Growing up in London and attending Trafalgar Junior School in Teddington, Jimmy was a sports mad child who would play anything and everything. Initially football, rugby union, cricket and running but was introduced to rugby league at a young age through his father who is from Leigh.
“I always fancied myself as a sportsman but the sport my dad was always good at was cricket and I don’t know if he was disappointed that I didn’t take to it like he did. I liked it but it wasn’t my main sport. I just loved running! They (coaches) would always constantly have to tell me to not run so much in football, union, league - everything!”
It was whilst at primary school Meadows was first introduced to rugby league, playing “tag” at school and he “loved how quick it was.” He joined his first rugby league club, Elmbridge Eagles, a club he says were fantastic for his development.
“I wasn’t a big kid at all, I’m not a big adult either! I was always the lightest kid, the smallest kid and I think that was actually a good thing looking back at it now. It makes you develop some toughness and makes you focus on other sides of the game. I’ve always been around those more creative positions, half-back, full-back and a little bit of hooker.”
Despite playing rugby league at Elmbridge Eagles, Meadows was still playing other sports “pretty much every night”. A schedule which was hugely demanding for his parents as they would have to juggle their time with taking his sister to gymnastics training. She would go on to represent Great Britain.
After impressing for Elmbridge, Meadows was soon picked up by the London Broncos scholarship, initially through the development setup and also playing in the origin series when aged 12 and 13. This would see him training at Feltham Community College a couple of nights a week which he combined with still playing for Elmbridge.
However it wasn't all plain sailing as he wasn’t offered a place in the academy so went back to playing the amateur game. Meadows says it was a time that stands out in his memory;
“It’s a big thing for a kid when you sort of think that dream might be over or you don’t know what's next. I went away and after a few months I was asked to come back in, (to London Broncos) initially for a trial for a few weeks. Luckily I got back in and never really looked back. We were at Ealing then which was a great setup. I was with lots of lads who are in the system now like Sid (Adebiyi), Gideon, Oli (Leyland), Sam Davis, we were all there in that academy team which was absolutely brilliant.”
Now at college doing A-Levels and combining it with training at the club the next stage was another key point in his career. Meadows was offered a full-time contract at London in 2018 and then made is first-team debut in Round 1 of the 2018 season, which turned out to be a special year as the club won promotion to Super League. Gaining some valuable experience in Super League in 2019 Meadows says it was a surreal time;
“I was still very young and early in my career. It was great to have those opportunities and be around that squad and make my debut. I’d like to think I’m a million times more ready for it now than I was back then.”
In 2021 Meadows decided it was time for a new challenge and made a move to Championship side Batley Bulldogs. It was a big move to leave London but with his dad’s side of the family living near Leigh it meant the transition was easier with a good support network around him and he loved the time he spent there;
“It was the first time I had stepped away from my family (in London), it was great, I learned loads. I had a good couple of years there and experienced playing in a couple of finals (Championship Grand Final 2022 & 1895 Cup Final 2023) but when the opportunity came to come back to London it was too good to turn down.”
The off-season ahead of the 2024 season has seen a few players (Gideon Boafo & Sadiq Adebiyi) return to London Broncos with Meadows but the move back to London wasn’t something that was always necessarily inevitable;
“It’s impossible to plan in sport or know what is coming for any of us but I always hoped I would be back, especially with so many of my mates still being at the club and people like Mike Eccles being here. He was a massive part of my development when I came through and him still being here was huge. I moved in with Alex Walker when I was 18, Sid as well. It’s 6/7 years living with these guys so it’s kind of full circle to be back here.”
Despite playing professionally since the age of 18, Meadows has also been planning for life post rugby and has continued to study in his free time. He is currently studying for a Business and Economics degree at the London School of Economics.
“I started it just before COVID and I know I wanted to do something outside of it (rugby) and I had always enjoyed school so when I had that spare time I thought it was a good time to go back to it. I’m hoping to finish that later this year in October. I have really enjoyed the marketing side of the degree and being able to relate it back to sport is pretty cool to see the comparisons.”
Jimmy Meadows will wear the number 7 shirt this season and is available to sponsor.
