Brian Carney (born 23 July 1976) is an Irish professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

commentator and former

dual-code rugby international A dual-code rugby international is a rugby footballer who has played at the senior international level in both codes of rugby, 13-a-side rugby league and 15-a-side rugby union. Rugby league started as a breakaway version of rugby in Northern Eng ...

player. He most recently played rugby league for

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

, but he also played for

Gateshead Thunder Gateshead Thunder may refer to: *Gateshead Thunder (1999) Gateshead Thunder was a professional rugby league club founded in 1999 in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, which competed in the 1999 Super League but then merged with Hull Sharks af ...

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

and

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

in the

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 ...

, as well as

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. Carney crossed codes to play

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 ...

for

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

between 2007 and 2009. He earned

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for international representation, for Ireland in both

and

, and also Great Britain and Ireland in rugby league. He also played

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

as a junior. Carney is one of the presenters for Sky's coverage of

Gaelic games Gaelic games ( ga, Cluichí Gaelacha) are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the ...

which started in June 2014.

Early life

Carney played

for Valleymount GAA in west county Wicklow and won a junior championship medal in 1998 with the club. He also played rugby union at

Clongowes Wood College Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Yo ...

and Lansdowne R.F.C. His first rugby league experience came with Irish amateurs Dublin Blues.

Rugby league

Carney first made an impression on the rugby league scene playing for the Irish Students side in a home international tournament in 1998. His impressive form led to a number of

clubs vying for his talents and he opted to sign with

Super League

Carney played for Gateshead in the 1999 season and moved with them to

after the clubs merged in 2000. Carney transferred from Hull F.C. to

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

at the end of the 2000

season. He had come to the attention of the Wigan board – who were very impressed with him – when he scored a try against Wigan in Gateshead's Super League on the Road victory at Tynecastle. Future Wigan scrum-half

Willie Peters Willie Peters (born 1 March 1979) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Hull Kingston Rovers in the Betfred Super League and a former professional rugby league footballer. Peters played in the 1990s and 2 ...

, also shone in the same match. Since making the professional ranks, Carney, who is a qualified lawyer, was a regular in the senior colours of Ireland and featured heavily in the Lincoln Financial World Cup of 2000. Carney played for

on the wing in their

2001 Super League Grand Final The 2001 Super League Grand Final was the Fourth official Grand Final and the conclusive and championship-deciding match of Super League VI. The match was held on Saturday 13 October 2001 at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by Bradf ...

loss against

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

. Carney signed a new three-year contract with Wigan in May 2003, ending speculation that had been linking him with a move to Irish rugby union. After signing the deal, Carney commented: "I love it here at Wigan. I never wanted to play for any other club. "I just want to get better and better each week and keep my place in the first team. The spirit and friendship at this club is brilliant and I need to be part of it." His arrival at Wigan was initially hampered by injury but when he did break into the team, he was impressive. Carney played for

on the wing in the

2003 Super League Grand Final The 2003 Super League Grand Final was the 6th official Grand Final conclusive and premiership-deciding match of Super League VIII. Held on Saturday 18 October 2003 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between Bradford Bulls and Wigan ...

which was lost to

. He'd forced himself into the

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

team for the

2003 Ashes series The 2003 Kangaroo Tour was a six-match tour by the Australia national rugby league team of France, Wales and England, and to date has been the last Kangaroo Tour. The last three matches were all Tests against Great Britain for the Ashes. Coache ...

. Carney made his GB and Ireland début in the First Test played at the

JJB Stadium The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...

, becoming the first Irishman to play for Great Britain and Ireland since

Tom McKinney Thomas McKinney (31 December 1926 – 10 November 1999) was an Irish rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for Jed-Forest RFC, and representative level rugb ...

in 1957. In that match Carney scored two tries and was later named Great Britain and Ireland's player of the series. Carney was selected for the 2003 Origin match after opting to play for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. He was also included in the 2003 Super League 'Dream Team' and the 2003 Rugby League World magazine World XIII, and voted BBC North West's Rugby League Footballer of the Year in the same season. Despite a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...

injury restricting his club appearances, Carney was selected in the Great Britain team to compete in the end of season 2004 Rugby League Tri-Nations tournament. In the final against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

he played on the wing in the Lions' 44–4 loss.

National Rugby League

In June 2005 Carney agreed to join new

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

franchise team, Australia's

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australia and New Zealand's national rugby league club competition. The ...

