Ikram Butt
| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 25 October 1968 Leeds, England | |||||
| Playing information | ||||||
| Position | Wing | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1989–90 | Leeds Rhinos | |||||
| 1990–95 | Featherstone Rovers | 28 | 112 | |||
| 1995–96 | London Broncos | 4 | 16 | |||
| 1997 | Huddersfield Giants | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 1998 | Hunslet Hawks | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Total | 20 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 152 | |
| Representative | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1995 | England | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011 | Pakistan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Source: rugbyleagueproject.org englandrl.co.uk | ||||||
Ikram Butt (born 25 October 1968) is an English former professional rugby league footballer, playing at representative level for England, and at club level for Featherstone Rovers, Leeds, London Broncos, Huddersfield Giants, and Hunslet Hawks as a winger.
Ikram Butt was the first south Asian to play either code of international rugby for England in 1995.
In 2002-3 Ikram joined grass-roots side Victoria Rangers ARLFC for three seasons. During this time he showed he hadn't lost any of his skill from his professional days, The main reason for joining the Vics was to link up with Nigel Goodings who had formed a successful team at Victoria Rangers.
In 2009 Ikram released an autobiography called Tries and Prejudice.[1] The book has sold close to 1,000 copies with more still to be sold, he gave all the proceeds to charity. The book's foreword is written by Bollywood star Rahul Bose.[2]
He is currently working for Leeds Rugby as a Manager of the connecting communities project.
Playing career
Club career
Butt played Right-Wing, i.e. number 2, in Featherstone Rovers' 20-16 victory over Workington Town in the 1992–93 Division Two Premiership final at Old Trafford, Manchester on Wednesday 19 May 1993.[3]
In 1995, Butt joined London Broncos. Whilst with the Broncos, he was convicted of perverting the course of justice and spent three months in prison as a result of a driving misdemeanour.[4] He is the founder of the British Asian Rugby Association and the British Pakistani rugby league team. Following his release from prison, he played for the Broncos in the inaugural Super League season. He joined Huddersfield Giants in 1997 before playing his final season as a professional player at Hunslet Hawks in 1998.[5]
International honours
Ikram Butt won a cap for England while at Featherstone Rovers in 1995 against Wales, and in doing so he became the first South Asian to play for England rugby league.[6]
He also captained Pakistan in their first ever match on 30 November 2011.[7]
Outside of rugby league
He currently works at Parkinson Lane Community Primary School in Halifax.
References
- ↑ Butt, Ikram; Hannan, Tony (2009). Tries and Prejudice. UK: Scratching Shed Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9780956007537. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
- ↑ Wilson, Andy. "Rugby, religion and Simply Rad". The Guardian. The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- ↑ "Rovers Dig Deep To Lift The 1993 RL Premiership". Great Players - Great Games. 31 December 2011. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
- ↑ Arnot, Chris. "Trying times". The Guardian. The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- ↑ Benatmane, Pat (15 May 2012). "Ikram Butt". Hunslet RLFC. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
- ↑ "England Statistics at englandrl.co.uk". englandrl. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
- ↑ "BARLA v Pakistan Match Report". rleague.com. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.