Ian Birkby
English rugby league footballer and technology business CEO
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
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Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Ian Birkby | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | third quarter 1961 (age 64–65) Pontefract, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Stand-off | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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]