5 Feb 2023
Statement: Ian Laybourn

Huddersfield Giants wishes to send the deepest condolences to the family and friends of Ian Laybourn, the former Press Association Rugby League correspondent and life member of the Huddersfield Giants has passed away at the age of 67.
Huddersfield Giants wishes to send the deepest condolences to the family and friends of Ian Laybourn, the former Press Association Rugby League correspondent and life member of the Huddersfield Giants has passed away at the age of 67.
Ian covered the sport for the vast majority of his working life, initially for the Batley News, then the Huddersfield Examiner, before joining PA in 1994 and becoming their correspondent two years later – a position he held for more than a quarter of a century until retiring following the Rugby League World Cup last November.
At the Huddersfield Giants' sponsors lunch in January Ian was made a life member of the Huddersfield Giants, for a lifetime's contribution to Rugby League Media.
He was added to the RFL Roll of Honour last year when Ralph Rimmer, then the RFL Chief Executive, thanked him for covering the sport “with diligence, wisdom and care for almost five decades”.
Jon Dutton, the Chief Executive of RLWC2021, said: “This is so sad. Ian was a thoroughly good human being who cared deeply about the sport.”
Huddersfield Giants Managing Director Richard Thewlis said: " It was only last week that we shared Ian's company and the news has come as a terrible shock to us all. As a mark of respect we will today be wearing black armbands against Castleford. Ian was a Rugby League man through and through, hugely respected in all spheres of the game and had rightly been recognised for his contribution to the sport over many years by the RFL and most recently ourselves. We send our deepest sympathies to his wife Susan and all his family and friends."