Simon James Haughton (born 10 November 1975) 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 ...

and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer who played as a forward in the 1990s and 2000s. He played representative level

for

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 ...

, and at club level for the

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

Oldham RLFC Oldham Rugby League Football Club, is a professional rugby league football club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. The club plays home games at Boundary Park and competes in Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. O ...

, and club level

for Orrell R.U.F.C..

Early life

Haughton was born in

Bingley Bingley is a market town and civil parish in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is sited on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The town had a population of 18,040 at the United Kingdom ...

West Yorkshire, England West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and Derbyshire to the south, Greater Manchester to the south-west, and L ...

, and attended

Bingley Grammar School Bingley Grammar School (BGS) is a coeducational comprehensive voluntary aided school for pupils from the ages of 11 to 18 and is located on the outskirts of Bingley, West Yorkshire, England. Bingley Grammar School was a specialist school for ...

. He grew up playing

for amateur club Dudley Hill, signing a professional contract with

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 ...

on his 17th birthday.

Playing career

Club career

Haughton made his debut in November 1993 in the second round of the 1993–94 Regal Trophy, scoring a try in a 22–8 win 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. ...

. He appeared as a substitute in the 1995 Premiership final, scoring a try in the 69–12 win over

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 ...

. Haughton played in

's 25–16 victory over St Helens in the

1995–96 Regal Trophy The 1995–96 Regal Trophy was a British rugby league knockout tournament. It was the 25th and final season that the competition was held, and was the seventh staging of the competition since it was renamed the Regal Trophy. The last final was wo ...

Final at

Alfred McAlpine Stadium Kirklees Stadium, currently known as the John Smith's Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of Huddersfield Town Association Football Club ...

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 ...

on Saturday 13 January 1996. He played for Wigan Warriors from the interchange bench in their

1998 Super League Grand Final The 1998 JJB Super League Grand Final was the first staging of the Super League Grand Final and the conclusive and championship-deciding game of 1998's Super League III, and the first Grand Final of the Super League era. It was held on Saturday ...

victory over

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 ...

. In July 2002, Haughton switched codes to sign for

side Orrell. He returned to rugby league in December 2004, signing for

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 ...

International honours

Haughton was an

international and debuted for the team at the

1995 Rugby League World Cup The 1995 Rugby League World Cup (also known as Halifax Centenary World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh World Cup for mens national rugby league teams. It was held between 7–28 October and hosted by England and Wales and was wo ...

, making four appearances during the tournament. He made two further appearances for England in 1999 against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He was also selected for the 2000 World Cup, but withdrew from the squad. In the 1997 post-season Haughton was selected to play for

in the

Super League Test series The Super League Test series was a rugby three- test match series between the Great Britain Lions and Super League's Australian national team held during November 1997 in England. Named the British Gas Test series due to sponsorship from Centrica' ...

against Australia, scoring two tries in the third and deciding match.

Post-playing

After retiring from rugby, Haughton emigrated to Australia with his family.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
World Cup 1995 details
1975 births Living people England national rugby league team players English rugby league players English rugby union players Great Britain national rugby league team players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Orrell R.U.F.C. players People educated at Bingley Grammar School Rugby league players from Bingley Rugby union players from Bingley Rugby league second-rows Wigan Warriors players {{England-rugbyleague-bio-stub