Ian Birkby

Ian Birkby

Personal information
Full name	Ian Birkby
Born	third quarter 1961 (age 63–64) Pontefract, England
Playing information
Position	Stand-off
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1979–83 Castleford 46 13 38 1 116 1983–86 Oldham 36+9 10 0 1 41 1985–86 York 1986–88 Doncaster 34 2 6 0 20 Total 125 25 44 2 177
Source: [1]

Ian Birkby (born in September, 1961) is a technology CEO, Ph.D. and former professional rugby league footballer who played as a stand-off in the 1970s and 1980s.[1][2][3][4] Presently, he is the chief executive officer of AZoNetwork.[5]

He played at club level for Castleford, Oldham, York and Doncaster.[6]

Sporting career

Whilst studying at university, Birkby played as a professional rugby player representing Castleford at scrum half from 1980 to 1983 before moving to Oldham RLFC with a brief stint at York RLFC before finishing his career at Doncaster.[7]

He returned to playing rugby union in his thirties. However, he was prevented from playing for amateur team Wilmslow RUFC in the 1990s. This was due to a rule between the rugby league and the English Rugby Football Union which prevented professional players of the 13-man code from playing the amateur 15 a-side game.[8]

Technology career

Birkby headed Dynamic-Ceramic prior to its sale in 1997.[9] He founded AZoM in 2001.[10] In 2016, AZoNetwork was listed by BRW as one of the 100 fastest growing companies in Australia.[11] The company announced in October 2019 that it would be listing in a reverse IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2020.[12]

References

1. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
2. David Smart & Andrew Howard (1 July 2000). "Images of Sport - Castleford Rugby League - A Twentieth Century History". The History Press Ltd. ISBN 978-0752418957
3. "Castleford RLFC A to Z Player List (All Time)". 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
4. "Statistics at thecastlefordtigers.co.uk". 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
5. "Meet the Team - AZoNetwork - Marketing Science". AZoNetwork. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
6. "Statistics at robterrace.com". robterrace.com. 31 December 2017. Archived from the original on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
7. Ian Birkby Rugby League Project
8. "Old wounds and diehards". The Independent. 14 November 1993.
9. "6 Years of Consecutive Growth for Scientific Marketing Specialist AZoNetwork". Manchester Digital. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
10. "About Us - AZoNetwork - Marketing Science". AZoNetwork. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
11. BRW fast 100 2016 Australian Financial Review 16 November 2016
12. Manchester based SaaS firm to list on Australian Stock Exchange Prolific North 29 October 2019

External links

• (archived by web.archive.org) Statistics at orl-heritagetrust.org.uk
• Do I not like that… / Hypocrisy has to end: David Hinchliffe MP explains why he has introduced a Bill to stop rugby union discriminating against the league code
• Profile at azonetwork.com
• Ian Birkby - Rugby League Summary
• Old wounds and diehards
• AZoNetwork - Meet the team
• About us - AZoNetwork