HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS legend Jermaine McGillvary is to be honoured as one of the club’s greatest-ever players – and will be using the event to help grassroots Rugby League in his hometown.

The 37-year-old former England and Great Britain winger – who also had a season at Wakefield Trinity – will be inducted into the Huddersfield Rugby League Players Association Hall of Fame at a gala dinner.

And, as he came through the junior ranks at Deighton, all profits will be shared between amateur clubs in Huddersfield, who will be there to support him as he supports the sport.

McGillvary admits he ended up in Rugby League by sheer chance and still can’t believe he went on to have such a highly-successful career, which lasted 17 seasons, brought more than 250 tries and included a World Cup final among more than 350 appearances.

Although he played Rugby League from the ages of eight to twelve for Deighton, he switched to football for the next six years or so, at Dalton Dynamoes then semi-professionally at Emley.

McGillvary revealed it’s his great friend and former Giants team-mate Leroy Cudjoe who enticed him back to Rugby League.

“I was working nights in the warehouse at the Huddersfield B&Q next to the stadium when I bumped into Leroy and he persuaded me to go down and train with the Academy players,” he explained.

“I thought I’d give it a go, even though I was too old for the Academy side by then, but the Under-21s had a spate of injuries so I ended up on the bench for them.

“We played Leeds Rhinos in the first game and I was brought on for the last ten minutes, when we were something like 110 points down. After that experience I was ready to quit, but my mum told me to stick with it, so I did and, as they say, the rest is history.”

After making his Huddersfield debut in 2010, having gained experience on loan to Batley Bulldogs _in 2008 and 2009) and Barrow Raiders (2010), McGillvary cemented his place in the first team during the 2011 season and was awarded League Express’ Albert Goldthorpe Rookie of the Year Medal.

HRLPA president Michael Lawrence said: “There are strict criteria for players to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and Jermaine goes well beyond that.

“He’s been an outstanding player and, if you look at his record, he’s probably the most decorated Huddersfield player in the modern era and, at one point, was hailed as the world’s best winger.

“It was such a great privilege and pleasure to play alongside him for so many years.

“Jermaine could be a real joker in the dressing room, a great guy who was always mischievous with fantastic banter, but totally focused as soon as he walked out onto that pitch, and what a wonderful professional he was.

“I’ve never met a player who has had a bad word to say about Jermaine.”

McGillvary and long-term partner Hannah Wright have three sons, 14-year-old Isaac, eleven-year-old Elijah and eight-year-old Ezra, who all play football to a high level, and he is now totally focused on his family life since his retirement from Rugby League last year – after helping Wakefield win both the 1895 Cup and Championship Grand Final.

“I just love being with the family and watching the boys play football,” he said.

“Family means everything to me.”

And he’s thrilled by his HRLPA recognition, saying: “It’s hard to put into words how much it means to me – I was both stunned and surprised.

“I expected to just retire from the game and everyone would forget about me. Hopefully it will act as inspiration to my boys and others that a lad from Huddersfield can go on to achieve good things.”

The event will be at the Accu Stadium on Friday (October 3), starting at 6pm, with McGillvary interviewed by specialist sports host Pete Emmett. Anyone who attends will have a professionally taken photo with Jermaine.

The guest speaker will be Jamie Peacock, the former England and Great Britain captain who played for Bradford Bulls and Leeds Rhinos, winning nine Grand Finals, four Challenge Cups and four world titles. He is now a motivational speaker.

McGillvary played 312 games for Huddersfield between 2010 and 2023. He is sixth on the list of all-time Super League try-scorers with 196 – all for the Giants – and scored twelve tries in 17 appearances for England, gaining another four caps for Great Britain.

His career highlight came in the 2017 World Cup in Australia, when he played in each of England’s six matches, culminating in the narrow 6-0 final defeat against the hosts in Brisbane, and was named in the Team of the Tournament.

During that competition he scored seven tries, ran more metres than anyone else in the tournament and was nominated for the Golden Boot as the world’s greatest player.

Tickets for the event are £49. Click here to purchase.