David Allen (born 15 September 1985) is a former

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 ...

footballer who played as a forward. An

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 ...

international, Allen played for the

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 ...

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

Barrow Raiders The Barrow Raiders are a semi-professional rugby league team in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club was formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club. For the 1995–96 and 1996 seasons the club was known as Barrow Braves, becoming the Ba ...

, Widnes Vikings,

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is th ...

and the

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the Championship, the second tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs ...

Club career

Allen was included in the

squad in 2003 and become a first team player in 2005. He played 25 matches for Wigan mostly as a substitute and was released at the end of the 2005's

Super League X Super League X is the official name of 2005's Super League season. It was the 10th season of the Super League and saw twelve teams from across England compete for the premiership. The season kicked off in early February, culminating in a six t ...

. After being released from

he went on to join National League One side Widnes Vikings. He was one of seven ex-Wigan players in the 2006 Widnes side and regularly played in the second row. He played in the 2006 National League One Grand Final where Widnes lost 16–29 to Hull Kingston Rovers. At the end of 2006 his contract with Widnes was not renewed after he failed a drug test following the Grand Final game against the Hull KR. Allen was banned from rugby league for 12 months by the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

after testing positive for a metabolite of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

, doubled to two years following an appeal by

UK Sport UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It was created ...

. After serving his ban, he joined

ahead of the 2009 season. After a brief spell with

, Allen joined Widnes for the second time in 2010 and was made club captain. He made 26 appearances in the 2012 season and, in October, signed a new contract until the end of the 2014 season. He was released at the end of the 2014 season, and was signed by

. Injury prevented him from playing during 2017 and he signed for

at the end of the season.

International career

He was included in the 2003 England Academy squad to face the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

. He was selected for the 2004 Academy Origin Series and the 2004 England Academy U-18s tour. In 2006 he was selected for Ireland along with six other Widnes players for the country's World Cup qualifying matches. In 2016, he was called up to the

squad for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup European Pool B qualifiers.

Trivia

* Allen's father, John, was a professional player with Swinton. * He attended Fairfield High School in

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

from 1997–2002.

References

External links

Rochdale Hornets profileBBC report on Allen's ban from rugby
*(archived by web.archive.org
David Allen Profile on Wigan Warriors Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, David 1985 births Living people Doping cases in rugby league English people of Irish descent English rugby league players English sportspeople in doping cases Ireland national rugby league team players Irish rugby league players Rugby league players from Wigan Rugby league second-rows Widnes Vikings captains Widnes Vikings players Wigan Warriors players