Josh Griffin (born 9 May 1990) is an English

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 plays as a or er for

Wakefield Trinity 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 (Wakefield), Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier o ...

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 ...

. He has previously played for the

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and the

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, England. They play home games at Salford Community Stadium in Barton upon Irwell and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugb ...

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 ...

. He spent time at the

Batley Bulldogs The Batley Bulldogs are an English professional rugby league club in Batley, West Yorkshire, who play in the Championship. Batley were one of the original twenty-two rugby football clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895. ...

, on loan from

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 ...

and also on permanent deal at

Batley Batley is a market town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England, south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield, in the Heavy Woollen District. In 2011, the popu ...

in the

. Between 2012 and 2014 he played professional

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 ...

as a winger for

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 ...

in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

Background

Griffin was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England.

Club career

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Having joined the club as a junior, Griffin made his professional début for Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in a

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

victory against

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

on 20 April 2008.

Huddersfield Giants

He joined

at the end of the 2008 season. He made his début for Huddersfield in the

victory over

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 ...

on 11 May 2009, and made his Super League début later that year. Griffin spent most of 2010 on loan at

, and rejoined Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in 2011.

Castleford Tigers

He signed for

in September 2011, and played for them in 2012 before leaving the club to join rugby union club;

with immediate effect at the end of the season.

Batley Bulldogs

He returned to rugby league in 2014 with Batley.

Salford Red Devils

In 2014, Griffin initially joined

on a trial for the end of the 2014 season before securing himself a permanent two-year deal.

Hull F.C.

In 2017, Griffin joined Hull F.C., and played in Hull's 18–14

final win over 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 ...

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 ...

. In the 2020 Super League season, he made a total of 16 appearances. He played in Hull's 29–2 semi-final defeat against

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 ...

. In the first half, Griffin gave away a crucial penalty after Wigan had lost possession of the ball. Griffin raced over to Wigan player Oliver Partington and patted him on the head which sparked an all-in brawl. Wigan would then score two tries in quick succession from the resulting penalty. In May 2021, Griffin scored his 100th career try in a match against 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 ...

. The match was Leeds' first home fixture in front of a home crowd for over 400 days as national restrictions were eased during the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the comm ...

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

. In the 2021 Challenge Cup semi-final, Griffin ruptured his achilles during

's 33–18 loss against

St Helens RLFC St Helens R.F.C., commonly known as Saints, is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside, England. Founded in 1873, the club is one of the oldest members of the Rugby Football League, and one of the most successful clubs in its ...

. In round 14 of the 2023 Super League season, Griffin scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in Hull FC's upset victory over

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 ...

. In the 2023 Challenge Cup quarter-final, Griffin was sent off for dissent just after half-time whistle in Hull FC's match against St Helens. St Helens would go on to win the match 32–18. On 20 June 2023, Griffin was handed a seven-game ban by the RFL and fined £1000 over the incident.

Wakefield Trinity

In July 2023, Griffin signed a contract to join

which would last until the end of 2024.

Personal life

Griffin is the younger brother of the rugby league player Darrell Griffin, and the older brother of George Griffin. All three brothers played together for Salford in 2015.

Honours

Hull FC

: (1) 2017

Wakefield Trinity

RFL 1895 Cup The Rugby Football League 1895 Cup is an annual rugby league knockout tournament for clubs in the RFL Championship and RFL League One. History and format There have been many cup competitions for the lower leagues of rugby league. In 2002 the ...

(1): 2024 *

RFL Championship Leaders' Shield The RFL Championship Leaders' Shield is a shield awarded to the team finishing the season top of Championship in the sport of rugby league football. Currently the Shield is awarded to the team finishing top of the Championship at the end of the re ...

: 2024

References

External links

Hull F.C. profileSalford profileSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Josh 1990 births Living people Batley Bulldogs players Castleford Tigers players English rugby league players English rugby union players Huddersfield Giants players Hull F.C. players Leeds Tykes players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Oxfordshire Rugby league wingers Rugby union players from Oxford Rugby union wings Salford Red Devils players Sportspeople from Oxford Wakefield Trinity players