Kevin Penny 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 as a er in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for the

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 ...

and the

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 ...

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 ...

, on loan for Harlequins RL and 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

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 ...

in rugby league's

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 ...

Early career

Born in

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 ...

, Penny attended Padgate High School and

Priestley College Priestley Sixth Form and Community College is a sixth form college in Warrington, Cheshire, England. It also offers adult courses and professional training on another site, and is an associate college of the University of Salford. The college o ...

. He joined

's academy in 2005 after being spotted playing rugby at school.

Club career

Warrington Wolves

Kevin made his senior début For Warrington against the

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 ...

on 1 June 2007, scoring two tries in a 42 - 26 defeat. Shortly after his début he received the engage

player of the month award for his efforts during the month of July 2007, despite starting the month with only 5 first grade games next to his name. He scored 5 tries in just 3 games during the month, 3 of which were scored in the space of just 9 minutes 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, ...

. Penny ended 2007 with 15 tries in 15 games and was named in the 2007

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 ...

Kevin was given the number 5 jersey for 2008 after a strong début season and played outside Australian international

Matt King Matthew or Matt King may refer to: Music * Matthew Peter King (c. 1773–1823), English composer * Matt King (singer) (born 1966), American country music artist * Matthew King (composer, born 1967), British composer and pianist * Matt King (Canadi ...

, but failed to impress and found himself out of the team. On 26 August 2009, Kevin competed for the title of ''Fastest Man in Rugby League'' as part of a curtain raising competition at the

Carnegie Floodlit Nines Carnegie Floodlit Nines is a rugby league nines event held at Headingley Stadium in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The same stadium hosted the Headingley Sevens, rugby league sevens tournament from 1965-78. The old BBC2 Floodlit Trophy is awarded ...

Widnes Vikings

On 21 May 2009 Kevin was loaned out to Championship side

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

after failing to force his way into Warrington's first team squad under new coach Tony Smith.

Harlequins Rugby League

In 2010, Penny was loaned to Harlequins RL, scoring three tries in five matches before returning to his parent club.

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Penny was released by Warrington at the end of 2010 and joined

for 2011, but once again failed to make an impression and was loaned out to Widnes Vikings.

Swinton Lions

Kevin Penny joined

when Lions coach

Steve McCormack Steve McCormack is a rugby league coach. He was head coach of Scotland until 2017 and was the longest reigning coach in the nation's history having held the role since 2004. He has also had an extensive club coaching career, having coached Sal ...

signed him in November 2011 during the club's close-season player recruitment drive for the 2012 season.

Return to Warrington

Penny re-signed with Warrington in 2014 and made his second début for the club against

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 ...

. Prior to his return Penny said he was determined to make the most out of his second chance and was aiming to give the Wolves 'value'. Despite spending some time on loan at Swinton and

North Wales Crusaders The North Wales Crusaders () is a professional rugby league club based in Colwyn Bay, Wales. They are the successors to the former Super League club Crusaders Rugby League. Crusaders compete in League 1, the third tier of English rugby leagu ...

, Penny displayed good form for Warrington and established himself in the club's first team. He played 23 matches and scored 16 tries in 2015, his best return since his début season, and signed a new two-year deal at the end of the year.

Swinton

Penny spent time on loan at Swinton in 2014.

North Wales Crusaders

Penny spent time on loan at the North Wales Crusaders in 2015.

Rochdale Hornets

Penny spent time on loan at the Rochdale Hornets in 2016 and 2017.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Warrington profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Super League profileLeo-Latu punished for racist jibeWakefield sign winger Kevin Penny from Warrington
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penny, Kevin 1987 births Living people English rugby league players London Broncos players North Wales Crusaders players 21st-century English sportsmen Place of birth missing (living people) Rochdale Hornets players Rugby league players from Warrington Rugby league wingers Swinton Lions players Wakefield Trinity players Warrington Wolves players Widnes Vikings players