Ade Adebisi (born 1 July 1986), also known by the nickname of "London Flyer", is a British rugby league footballer. He played a representative level for (BARLA) Young Lions against France, and was selected for the 2011 Championship 1 All Stars team at club level for the London Skolars (two spells), in 2004's Super League IX for the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

( Heritage No. 437), Hull F.C. ( loan, Academy), Doncaster Lakers (Heritage No. 934), the Featherstone Rovers ( Heritage No. 903) and Whitehaven in

National League One National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

(

reserve grade In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

), as a or . Adebisi suffers from the genetic blood disorder sickle-cell disease and is the only known rugby player ever to play professionally with the condition. He is an ambassador for the Sickle Cell Society and the founder of the Ade Adebisi Sickle Cell Foundation. Adebisi also leads the Nigeria rugby league revolution as general manager/vice chairman. The former professional spent two years between 2017 and 2019 working to get the African nation involved with the 13-a-side code for no money. Under his leadership, Nigeria was chosen to host the Middle East Africa rugby league championship in October 2019.

Playing career

London Broncos

In 2002, Adebisi, a promising schoolboy athlete and footballer joined the

development programme before signing up for their junior academy team the following season. In 2004, as well as representing the BARLA Young Lions against France, he also made his debut for London in

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. Limited opportunities at senior level led to a spell on loan to Hull F.C. where he played in their successful 2005 academy side.

Doncaster Lakers & Featherstone

His association with the London club ended in 2007, when he signed initially for Doncaster before moving to Featherstone for the last 11 games of the season. His first year at the

Recre Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play ...

was a great success and he finished the season as the club's top try scorer. Together with teammate Craig Calvert, Haven had two of the most potent wingmen in the Championship.

Whitehaven RLFC

In 2008, he joined

Whitehaven R.L.F.C. Whitehaven 2010 R.L.F.C. is a professional rugby league club playing in Whitehaven in west Cumbria. They play in Betfred Championship after winning Betfred League 1 in 2019. Their stadium is called the Recreation Ground (known locally as the ...

from the 2007 National League Two winning side, Featherstone Rovers. While at Whitehaven R.L.F.C., he was their top try scorer in 2008, with 22 tries in 30 games.

London Skolars

In 2010, Adebisi returned to London Skolars, following his release by Whitehaven, scoring 51 tries in 66 games through to 2013.

Retirement

In 2014, following a struggle with injuries and sickle cell disease, Adebisi retired from playing professional rugby league.

Personal life

On 30 June 2018 Adebisi married his long time partner, Nigerian chef Jennifer Adebisi. Together they have a son, Myles Kobimra Ade Adebisi (born 23 June 2019).

References

External links

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Ade Adebisi
at youtube.com
Ade Adebisi
at facebook.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Adebisi, Ade 1986 births Living people Doncaster R.L.F.C. players English people of Nigerian descent English people of Yoruba descent English rugby league players Featherstone Rovers players London Broncos players London Skolars players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league wingers Whitehaven R.L.F.C. players Yoruba sportspeople