Joe Egan (rugby league)

Joe Egan (26 March 1919 – 11 November 2012) was an English professional rugby league footballer of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, and coach of the 1950s, and 1960s, playing at representative level for Great Britain, and England, and at club level for Wigan from 1938 to 1950, and Leigh, as a Hooker, or Second-row, i.e. number 9, or, 11 or 12, during the era of contested scrums. Egan is a Wigan Hall of Fame inductee, and was a life member at Wigan, he died on 11 November 2012, aged 93.

Egan played Hooker for a Rugby League XIII against Northern Command XIII at Thrum Hall, Halifax on Saturday 21 March 1942. Egan played Hooker, and was captain in Wigan's 8-3 victory over Bradford Northern in the 1948 Challenge Cup Final during the 1947–48 season at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 1 May 1948, in front of a crowd of 91,465. he was the first captain to receive the trophy from a reigning monarch, King George VI. On the same day former prop forward with Egan on the indomitables tour Frank Whitcombe of Bradford Northern, was the first man to win the Lance Todd trophy on the losing side. Joe Egan, Frank Whitcombe & Ken Gee formed a formidable front row in the first two test which the Australians feared on the tour to Australia in 1946, he later became the oldest surviving member. He also won two Championships with Wigan, during the 1945–46 season, and the 1946–47 season. He accompanied the Great Britain test team as hooker on their tour of Australia in 1946 and 1948.