Dean Robert "Locust" Lonergan is a New Zealand former 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 ...

footballer, and current events promoter. He was the promoter of Jeff "The Hornet" Horn who won the WBO Welterweight World Championship against

Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Philip ...

in 2017. He was also the promoter of rising heavyweight Justis Huni and IBF Cruiserweight Champion

Jai Opetaia Jai Opetaia (born 30 June 1995) is an Australian professional boxer who has held the IBF and '' The Ring'' world cruiserweight titles since July 2022. As an amateur he won a bronze medal at the 2012 Youth World Championships and represented ...

before both parted company with Lonergan after the promoter fell out of favour with Fox Sports in December 2022.

Playing career

Lonergan represented the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team (Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of ...

from 1986 to 1991 and also represented

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 ...

. He played for the

Glenora Bears The Glenora Bears are a rugby league football club based in Glen Eden, New Zealand who compete in Auckland Rugby League's Fox Memorial competition. History The club was established in 1931 Auckland Rugby League season, 1931 when the Auckland ...

and

City Newton Dragons The City Newton Dragons are a defunct New Zealand rugby league club that was based at Victoria Park, Auckland. The club was created in 1948 by a merger of two original clubs, the City Rovers and Newton Rangers. Both the Rovers and the Rangers par ...

in the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

competition and 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 ...

in the

NSWRL Premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

. He spent 1989 with 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 ...

in England. In a Test match against Australia in Melbourne in 1991, Lonergan clashed famously with Kangaroo forward Steve Roach and had to be carried from the field. However he returned to the field and New Zealand won the match.

Warriors

Lonergan was a board member of the

Auckland Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

from 1996 until 1997.Profile at BSport.co.nz

Personal life

Lonergan was educated at

Massey High School Massey High School is a co-educational state secondary school in West Auckland, New Zealand established in 1969. The school is located on the western edge of the city, thus obtaining students from both suburban and rural backgrounds. In 2017 it w ...

and was part of the breakfast show on

LiveSPORT TAB Trackside is a New Zealand horse racing and sports broadcast network, incorporating two pay TV channels. The TV channels are available on Sky channels and the Spark Sport streaming service. The radio station broadcasts on 14 AM radio and ...

radio. He was also a columnist for ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

''. He is the owner of Dean Lonergan Events Ltd and the promoter of the Fight for Life charity

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

events. Following the resignation of

Robert Muldoon Sir Robert David Muldoon (; 25 September 19215 August 1992) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand, from 1975 to 1984, while leader of the National Party. Serving as a corporal and sergeant in th ...

, Lonergan stood in the

1992 Tamaki by-election The Tamaki by-election 1992 was a by-election held in the electorate during the 43rd New Zealand Parliament, on 15 February 1992. It was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP Sir Robert Muldoon and was won by Clem Simich with a majority of ...

for a seat in the

43rd New Zealand Parliament The 43rd New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. Its composition was determined by the 1990 elections, and it sat until the 1993 elections. The 43rd Parliament saw the beginning of the fourth National Party gover ...

, as a stunt for

Radio Hauraki Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand rock music station that started in 1966. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally until 1970 to break the monopoly held by the state-o ...

. Of 14 candidates, he came sixth with 0.60% of the votes. Dean Lonergan now runs D&L Events along with his son Liam Lonergan.

Honours

In the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours, Lonergan was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

for services to sport and philanthropy.

References

External links

Dean Lonergan Events Ltd. - dead link
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lonergan, Dean Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players Canberra Raiders players Glenora Bears players City Newton Dragons players New Zealand rugby league administrators People educated at Massey High School Auckland rugby league team players Rochdale Hornets players Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit Rugby league second-rows New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate rugby league players in Australia New Zealand expatriate rugby league players Expatriate rugby league players in England Boxing promoters