Ian Birkby

Dr Ian Birkby (birth registered third quarter 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]

Ian Birkby
Personal information
Full nameIan Birkby
Bornthird quarter 1961 (age 59–60)
Pontefract district, England
Playing information
PositionStand-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]

He played at club level for Castleford, Oldham, York and Doncaster (Heritage No. 554),[5]

Background

Birkby's birth was registered in Pontefract district, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, where he became a member of the Knottingley Town junior cricket team in the 1970s. He has first class honours B.Sc. degree in engineering metallurgy from the University of Salford, and a Ph.D. in engineering ceramics and tribology from the University of Leeds. He emigrated to New South Wales, Australia, but he remains a supporter of Leeds United F.C. He plays for Avalon Soccer Club (over-45's), scoring the deciding goal in extra time in the 3–2 victory in the 2011 champions final. Currently, he is the chief executive officer of AZoNetwork.

Sporting career

Birkby played a range of sports to a high level in his childhood including football, county level cricket and rugby union.

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

Having called time on professional rugby league to focus on a long-term career, he soon returned to playing rugby union in his thirties. However, he was prevented from turning out for amateur side Wilmslow RUFC in the 1990s following an obscure long-standing legality between rugby league and the English Rugby Football Union which prevented professional players of the 13-man code from ever playing the amateur 15 a-side game.

Perplexed at the time by such an obscure technicality, Birkby personally spearheaded the effort to overturn the law in the House of Commons, which paved the way for athletes to play both codes of the game.

Progressing science communications

He has held director-level positions for various scientific societies and organisations including being a founder member of the Institute of Nanotechnology, Chairman of Medilink Northwest, Director of the Australian Nano Business Forum as well as Vice-Chair of the Institute of Materials Strategy Commission.

Dynamic Ceramic

Having worked up through the ranks, Birkby led Dynamic Ceramic through to a management buyout in January 1993 and subsequently executed a trade sale to Bomanton International (Nottingham, UK) in November 1997. Birkby then served as a main board member of Bomanton International. Birkby's notable achievements at Dynamic Ceramic involved being the Regional Award Innovation Award winner in 1995, business of the year (1998) and the UK Government Department of Trade and Industry SMART Award in 1999.

AZoNetwork

Following on from the successful trade sale of his first company, Dr. Birkby has since built up the value of his latest venture AZoNetwork, as the leading Maas Platform (Marketing as a Service).

The content marketing platform uses proprietary technology to create, distribute and analyse content performance for companies looking to reach scientists, engineers and other technical professionals.

The technology sits underneath ten individual sites which report the latest news, information and content from the world of science, technology and engineering.

In 2016, AZoNetwork made it into the BRW Fast 100, the 100 fastest growing companies in Australia.

The company announced in October 2019 that it would be enlisting in a reverse IPO on the ASX in Q1 of 2020.

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)". thecastlefordtigers.co.uk ℅ web.archive.org. 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  4. "Statistics at thecastlefordtigers.co.uk". thecastlefordtigers.co.uk ℅ web.archive.org. 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  5. "Statistics at robterrace.com". robterrace.com. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
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