Paul Rowley (born 12 March 1975) is a British

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 ...

coach and former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He is the current head-coach of

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 ...

. An

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 ...

representative , he played at club level for

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 ...

, Halifax and

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 ...

. After retiring as a player, Rowley began a coaching career and was appointed head coach of

in 2012, leading the club to

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 ...

titles in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

before departing at the beginning of the 2016 season. He subsequently was the head coach of the

Toronto Wolfpack Toronto Wolfpack RLFC is a Canadian professional rugby league club based in Toronto, Ontario. The club is the first and only professional rugby league club in North America, and as of 2023 competes in the self sponsored Canada Cup, an invitation ...

in the

Background

Rowley was born in

Leigh, Greater Manchester Leigh is a town in Greater Manchester, England, on low-lying land northwest of Chat Moss. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lancashire, Leigh was originally the centre of a large ecclesiastical paris ...

, England.

Playing career

Having begun his career at his hometown club, Leigh, Rowley appeared 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 ...

for Halifax and the

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 ...

, returning to his hometown club in 2002. He retired as a player in April 2007 after his 400th career appearance, and joined the coaching staff at Leigh Centurions.

International honours

Rowley won

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

s for

while at Halifax in 1996 against France (sub), and in the

2000 Rugby League World Cup The 2000 Rugby League World Cup was the twelfth Rugby League World Cup, World Cup for men’s national rugby league teams, held between 28 October and 25 November and hosted between the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland and France. ...

against Australia, Russia, and Ireland.

Coaching career

Rowley was appointed first team coach of Leigh Centurions on a permanent basis in January 2012. After a successful first season in charge which included guiding the club to 2nd in the Championship and a Northern Rail Cup semi-final, Rowley was named Championship Coach of the year. In February 2013 Rowley signed a new contract to keep him at the club until the end of 2015. Having won back-to-back Championship titles with Leigh in 2014 and 2015, Rowley resigned as Leigh Centurions head coach 10 days before the start of the 2016 Championship season, citing personal reasons. On 27 April 2016 he was confirmed as the inaugural head coach of the

. On 5 November 2021, Rowley was announced as the new head-coach of the

. In Rowley's first season in charge of Salford, the club started poorly and at one stage were sitting second last on the table before they went on to win eleven games which saw them qualify for the playoffs. After upsetting Huddersfield 28–0 in week one of the playoffs, the club played against St Helens in the semi-final in which they lost 19–12. In the 2023 Super League season, Rowley guided Salford to a 7th-placed finish as the club missed the playoffs by two points.

Personal life

Paul Rowley is the son of the rugby league who played in the 1970s and 1980s for

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 ...

, St. Helens and

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

; Allan Rowley (born ). Paul Rowley has two sons, Alex and Oliver.

Honours

As a player

National League One National One, up until 2023 known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Lea ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

As a coach

(3):

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

* League 1 (1):

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Individual

* Championship Coach of the Year:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

References

External links

* (archived by web.archive.org
Toronto Wolfpack profile
* * (archived by web.archive.org
The Teams: EnglandLeigh ReporterSearch for "Paul Rowley" at bbc.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowley, Paul 1975 births Living people 20th-century English sportsmen 21st-century English sportsmen English expatriate sportspeople in Canada England national rugby league team players English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Expatriate rugby league coaches Halifax Panthers players Huddersfield Giants players Leigh Leopards captains Leigh Leopards coaches Leigh Leopards players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Leigh, Greater Manchester Salford Red Devils coaches Toronto Wolfpack coaches