John Doyle - Wing
Wales Wheelchair
| Heritage No | 29 |
| Date Of Birth | 26/09/1953 |
| Place Of Birth | Liverpool |
| Clubs | North Wales Crusaders Wheelchair |
| Honours | Wales Wheelchair |
| Managed | Wales Wheelchair |
The world's oldest full test international rugby league player when aged 65, he played and scored against Ireland. He was 63 years 7 months and 3 days old when he made his Wales debut, and it was successful as he scored the first of his two test tries, again versus Ireland. By his 67th birthday, he had helped Wales to three Celtic Cup trophies and still hadn't officially retired from competitive Wheelchair Rugby League and in 2020, held the record as the second oldest domestic Wheelchair Rugby League player within the UK game.
John’s first introduction into Wheelchair Rugby League was through fellow Welsh team-mate Gary Taylor, to which John would bring Gary to training each week following a wrist injury with North Wales Crusaders. He has featured in many levels for North Wales, from being a member of their Super League side to being captain and corner stone of their ‘A’ team, as well as transitioning into more off an off-court role as coach and as part of their welfare team.
His first introduction to the Welsh set-up was at the 2016 Four Nations, where he came along as Assistant Team Manager and was later called up to the playing squad ahead of the 2017 international calendar. John made history in 2019 by becoming to oldest player at 66 years old to score an international try.
John qualifies for Wales through residency, after living in Wales for over 15 years. From a young age John has suffered from Polio which has resulted in him needing Calipers and Splints to assist in his day-to-day life, John started his sporting life at a fairly young age where he became a highly accomplished boxer and later transitioned into an outside the ring role as a coach. Due to his disability John was never able to play standard Rugby League and his only way for him to immerse himself in the sport was via television coverage.
John’s first introduction into Wheelchair Rugby League was through fellow Welsh team-mate Gary Taylor, to which John would bring Gary to training each week following a wrist injury with North Wales Crusaders. He has featured in many levels for North Wales, from being a member of their Super League side to being captain and corner stone of their ‘A’ team, as well as transitioning into more off an off-court role as coach and as part of their welfare team.
His first introduction to the Welsh set-up was at the 2016 Four Nations, where he came along as Assistant Team Manager and was later called up to the playing squad ahead of the 2017 international calendar. John made history in 2019 by becoming to oldest player at 66 years old to score an international try.
John qualifies for Wales through residency, after living in Wales for over 15 years. From a young age John has suffered from Polio which has resulted in him needing Calipers and Splints to assist in his day-to-day life, John started his sporting life at a fairly young age where he became a highly accomplished boxer and later transitioned into an outside the ring role as a coach. Due to his disability John was never able to play standard Rugby League and his only way for him to immerse himself in the sport was via television coverage.
Note: The statistics tab shows all of the player’s known appearances for this particular Wales side against international sides or other non-capped recognised first class matches. To see exactly how many full test rugby league caps for Wales (or any other country) that this player has, please click the “Test Summary” tab. Nines individual player records are not shown, please click here for full details about Nines. Please also note that clubs’ current names are used throughout this website, due to the database only being able to feed one name per club (e.g. Wigan will also be known as Wigan Warriors throughout all player profiles).
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