Mickey Higham (born 18 September 1980) 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 in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. He played for the Leigh Centurions in three separate spells 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

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 ...

. Higham also played for St Helens,

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 ...

and 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 ...

in the top flight. He played for both

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 ...

and

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 ...

at international level.

Background

Higham was born in Billinge Higher End,

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 ...

Playing career

Leigh Centurions

Higham joined St Helens from

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staffor ...

in November 2000.

St Helens

Higham played for St. Helens from the interchange bench in their 2002 Super League Grand Final victory against Bradford Bulls. Having won Super League VI, St Helens contested the 2003 World Club Challenge against 2002 NRL Premiers,

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

. Higham played from the interchange bench in Saints' 38–0 loss. He suffered an ankle injury which ruled him out of most of 2004's Super League IX. He'd made over 100 appearances for St Helens, scoring 33 tries.

Wigan Warriors

Higham joined

in October 2005 after a transfer deal involving three clubs, and fellow Terry Newton. Higham was unable to join Wigan directly as his club, St. Helens, would not sell. However, Bradford Bulls stepped in and bought Higham from Saints for £70,000 and then immediately released him to Wigan. In exchange, Wigan allowed Terry Newton to join Bradford. Higham signed a three-year deal with Wigan and commented: "It looked at one stage as though I would be playing next season at Bradford but when the opportunity to join Wigan came up at the last minute I jumped at it." At Wigan, Higham again teamed up with coach Ian Millward who he had played under at both Leigh and St Helens. Millward was however sacked by Wigan in April 2006 and Higham, ironically, was coached by Brian Noble who was Bradford coach at the time of the "three-club transfer". Higham's contract at Wigan was not renewed, and he subsequently signed for

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 ...

on a two-year deal.

Warrington Wolves

Higham enjoyed a successful spell with the Wolves making 174 appearances and was a fans favourite throughout his time at the club. Higham played in the 2010 Challenge Cup Final victory over 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 ...

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 ...

. He played in the 2012 Challenge Cup Final victory over the

. He played in the 2012 Super League Grand Final defeat by the

at Old Trafford. He played in the 2013 Super League Grand Final defeat by the

at Old Trafford.

Leigh

Higham then returned to his first club

for £50,000 on 20 May 2015,. On 11 September 2019 Higham announced his retirement to join the Leigh coaching staff

International career

He made his

début in the 2004 Gillette Tri-Nations against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, after recovering from an ankle injury which ruled him out of most of 2004's Super League IX. In September 2008, he was named in the England training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, and in October 2008 he was named in the final 24-man

squad. He was named in the

team to face

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 ...

at the Keepmoat Stadium,

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 ...

, prior to England's departure for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. He made his

début in the victory over

on 10 October 2008.

References

External links

Profile at leighrl.co.ukProfile at leighrl.co.uk
*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at warringtonwolves.comProfile at saints.org.ukStatistics at rlfans.com
*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at wiganwarriors.com
*(archived by web.archive.org
Higham and Calderwood Meet The Media (11 November 2005)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higham, Mickey 1980 births Living people Bradford Bulls players English rugby league players England national rugby league team players Great Britain national rugby league team players Leigh Leopards captains Leigh Leopards players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Billinge, Merseyside Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens St Helens R.F.C. players Wigan Warriors players Warrington Wolves players