Dean Clark (born 6 January 1968) is a New Zealand

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 ...

coach and former footballer who represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

between 1989 and 1992.

Playing career

Otahuhu Leopards The Otahuhu Leopards are a rugby league club based in Otahuhu, Auckland. Founded in 1911 Auckland Rugby League season, 1911, the club has produced 49 New Zealand national rugby league team players. The club competes in the Fox Memorial competit ...

junior, Clark joined the

Eastern Suburbs Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen New S ...

in 1988 playing in seven matches. Clark then travelled to England, joining

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...

in the English competition. Clark returned to New Zealand in 1995, playing for the Counties Manukau Heroes in the

Lion Red Cup The Lion Red Cup was a New Zealand domestic rugby league competition that ran from 1994 to 1996 sponsored by brewers Lion Nathan. It was created due to the increase in public awareness of domestic rugby league due to the Auckland Warriors being a ...

. Clark played with the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

in 1996, but was released from the club after one season. Clark then moved to the

Mangere East Hawks The Mangere East Hawks are a rugby league based in Mangere, New Zealand. The Hawks compete in Auckland Rugby League's Fox Memorial competition. History The club was formed in 1963, the first fourteen junior teams took the field in 1964.''The Haw ...

, where he played in the 1998 Fox Memorial grand final.''New Zealand Rugby League Annual '98'',

New Zealand Rugby Football League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood ''T ...

, 1998. p.126 In 1999 Clark joined the

, and represented Auckland South.

Representative career

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

representative, Clark played for the Kiwis seven times between 1989 and 1992. He was a trialist in 1993 but did not make the final Kiwis side. Clark represented the New Zealand Māori in 1990, 1995 and at the

1997 Oceania Cup The 1997 Oceania Cup was an international Rugby league, rugby league football tournament played in the Pacific region. The tournament was operated and contested by Super League-aligned countries during the Super League war as an alternative to the ...

. Clark played for the

New Zealand Residents The New Zealand Residents (also previously known as New Zealand 'A', New Zealand XIII, the Lion Red Cup XIII and currently known as the Bartercard Premiership Selection) are a New Zealand rugby league football representative side that is selected f ...

in 1990, 1992 and 1995.

Coaching career

In the

2000 Bartercard Cup The 2000 New Zealand rugby league season was the 93rd season of rugby league that had been played in New Zealand. The main feature of the year was the inaugural season of the Bartercard Cup competition that was run by the New Zealand Rugby League ...

Clark was the

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

of the

, his first coaching role. The Leopards made the grand final, losing 24-38 to the

Canterbury Bulls The Canterbury rugby league team (also known as the Canterbury Bulls) are a rugby league team who represent the Canterbury Rugby League. They currently compete in the Albert Baskerville Trophy. Their home ground is Orangetheory Stadium in Chri ...

. Clark coached the Tamaki Titans between 2006 and 2007 in the

Bartercard Cup The Bartercard Cup (successor of the Lion Red Cup) was the top level rugby league club competition in New Zealand from 2000 until 2007. For the entire life of the tournament it was sponsored by Bartercard. The cup was administered by the New Zeala ...

. He was the coach of the New Zealand Māori in 2006. He coached the

Papakura Sea Eagles The Papakura Sea Eagles are an Auckland rugby league club based in Papakura. The Sea Eagles currently compete in the Fox Memorial competition run by the Auckland Rugby League. History The Papakura Rugby League Club formed in 1931. On March 26 th ...

to seventh in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, and again in 2011.Papakura Sea Eagles Contact Information
''Auckland Rugby League'', 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Dean 1968 births Living people Auckland rugby league team players Counties Manukau rugby league team players Hull Kingston Rovers players Junior Kiwis players Leeds Rhinos players Mangere East Hawks players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team coaches New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league coaches New Zealand rugby league players Otahuhu Leopards coaches Otahuhu Leopards players Papakura Sea Eagles coaches Rugby league five-eighths Sydney Roosters players