, at the end of his Wigan contract. Upon signing the deal, Gold Coast managing director Michael Searle told NRL's official website, www.nrl.com: "The guy genuinely wanted to come here. He wants to challenge himself in the National Rugby League". Carney was to remain at Wigan for the 2006 season, but a month later he agreed a release from the final year of his Wigan contract to play in the NRL with

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. At the time Carney commented: "I'm very grateful to Wigan, they didn't have to do it (release him from his contract) but I explained my desire to get there because I feel time is running out." Carney made his debut for the Newcastle club at the age of , making him the oldest player in the

era (since 1998) to make his first grade debut. Carney scored 16 tries in 26 games for Newcastle, including guiding his team to a 22–12 victory over the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

with a hat-trick of tries. After the game Carney expressed no desire to remain with the Newcastle club, choosing to honor his contract with the Gold Coast. However, on 16 January 2007 he announced his retirement from all forms of rugby after only participating in one training session with the Gold Coast, indicating that he wished to finish his legal studies and spend more time with his family. Brian Carney

Rugby union

On Thursday 15 March 2007, BBC Sport reported that Carney had signed for

, switching to rugby union, with speculation rife that he would be fast-tracked onto Ireland's team for its tour of Argentina in summer 2007. Because he had walked out on his contract with the

, Munster had to pay compensation to the Australian club to secure Carney's registration. Carney made his début for Munster, against

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

at Ravenhill on 23 March 2007, scoring a try in the 76th minute. He scored his second try in two matches in an away loss to Ospreys on 7 April. In April 2007, Carney was named in 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 ...

squad for their tour of Argentina. In the first Test, Carney's rugby union international début, he scored an interception try minutes into the game. Carney was selected in the Irish squad for the

2007 Rugby Union World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 ...

. However, he did not make an appearance at the tournament. Carney made a try-scoring début for the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

against the

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 ...

on 31 January 2009. He participated in the Dubai World Cup Sevens as part of a 12-man Irish squad, finishing up as joint-highest Irish try scorer with three tries. Though Ireland was in a tough pool stage, including Samoa, Australia, and Portugal, Ireland did manage to defeat Australia 24–21, with Carney getting a try. He scored two more tries in the Bowl semi-final victory over Hong Kong. They went on to lose 17–14 to Zimbabwe in the Bowl Final, for an overall ranking of 10th.

Return to rugby league

On 2 June 2009, the

announced that they had signed Carney for the remainder of 2009's

Super League XIV The 2009 Super League season (known as the Engage Super League XIV for sponsorship reasons) is the 14th season of rugby league since the Super League format was introduced in 1996. Fourteen teams competed for the Minor Premiership over 27 rounds ...

. The move was Carney's fifth signing to a rugby league team in his playing career, at the age of 32. On 2 June 2009 edition of the

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

rugby league magazine show, ''

Boots N' All {{Infobox television , image = , caption = , alt_name = , genre = Rugby League , creator = , based_on = , developer = ...

'', Carney vehemently denied that a return to rugby league would lead to a subsequent career with the England national team, in favour of his own native team. Carney provided commentary for Sky Sport's coverage of the

2009 Super League Grand Final The 2009 Super League Grand Final was the 12th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XIV season. It was held on Saturday 10 October 2009, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by defend ...

, and the 2009 Gillette Four Nations tournament. He finished his career at Warrington at the end of 2009 and regularly appears on

References

External links

Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk (statistics currently missing due to not having appeared for both Great Britain, and England)Statistics at wigan.rlfans.comMunster profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Ireland profileStatistics at wolvesplayers.thisiswarrington.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carney, Brian 1976 births Living people Barbarian F.C. players Cork inter-county Gaelic footballers Dual-code rugby internationals Expatriate rugby league players in England Gaelic footballers who switched code Gaelic games writers and broadcasters Gateshead Thunder (1999) players Great Britain national rugby league team players Hull F.C. players Ireland national rugby league team players Ireland international rugby sevens players Ireland international rugby union players Irish expatriate rugby league players Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Irish people of American descent Irish rugby league players Irish rugby union players Irish rugby union commentators Irish sports broadcasters Lancashire rugby league team players Lansdowne Football Club players Munster Rugby players Clonakilty R.F.C. players Newcastle Knights players People educated at Clongowes Wood College Rugby league commentators Rugby league players from County Cork Rugby league wingers Warrington Wolves players Wigan Warriors players Rugby union players from County Cork Rugby union wings