Jamie Darren Noon (born 9 May 1979 in

Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. According to the 2011 UK census, Goole parish had a population of 19,518, an increa ...

) is a retired

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 it ...

footballer who played at

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

Career

Hard-running centre Noon joined the

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

for the 1998-99 Allied Dunbar Premiership, after a letter from one of his school teachers alerted the club to a player who had been totally missed by the representative rugby system in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. Playing for

Fyling Hall School Fyling Hall is an independent, co-educational day and boarding school situated near the small village of Fylingthorpe, near Robin Hood's Bay, south east of Whitby, North Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1923 by Mab Bradley, the school was then r ...

and Whitby RFC at the time, once the Falcons had seen his talents first hand, he was drafted into the academy squad straightaway. Whilst at Newcastle he started in both the 2001 and 2004

Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

finals as Newcastle emerged victorious from both. "Noonie" as he is known to close friends went on to graduate from Northumbria University with a

sports science Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sport and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally inc ...

degree, while his on-field activity was equally successful as he made two first team appearances in his first year at the club. Later that year he represented England in the Sanzar Under-21 tournament, what would later go on to become the IRB Under-21 World Championship, while his first Premiership

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

duly came early in the 1999–00 season away to the

London Wasps Wasps Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022 the club entered administration, resulting in r ...

. As well as representing the England Under-21s he played for the North of England and England Students, while in the 1999–00 season he played for the

England Sevens The England national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. England's best finish in the Sevens Series is second place, which they have achieved four times, most recently i ...

on the IRB Sevens circuit, including in the

Hong Kong Sevens The Hong Kong Sevens () is an rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competition, the Hong Kong Sevens is currently the s ...

. A supremely consistent performer, in 2003 Noon smashed the record for consecutive Premiership appearances when he started his 50th league game in a row. Full international recognition came in the summer of 2001 when he started three Tests for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on their North American tour – two against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and one versus the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, with the Goole-born player scoring his first Test try in the second of the two clashes against the Canadians. In 2003 he played in England's warm-up matches for the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

, although he was to agonisingly miss out on selection for the tournament itself. He did, however, go on to be named Falcons player of the year for the 2003-04 Zurich Premiership.

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

honours in the

2004 Churchill Cup The 2004 Churchill Cup was held between 14 June and 21 June 2004 in Calgary and Edmonton, Canada. It was the second edition of the Churchill Cup competition. The three original rugby union teams taking part in the men's competition: Canada, Engla ...

followed as he played against Canada and scored in the final against the New Zealand Maori, while the 2004-05 Zurich Premiership was to prove a major success as he was named joint vice captain of the Falcons. Drafted into a new-look England back line, Noon started all five matches for England during the

2005 Six Nations Championship The 2005 Six Nations Championship was the sixth Six Nations Championship played since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy. Including the Home Nations and Five Nations Championships, this was the 111th season of the tournament. Wales ...

, rounding it off with a historic hat-trick in the final match of the tournament against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

. Married to wife Rachel, both she and new baby boy Lewis were there in the stands to witness it first hand. His England caps continued to come throughout the

2006 Six Nations Championship The 2006 Six Nations Championship was the seventh series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship to be held since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this ...

and the summer tour to Australia. Noon was a part of the England squad that made it to the final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, Noon played in the first couple of pool matches, but picked up a knee injury in the 36–0 defeat to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Mathew Tait Mathew James Murray Tait (born 6 February 1986) is a retired English rugby union player who gained 38 caps for between 2005–2010, including starting in the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final; and played 279 club games for Newcastle Falcons, Sal ...

took his spot at outside centre which proved to be very pivotal, as Noon's young Newcastle teammate was one of England's standout players throughout the tournament, in particular the final where he ran 50 meters and evaded 5

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

tacklers, only to be pulled down a few metres short by a great cover tackle by

Victor Matfield Victor Matfield (born 11 May 1977) is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played for and captained the South Africa national team (Springboks) as well as the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup and the Bulls franchise in Super ...

. However through hard work and a retirement to veteran

Mike Catt Michael John Catt OBE (born 17 September 1971) is a South African-born former rugby union player who played for the England national rugby union team. He played professionally for the clubs London Irish and Bath. He earned 75 international ca ...

, Noon was re-instated at centre for England's

2008 Six Nations Championship The 2008 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2008 RBS 6 Nations because of sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the ninth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, the 114th series of the international championship. Fifteen ...

campaign, he played in every match, apart from the defeat to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, and was one of England's best players throughout the tournament despite only coming away with three wins. Noon was particularly impressive in the final match against

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 ...

where he scored a try and pulled off a number of hard hits, it caused many commentators to say he played well, and to also be awarded "Man of the Match" ahead of an impressive Danny Cipriani. Noon went on the summer tour to

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 ...

, which was marred by controversy involving England players' off-field antics. England lost both matches heavily.

References

External links

Newcastle profile

England profile

Jamie Noon photo by sportingheroes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noon, Jamie 1979 births Living people Alumni of Northumbria University England international rugby union players English expatriate rugby union players English expatriate sportspeople in France English rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in France Newcastle Falcons players People educated at Fyling Hall School People from Goole Rugby union players from Goole CA Brive players Rugby union centres