Black History Month Bio - Martin Offiah
16 Oct 2020
Martin Offiah (Widnes, Wigan, London, Salford, England & Great Britain)
Martin Offiah is the greatest try-scoring English rugby player ever, period. In a fourteen-year career he scored 470 tries at a rate of more than one a game.
He signed for Widnes from rugby union in the 1987-88 season and made a stunning impact. In his debut season he scored 44 tries, Widnes were crowned champions and Martin won the Man of Steel award. But his thirst for tries was undiminished. The next season he joined the ranks of the immortal wingers when he scored an amazing 60 tries.
In 1992 he transferred to Wigan for a world record £440,000, where he continued his unquenchable desire for tries. In just four years at Central Park, he scored 186 tries in just 159 games, including perhaps the greatest Wembley try in the 1994 Challenge Cup Final. He also guested down under with the Rooster and St George, here he cemented his international reputation.
His blistering speed and unique spacial awareness at times made him virtually unstoppable, most notably against Leeds in May 1992 when he scored ten tries in a single game. He made 33 appearances for Great Britain and five for England. Perhaps inevitably, he also set the record for most tries in a GB match, set when he scored five against France in 1991.
Martin Offiah was not only one of rugby greatest try-scorers, but a player whose ability to thrill and excite crowds also made him one of the greatest entertainers in any sport.
