Neil Roden (born 9 April 1980) is a 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 usually played as a or . He made his professional debut in 2000 with Lancashire Lynx, but spent the majority of his playing career with

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

, making a total of nearly 300 appearances for the club. He also had spells with

Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England. Leigh play homes games at Leigh Sports Village and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. ...

and

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. ...

, and played at international level for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, winning two caps in 2003.

Playing career

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Roden started his career with hometown club

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 ...

. Unable to break into the first team, he was loaned out to Lancashire Lynx, where he made his senior debut against

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. ...

in January 2000. He was signed by

a few months later, and made his first appearance for the club in April 2000 against

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They play home games at the Olympic Legacy Park and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Sheffield's on ...

. Roden returned to Oldham for the 2007 season, signing a two-year contract with the club. He was named as Oldham's captain ahead of the 2011 season. Roden announced his retirement in October 2013.

International honours

Roden won two

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

while at

in 2003.

References

External links

Statistics at orl-heritagetrust.org.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roden, Neil 1980 births Living people Rugby league players from Wigan Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Chorley Lynx players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Batley Bulldogs players Leigh Leopards players Ireland national rugby league team players Irish rugby league players