Name Bobbie Goulding | Role Rugby player | |
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Rugby league legend bobbie goulding 2 2
Bobbie "Bobbie Dazzler" Goulding (born 4 February 1972 in Widnes, Lancashire) is an English rugby league football coach and former player. A former Great Britain and England international representative scrum-half, Goulding played for a number of clubs including Wigan and St. Helens, both of whom he won Challenge Cup Finals with.
Contents
- Rugby league legend bobbie goulding 2 2
- St helens vs bradford 1996 challenge cup final bobbie goulding bombs
- Playing career
- Coaching career
- Financial crisis at Wakefield Trinity
- References
He also played for Leeds, Widnes, Huddersfield, Wakefield Trinity (Heritage № 1162), Salford, Leigh, Rochdale Hornets and Australian side Eastern Suburbs. As a player, he most famously captained St Helens in their double year of 1996.
St helens vs bradford 1996 challenge cup final bobbie goulding bombs
Playing career
Born in Widnes, Goulding's usual position was as at scrum-half. In December 1988, he made his senior début for Wigan at the age of 16, scoring a try in a 20–16 win against Halifax. In 1990, he became the youngest ever Great Britain Lions tourist at 18 years of age. In 1991, he moved to Australia to play for Eastern Suburbs, but returned to Wigan a few weeks later without making a first grade appearance. Unable to establish a regular place in the first team ahead of Andy Gregory and Shaun Edwards, he joined Leeds later that year for a fee of £100,000. He spent one season at Leeds before moving to his hometown club Widnes in 1992.
Goulding joined St Helens from Widnes in 1994 for an initial fee of £135,000, plus an additional £25,000 after four international appearances. He once kicked 11 goals in a Super League match for St Helens. Goulding captained St Helens at scrum half in the 1996 Challenge Cup Final, kicking four conversions and helping his team to a 40–32 victory over Bradford.
Bobbie Goulding played scrum-half/halfback, and scored 2-conversion in St. Helens' 16-25 defeat by Wigan in the 1995–96 Regal Trophy Final during the 1995–96 at Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield on Saturday 13 January 1996.
Goulding represented England at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup. He was selected to play for England in the 1995 World Cup Final at scrum half back but Australia won the match and retained the Cup. He set the record as the highest points scorer in one game for Great Britain – 32 points V Fiji in 1996. At the end of Super League's first season, Goulding was named at scrum half back in the 1996 Super League Dream Team. He was the 1996 Great Britain Lions tour's top point scorer.
In February 1997, Goulding was sent off in the fourth round of the Challenge Cup against Wigan Warriors for a high tackle on Neil Cowie. He initially received an eight-match ban, but this was reduced to six games following an appeal. On his return to the side, he helped Saints win the Challenge Cup final for the second consecutive year, kicking six goals in a 32–22 win against Bradford Bulls. In August 1997, he was stripped of the Saints' captaincy for disciplinary reasons, and replaced by Chris Joynt. Two weeks later, he was sent off for the second time in the season (on this occasion for a high tackle on Leeds Rhinos prop Jamie Mathiou) and was suspended for a further four games. Despite the controversies during the season, Goulding was selected to play for Great Britain at scrum half back in all three matches of the Super League Test series against Australia.
In 1998, following further disciplinary problems, and the emergence of Sean Long as a replacement for Saints at scrum half, he moved to Huddersfield Giants on a free transfer. He went on to play for Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and Salford City Reds before ending his career as a player-coach with Rochdale Hornets, with his final appearance as a player coming in 2005.
On 1 June 2014, Goulding came out of playing retirement (after a nine-year break) to play in for Barrow Raiders in their Championship fixture against fellow Championship strugglers Rochdale Hornets. Goulding played with number 3+4 on his back, because the number 7 squad number was taken by Barrow Raiders Liam Campbell. Goulding helped the team to only their second victory at that point all season and lifted Barrow Raiders off the bottom of the table. He was sent off for dissent in the next fixture against Doncaster, and received a five-match suspension for the incident.
Coaching career
He joined Rochdale Hornets initially as player-coach, and his playing career ended in 2005 after a biceps injury. He left his post at Rochdale in November 2005, citing frustration at the club's financial problems. During his two seasons in charge at the National League One club he had not had a proper contract, despite impressing and twice being nominated for coach of the year.
He rejoined Rochdale as a coach in September 2007 before departing again in May 2008.
On 28 February 2009 Goulding was named the coach of the French National team.
On 31 March 2014 Bobby took charge as head coach of Championship side Barrow Raiders with the club routed to the bottom of the league. His job is to try to keep Barrow out of the bottom 5 relegation places as the leagues are being restructured in 2015.
Financial crisis at Wakefield Trinity
In 2000, at the height of a financial crisis at Wakefield Trinity, the contracts of all players aged over 24 were terminated during September 2000. The players affected were; Andy Fisher, Bobbie Goulding, Warren Jowitt, Tony Kemp (player-coach), Steve McNamara, Francis Maloney, Martin Masella, Steve Prescott, Bright Sodje, Francis Stephenson and Glen Tomlinson.