2008. He helped the club reach the 2008 Challenge Cup final, but Hull received a fine of £100,000 as Thackray had made ineligible appearances in earlier rounds of the competition due to not being registered. At the end of the 2009 season, Thackray was released by Hull. In early 2010, Thackray signed for Crusaders RL. Within a fortnight, he made his début for Crusaders against his former team, Leeds and went on to appear 20 times for the Welsh outfit during their Super League campaign.

Later career

On 12 November 2010, it was announced that he had joined Super League hopefuls Barrow for the 2011 Championship campaign. In 2012 he joined

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 ...

. In 2014, Thackray played in Australia for

Cairns District Rugby League The Cairns District Rugby League was formed on 5 August 1918 and is the administrative body for the game of rugby league football in Cairns, Queensland. The CDRL runs senior, junior and women's club competitions and has its headquarters at Barl ...

club Atherton Roosters. After a spell playing

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 ...

for

Hullensians Counties 1 Yorkshire is an English rugby union division, the seventh tier of the domestic competition, and the top level for local rugby union in parts of Yorkshire. The champions are automatically promoted to Regional 2 North East (formerly No ...

, Thackray joined

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. In 2016, his 20th season as a professional rugby league player, he was awarded a testimonial by the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

. Thackray initially ended his playing career with

in 2017, but came out of retirement to sign for

Keighley Cougars The Keighley Cougars are a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Cougar Park and compete in RFL League 1, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, British rugby le ...

in 2019. At the age of 40, he signed a one-year deal with

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. ...

for the 2020 season. After retiring from rugby league, Thackray began running a caravan construction company.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org) *(archived by web.archive.org
Hunslet profileRhinos squad: Jamie Thackray
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thackray, Jamie 1979 births Living people Barrow Raiders players Castleford Tigers players Crusaders Rugby League players Doncaster R.L.F.C. players English rugby league players English rugby union players Great Britain national rugby league team players Halifax Panthers players Hull F.C. players Hunslet R.L.F.C. players Keighley Cougars players Leeds Rhinos players Limoux Grizzlies players London Broncos players London Skolars players Sportspeople from Rothwell, West Yorkshire Rugby league players from Leeds Rugby league props Rugby union players from Leeds South Wales Scorpions players Whitehaven R.L.F.C. players Workington Town players