Kevin Sinfield

Rugby league

Sinfield starting his playing career at Waterhead A.R.L.F.C., who also produced talent such as Barrie McDermott, Paul Sculthorpe, Danny Sculthorpe, Paul Highton, Lee Jewitt, Marc Sneyd and Gareth Owen. He signed for Leeds RLFC in August 1997.

1990s

Sinfield made his first team début for Leeds aged 16 against Sheffield Eagles. He went on to make three further appearances during the 1997 and 1998 seasons, scoring his first try against Huddersfield in September 1998. 1999 was a breakthrough season for Sinfield, making 21 appearances and scoring 2 tries. He was unlucky not to be selected for the 1999 Challenge Cup Final at the old Wembley Stadium. Leeds defeated the then London Broncos 52–16.

2000s

Sinfield was a member of the England squad for the 2000 Rugby League World Cup, notably scoring a hat-trick of tries in a 76–4 victory over Russia. During the 2001 Kangaroo tour he played for Great Britain in all three Ashes Tests against the Australians. Sinfield played for Leeds at stand-off half in the 2003 Challenge Cup Final against Bradford, kicking four goals in his side's defeat. He played for Great Britain in the 2nd and 3rd Ashes Tests of the 2003 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France. Sinfield played for Leeds at stand-off half back, kicking four goals in their 2004 Super League Grand Final victory against Bradford. As Super League IX champions, Leeds faced 2004 NRL season premiers, the Bulldogs in the 2005 World Club Challenge. Sinfield captained Leeds from stand-off half back, kicking five goals and one drop goal in their 39–32 victory.

Sinfield played for Leeds in the 2005 Challenge Cup Final at stand-off half, kicking four goals in their loss against Hull F.C. but being awarded the Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match nonetheless. He played for Leeds at loose forward, kicking a goal in their 2005 Super League Grand Final loss against Bradford. He was also named in 2005's Super League Dream Team. Sinfield was selected to play for Great Britain in the end-of-season 2005 Tri-nations tournament. He was named in 2006's Super League Dream Team. In 2007, Sinfield became the first Leeds player to score in every round of a Super League season, a feat which he repeated in the 2011 season including kicking 6 out of 7 goals in the Rhinos' fourth Grand final victory over St. Helens in 5 years. In the post-season Sinfield played for Great Britain against the 2007 All Golds Tourists.

Sinfield celebrated his testimonial season in 2008. He was the man-of-the-match, scoring seven points as Leeds defeated Melbourne 11–4 at Elland Road. During the season Sinfield set a club record by scoring in 63 consecutive matches. He also set a Super League record by scoring in 52 consecutive Super League games. Sinfield scored his 2,000th point for the club as Leeds defeated St Helens for the second successive year in the 2008 Super League Grand Final. Leeds won 24–16, with Sinfield successfully kicking four goals. It was the first time Leeds had ever won back-to-back titles. It was also the first time that a Super League team had won both the World Club Challenge and the Grand Final in the same calendar year. He was also selected for the England squad to compete in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup tournament in Australia. Group A's first match against Papua New Guinea he played at loose forward and kicked four goals from six attempts in England's victory. During the 2009 season, Sinfield became only the second player, after Lewis Jones, to score 1,000 goals for Leeds. Sinfield capped the 2009 season by winning the Harry Sunderland Trophy for his performance as he led Leeds to victory in a third successive Grand Final. Leeds defeated St Helens 18–10, with Sinfield scoring six of the points, including a drop goal. With victory, Sinfield became the first player in history to captain four championship-winning teams. He dedicated the win to the recently deceased former Leeds player John Holmes. After that he played for England in the 2009 Four Nations tournament.

2010s

Sinfield was selected to play for England against France in the one-off test in 2010.

Sinfield captained Leeds from stand-off half in the 2011 Challenge Cup final, kicking only one goal from four attempts in their loss against Wigan. However at the end of the season he extended his record to captaining five championship-winning teams after Leeds Rhinos' victory over St Helens in the 2011 Super League Grand Final. Sinfield played a pivotal role in the England team in the 2011 Gillette Four Nations, which involved games against Australia, New Zealand and Wales. They reached the Gillette Four Nations Final courtesy of coming 2nd in the group table, with Sinfield kicking two goals England lost out to Australia.

Sinfield became the all-time top points scorer for Leeds early in the 2012 season.

In 2012 he extended his championship tally as Leeds again came from 5th in the regular season to triumph at Old Trafford – this time 26–18 against Warrington. Sinfield turned in a Man-of-the-Match performance in the final, winning the Harry Sunderland Trophy with a try, a penalty and 4 conversions. Remarkably, he finished the 5-match playoff campaign with a 100% goalkicking record.

It was announced in January 2013 that Sinfield had won the Golden Boot – only the fourth Englishman to do so. He beat off competition from Wigan full-back Sam Tomkins as well as Australians Cameron Smith, Ben Barba, Cooper Cronk and Nate Myles to claim the prize that is awarded annually by Rugby League World magazine to the game's top performer.

On 17 July 2014, for the first time in his career, Sinfield was sent off against Castleford for a headbutt on Luke Dorn A month later he captained Leeds to victory in the 2014 Challenge Cup Final, the last remaining domestic trophy that he had yet to win.

On 31 March 2015 Sinfield announced the 2015 season would be his last in rugby league and that he will finish his career with rugby union side Yorkshire Carnegie. His final match in rugby league was the 2015 Super League Grand Final, in which he captained Leeds to victory and thus secured the treble for the first time in the club's history.

Rugby union

Sinfield joined Leeds Rhinos sister club Yorkshire Carnegie on a 18-month contract. Sinfield made his début at Headingley on 15 November 2015. He came on as a sub in the last 15 minutes in the British and Irish Cup, scoring a penalty but missing a conversion later on. In April 2016, Sinfield announced that he would retire from playing at the end of the season. During the 2015–2016 season he played 18 games kicking 37 conversions and 16 penalties a total of 122 points.

Post-playing career

On 24 August 2016 the Rugby Football League (RFL) announced that Sinfield was joining the RFL as Rugby Director responsible for reviewing and developing a performance strategy for the England national team until the 2021 World Cup.

Personal life

Sinfield was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to rugby league.

Sinfield became the first rugby league player to be nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, finishing in second place behind Andy Murray in 2015.

Kevin is a life long supporter of Oldham Athletic and was a regular at games before his rugby career took off.

Records and statistics

Sinfield set a number of club and league records during his rugby league career. At Leeds, he is the all-time leading points scorer (3,967), and made the third highest number of appearances (521) for the club. With a combined total of 4,231 points at club and representative level, he is the third highest points scorer in British rugby league history (behind Neil Fox and Jim Sullivan). He is the Super League's record appearance holder (454) and point's scorer.

Rugby League

Rugby Union

Individual