Siokatame Gary Tupou also known as Tame Tupou and Gary Tupou (born 22 October 1982) 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 who played in the 2000s. He played at representative level for

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 ...

, usually as a , but also as a . He first played in the

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 ...

for Australian club, the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

, and then 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 ...

for English club, the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

Background

Tupou was born in Auckland and played

in his early years for

Ellerslie Eagles The Ellerslie Eagles are a rugby league club based in Ellerslie, New Zealand. The club was founded in 1912 and competes in Auckland Rugby League competitions. Its premier team competes in the Sharman cup. The club celebrated its centenary Queen ...

before attending boarding school in South Auckland, Wesley College. There he played for the school's 1st XV

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 ...

team. After his years in college, he returned to rugby league, playing 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 ...

before being signed to the

.Coffey and Wood ''The Kiwis: 100 Years of International Rugby League''

Broncos

Tupou made his

début for the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. His size and speed led many Broncos fans to hope he could help fill the huge gap left in the Broncos' wings since

Wendell Sailor Wendell Jermaine Sailor (born 16 July 1974) is an Australian former professional rugby footballer who represented his country in both rugby league and rugby union – a dual code international. In rugby league Sailor was a member of the succes ...

and

Lote Tuqiri Lote Daulako Tuqiri (born 23 September 1979) is a former professional dual-code rugby footballer who primarily played as a winger across both codes. He represented Australia in both rugby league and rugby union, and Fiji in rugby league. Tuqi ...

left the club to play for the Wallabies. Tupou made his international début for the New Zealand Kiwis in the 2006 ANZAC Test. In the 2006 season, a year the Broncos won the premiership, Tupou was the Broncos' joint top try-scorer, along with captain

Darren Lockyer Darren James Lockyer (born 24 March 1977) is an Australian television commentator and former professional rugby league footballer. Lockyer was an Australian international and Queensland State representative captain, who played his entire profes ...

. He scored more than once in several matches, earning him the nickname "two-tries Tupou". He also continued to play on the wing for New Zealand in the end of season

2006 Tri-Nations The 2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations (also known as the Gillette Rugby League Tri-Nations due to sponsorship by Gillette) was the second Rugby League Tri-Nations tournament hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The tournament followed the same format ...

Bradford

In April 2007 Tupou signed for English club

. Tupou made his début for Bradford against

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...

in the quarter finals of the

2007 Challenge Cup The 2007 Carnegie Challenge Cup began in February 2007. The Challenge Cup is the most prestigious knock-out competition in the world of rugby league, featuring teams from across Europe including England, Scotland, Wales, France and Russia. In ...

on 6 June with two tries as a substitute in the Bulls' win. He enjoyed a good start to his Bulls career by scoring 10 tries in 11 games that season. At the end of that year Tupou was selected for New Zealand's

2007 All Golds tour The 2007 All Golds Tour was a tour by the New Zealand national rugby league team, the Kiwis, of Great Britain and France. Conducted as part of the celebrations of a century of rugby league in New Zealand, it was a re-creation of the original New Ze ...

of Great Britain. Tupou made a poor start in 2008 due to knee injuries, starting in three games and coming on as a substitute in others. In August that year he was named in the Tonga training squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

but was not selected in the final squad after he had to undergo another knee reconstruction. In April 2009 Bradford released Tupou after a

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 ...

tribunal allowed the club to exercise a clause in his contract which stated that the player's contract could be terminated if he was unable to play or train for a 26-week period in any one year.

Wests Tigers

In July 2009 it was announced by Bradford that Tupou had signed for the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

in the NRL competition with immediate effect.Winger Tupou joins Wests Tigers
''BBC Sport'', 8 July 2009 Tupou failed to make any appearances in the 2009 or 2010 seasons due to his on going battle with knee injuries. Tupou retired in 2010 due to his constant injury problems.

References

External links

Tupou signs for Bradford Bulls
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tupou, Tame 1982 births New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent New Zealand national rugby league team players Brisbane Broncos players Bradford Bulls players Eastern Tornadoes players Ellerslie Eagles players Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers players Rugby league wingers Living people