Alastair William "Aly" Muldowney (born 3 August 1983) is an English-born professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He is a versatile forward, being able to play in both the second row and as a flanker. Muldowney currently plays for Gallagher Premiership club

Bristol Bears Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

Club career

Early career

Muldowney was a late starter in rugby, opting to play

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

at a young age instead. His first rugby club was Stafford RFC and his second club was

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

, playing in the

National League 1 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 ...

. From there Muldowney was signed by

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

side

Moseley Moseley is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants. The area also has a number of boutiques and ot ...

. Following his spell at Moseley he was scouted by Scottish club

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

Glasgow Warriors

Muldowney played his first game for

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

on 3 September 2010 in a

2010–11 Celtic League The 2010–11 Magners League was the tenth Celtic League season and the fifth with Magners as title sponsor. The regular season began on 3 September 2010 and finished on the weekend of 6–8 May 2011. During these stages, each team played every ot ...

match with

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

. He made his European debut for the team in the

2010–11 Heineken Cup The 2010–11 Heineken Cup was the 16th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. It started with three matches on 8 October 2010 and ended on 21 May 2011 wi ...

game with

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

on 10 December that year, and played in another three of the team's pool games. Muldowney played a total of 20 Celtic League games for the side, scoring tries against

Newport Gwent Dragons Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

and Benetton Treviso. He played his final game for Warriors on 6 May 2011 against Leinster. Muldowney left Glasgow at the end of the 2010–11 season. He joined Premiership club

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

Exeter Chiefs

Muldowney made his debut for the Chiefs on 10 September 2011, coming off the bench against

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

. Muldowney played in 17 Premiership games that season, 11 of these appearances coming from the bench, and scored one try as Exeter finished 5th. Muldowney also played in the

2011–12 European Challenge Cup The 2011–12 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 16th season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second-tier club rugby union competition. The tournament began with two matches on 10 November 2011 and ended with the final on 18 May 2012 at the Twicke ...

for the Chiefs, starting three games and coming on as a replacement in a further three, including the quarter-final against

Stade Français Stade Français Paris Rugby () is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French clubs of the modern era. The ...

, and scored a try against I Cavalieri Prato in the pool stages. Muldowney also came on from the bench in three of the team's four games in

2011–12 LV Cup The 2011–12 LV Cup (styled as the LV= Cup) was the 41st season of England's national rugby union cup competition, and the seventh to follow the Anglo-Welsh format. The competition consisted of the four Welsh Pro12 teams and the 12 English Premi ...

. In his second season, Muldowney played 18 games in the Premiership, starting in five of them. He scored a try in the first game of the season against

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

. Muldowney played in only one game in the

2012–13 LV Cup The 2012–13 LV Cup (styled as the LV= Cup) is the 42nd season of England's national rugby union cup competition, and the eighth to follow the Anglo-Welsh format. The competition consists of the four Welsh Pro12 teams and the 12 English Premiers ...

, a 28–19 victory over the

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

on 2 February 2013. In the Heineken Cup, Muldowney played in five of the team's pool games, starting in the 30–20 win at home to

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

, as the Chiefs finished third and were eliminated from the competition. Muldowney played his final match for Exeter on 4 May 2013 against

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

Connacht

In January 2013 it was announced that Muldowney would be joining

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

side

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

on a three-year contract at the end of the 2012–13 season. Muldowney played his first game for Connacht on 7 September 2013 against

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning "Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by the ...

in the

2013–14 Pro12 The 2013–14 Pro12 (also known as the ''RaboDirect Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th season of the Pro12 rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, the fourth with its current 12-team format, and the third with Rab ...

. He made his first European appearance for Connacht on 11 October that year, coming off the bench against

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

in the

2013–14 Heineken Cup The 2013–14 Heineken Cup was the 19th and final season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The pool stage began on 11 October 2013 and ran through to 17–19 ...

. Muldowney was primarily used as a substitute in his first season, making 20 league appearances, 11 of them from the bench, and was a replacement in both of his Heineken Cup games for the province. Ahead of the 2014–15 campaign Connacht's captain, second row

Craig Clarke Craig Brian James Clarke (born ) is a retired rugby union player from New Zealand. He played as a lock during his career, winning two Super Rugby titles with the Chiefs where he served as captain. He also captained Taranaki in the ITM Cup. Be ...

, retired which meant Muldowney featured more prominently throughout the season. He played in four of Connacht's five

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

, including two games against his former team

, and played in the quarter-final against

. Muldowney also made 18 appearances in the

2014–15 Pro12 The 2014–15 Pro12 (also known as the ''Guinness Pro12'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the fifth with its current four-country format. It was ...

, and though this was a lower total than the previous season, he started 15 of these games and scored three tries. Muldowney also played the full match and extra time in Connacht's final match of the season, a

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

with Gloucester to enter the following season's Champions Cup. Muldowney's contributions were recognised with a Connacht Player of the Month award for February 2015 and being named by the rest of the squad as the province's "Team Man of the Year." On 31 October 2015 Muldowney made his 50th appearance for Connacht in a

game against

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. On 28 May 2016, Muldowney made his final appearance for Connacht winning the Pro12 for the club's first time.

Grenoble

Muldowney moved to French club

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

from the 2016-17 season in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

Bristol Rugby

In January 2018, Muldowney was announced as having signed for then- Greene King IPA Championship outfit

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

for the 2018-19 season.

International

Muldowney is qualified to play for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

internationally. Born in England, he qualifies for Ireland through his father who was born in Newbridge. Muldowney came close to playing for

Scotland A national rugby union team The Scotland A team are the second national rugby union team behind the Scottish national side. The first Scotland 'A' fixture took place in 1990. History Unlike association football, where the main team is supposed to be the "A" team, Scotla ...

in 2011, which would have exempted him from playing for Ireland or England, but was ruled out of the squad with a shoulder injury.

References

External links

Exeter Chiefs Player Profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muldowney, Aly 1983 births Living people Connacht Rugby players English rugby union players Glasgow Warriors players Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Stafford