Alex Murphy (rugby league)
| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexander James Murphy | |||||
| Nickname | Murph the Mouth, Yapper | |||||
| Born |
22 April 1939 St. Helens, Lancashire, England |
|||||
| Playing information | ||||||
| Position | Scrum-half, Centre | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1956–66 | St. Helens | 320 | 175 | 42 | 609 | |
| 1966–71 | Leigh | 118 | 33 | 96 | 291 | |
| 1971–75 | Warrington | 67 | 9 | 12 | 28 | 107 |
| Total | 505 | 217 | 150 | 28 | 1007 | |
| Representative | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1958 | Great Britain | 27 | ||||
| England | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| Lancashire | 14 | 12 | 2 | 40 | ||
| Coaching information | ||||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Gms | W | D | L | W% |
| 1975–78 | Warrington | |||||
| 1978–80 | Salford | |||||
| 1982–84 | Wigan | |||||
| Leigh | ||||||
| 1985–90 | St. Helens | |||||
| 1991 | Huddersfield | |||||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Representative | ||||||
| Years | Team | Gms | W | D | L | W% |
| 1975 | England | |||||
Alex J. Murphy OBE (born 22 April 1939 in St. Helens, Lancashire) is an English former professional rugby league footballer and coach of the mid to late 20th century. Known as 'Murphy the Mouth' (or "Yapper" by some referees) and regarded as one of the greatest half backs in the history of the British game, he represented Great Britain in 27 Tests and his club career was played at three clubs, St. Helens, Leigh and Warrington. Murphy assumed a player-coach role of the last two clubs and expanded his coaching role toward the end of his playing career to include clubs such as Wigan, Salford and Huddersfield. He later returned to both Warrington and Leigh respectively as a football manager. He was the first player to captain three different clubs to victory in the Challenge Cup final.
Brought up in Thatto Heath, at ten years old Murphy played in both the junior and senior XIIIs at St Austin's School, and he had town and county schoolboy honours by the time he signed with his native St. Helens for £80 on his 16th birthday in 1955. The signing itself was almost akin to a military operation. St. Helens representatives smuggled Murphy 'under cover' to a nearby house until the clock struck midnight to signal Murphy's 16th birthday, and his eligibility to sign professional terms. He was coached from an early age by Jim Sullivan.
During his national service Murphy played rugby union for the Royal Air Force, frequently playing for an Air Force team the same week as playing rugby league for St. Helens.
Murphy began his career at St. Helens playing reserve team rugby (known then as the ‘A’ team). After several "A" team games, Murphy demanded a place in the first team. This demand was refused and so he promptly demanded a transfer. The dispute was settled and Murphy’s first team début was against Whitehaven at Knowsley Road.
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