Terry O'Connor (rugby league)
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Full name | Terence Dennis Jason O'Connor[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Widnes, Lancashire, England | 13 October 1971|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 18 st 2 lb (115 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Position | prop, Second-row | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Terence "Tez" Dennis Jason O'Connor (born 13 October 1971) is a former professional rugby league footballer and commentator for Sky Sports. A Great Britain, England, Ireland international and Lancashire representative prop or second-row, he played his club rugby for English clubs Salford, Wigan and Widnes.[3]
Background
O'Connor was born in Widnes, Lancashire, England.
He was picked up from local Widnes side St Marie's after also playing for Widnes Tigers. He is a former
Professional playing career
Salford
In 1990 Terry signed for Salford, and played for them for three years. He had the opportunity of signing for Wigan, St Helens, Warrington, Leeds and Bradford, but chose Salford as his childhood hero Steve O'Neill was part of the coaching team, along with Kevin Tamati. He was awarded Salford's young player of the year in 1991. He played in the Regal Trophy quarter-final against Wigan at the Willows, and was awarded the Man-of-the-Match. He joined Wigan in 1994 for a Salford record transfer fee of £95,000 and New Zealand International Sam Panapa. Salford also got a further £10,000 when Terry played for Great Britain.[citation needed]
Wigan
Whilst at Wigan he went on to win the
In his time at Wigan, O'Connor played 317 first grade game and was voted into the Wigan and Super League team of the decade. He was a mainstay of the Wigan pack for a decade and enjoyed a testimonial in 2004 for his services to Wigan. Terry donated part of his testimonial money to under privileged children, which allowed them to go on holiday to Euro-Disney back in November 2004. In the history of Wigan RLFC, only 27 players have worn the Cherry and White top more than him.
Terry was also named in the SL dream team on 4 occasions in 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 and was also named in the SL team of the decade between 1996 and 2006. O'Connor was also the 1st prop forward to be named on 4 occasions in the dream team.[citation needed]
Widnes
O'Connor joined his hometown club the
O'Connor went on to represent Ireland at the 2000 Rugby League World Cup, and went on to captain Ireland on numerous occasion. The side earned fabulous reviews under the guidance of Terry and his best friend Barrie McDermott. O'Connor also represented Lancashire in the Origin Series in 2001 and 2002 and never lost against arch rivals; Yorkshire. He was awarded the Roy Powell Medal for his performance in the 2001 series. O'Connor retired from Great Britain in 2002 with 15 caps.
On 25 March 2004 O'Connor was one of six footballers inducted into Rugby League Ireland's inaugural Hall of Fame at the Rugby League Heritage Centre in Huddersfield.[5]
Post playing
After retiring from playing the game in 2006 O'Connor took on the role of Sporting Director at Widnes along with his role at Sky Sports, appearing in light-hearted features with Barrie McDermott as well as serving as a pundit for the coverage of lower-league games.[citation needed]
O'Connor is still heavily involved in charity work for former players and local under privileged children.
In 2017, O'Connor replaced the retiring Mike "Stevo" Stephenson on commentary for Super League on Sky Sports.
References
- ^ "Terence Dennis Jason O'Connor". Companies House. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
- ^ RL Record Keepers' Club
- ^ a b c "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
- ^ "13th January 1996: St Helens 16 Wigan 25 (Regal Trophy Final)". wigan.rlfans.com. 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 7 October 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
- ^ "Coach gets a double". Evening Chronicle. 25 March 2004. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
External links
- Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk[dead link], statistics currently missing due to not having appeared for both Great Britain, and England
- Terry O'Connor Statistics at wigan.rlfans.com Archived 23 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- Veteran O'Connor to call it quits
- "2001 Ashes Profile". Archived from the original on 20 July 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2007.
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: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - "Terry's Talk". Archived from the original on 8 August 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2007.
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: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - "Statistics at slstats.org". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2007.
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: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)