Ritchie Hawkyard (born 21 January 1986), also known by the

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

s of "Hawky", and "Titch", is a

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

former international

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 most recently played at for

Keighley Cougars The Keighley Cougars are a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Cougar Park and compete in RFL League 1, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, British rugby le ...

in League 1.

Background

Hawkyard was born in

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 ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England.

Playing career

Bradford Bulls

A product of

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

senior academy Hawkyard, 21, was drafted in for

Paul Deacon Paul Deacon (born 13 February 1979) is an English rugby union coach who is the former head coach of the Sale Sharks in Premiership Rugby, and former a professional rugby league footballer and coach. A Great Britain and England international r ...

and made his début against

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 ...

in round 14 of 2007 Super League season playing as a stand off.

Swinton Lions

At the end of the 2007 season having made three appearances for the Bulls, Hawkyard signed for

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 ...

Keighley Cougars

After nine seasons with Swinton during which he scored 58 tries in 182 appearances for the Lions Hawkyard was captain of the team when helping them to the league 1 leaders in 2011 as well as the League 1 Play off final against Keighley Cougars in 2015, Hawkyard joined Keighley Cougars for the start of the 2016 season. After being ever present for Keighley in the 2016 season and in his first season helping them win the ipro cup final, Hawkyard missed a number of games of the 2017 season after suffering severe facial injuries in a game against

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

at Easter and did not play again until July.

Oldham RLFC

The end of the 2018 season saw Hawkyard leave Keighley to join

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 ...

due to the financial uncertainty at the Keighley club. Hawkyard was also Granted a 1-year testimonial starting in 2018 for his services to Rugby League. During the 2019 season Hawkyard made 22 appearances for Oldham scoring 12 tries and helping Oldham win promotion to the Championship with a man-of-the-match performance in the League 1 play-off final against

Newcastle Thunder The Newcastle Thunder is a professional rugby league club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was founded in 2000 as Gateshead Thunder, after the merger of the original Gateshead Thunder into Hull F.C. in 1999. The Thunder were based in ...

Keighley Cougars (rejoin)

Hawkyard rejoined Keighley in October 2019 on a one-year contract but on 17 December 2019 announced his immediate retirement from the game, only to have a change of heart and rejoin the club in January 2020.

Coaching

Hawkyard was released by Keighley at the end of the aborted 2020 season and became player-coach at amateur side

Newsome Panthers Newsome Panthers ARLFC is an amateur rugby league club based in Newsome, Huddersfield. The club was founded with only two junior teams in 1995 and has since grown into one of the largest clubs in Yorkshire with teams for children of all ages. ...

helping them win promotion in his first season at the club.

Representative

He is of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

descent and has played for

at international level, playing in a friendly game against France in 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkyard, Richie 1986 births Living people Bradford Bulls players English people of Scottish descent English rugby league players Keighley Cougars players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Huddersfield Scotland national rugby league team players Swinton Lions players