Jason Martin (born 14 September 1970) is an Australian 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 1990s. Primarily a , he played for the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the ...

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

and the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

before moving to

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

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 ...

Background

Born in Tamworth, Martin grew up in

Tea Gardens Tea Gardens is a locality in the Mid-Coast Council local government area, located near the southern extremity of the Mid North Coast and the northern extremity of the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. At the Tea Gardens had a popu ...

, just north of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. He attended Raymond Terrace High School, where represented the

Australian Schoolboys The Australian Schoolboys refer to junior teams that represent Australia in various sports. The name is mainly used in rugby league, rugby union and baseball. Other popular team sports in Australia such as cricket, basketball, association footbal ...

in 1988, before signing with the

Playing career

North Sydney Bears

In Round 20 of the

1989 NSWRL season The 1989 NSWRL season was the 82nd season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs competed for the New South Wales Rugby League's J.J. Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup Premiership during the season, which culminated i ...

, Martin made his first grade debut as an 18-year old in North Sydney's 6–30 loss to the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

. In 1990, he had a breakout year for the Bears, playing 22 games and winning the

Dally M The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the b ...

Rookie of the Year and finishing second in voting for the

Dally M medal The Dally M Medal is awarded each year (annually) to the player voted for as the 'Player of the year' over the National Rugby League (NRL) regular season. The awards are named in honour of Australian former rugby league great Herbert Henry "Dal ...

. In 1991, he was an important factor in the Bears' finals run, in which they made it to the preliminary final, and finished third in

Rothmans Medal The Rothmans Medal was the premier individual award in the New South Wales Rugby League and Brisbane Rugby League competitions, and later in the Australian Rugby League, which was given to the player voted by referees as the best and fairest in ...

voting. In 1992, Martin's final year with North Sydney, Martin played 21 games, moving between , and . An accomplished singer and guitarist, Martin released a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in 1991 called "Take Me to the Top", the

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

of which featured clips of Martin playing for North Sydney, and several of his Bears teammates singing backup vocals.

Newcastle Knights

In 1993, Martin returned to

, but was unable to cement his spot as the starting halfback, playing just 14 games. In 1994, he played just two games being stuck behind Newcastle's young star halfback

Andrew Johns Andrew Gary Johns (born 19 May 1974) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest players in rugby league history. Johns captained the Newcas ...

. His last match for the club was a loss to the

Cronulla Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby league ...

in the reserve grade Grand Final.

North Queensland Cowboys

In 1995, after two poor seasons at Newcastle, Martin looked to revive his career by signing with the newly established

. Martin was appointed inaugural captain of the club but suffered a groin injury and a hernia, causing him to miss the first 10 weeks of the season. He made eight appearances in his first season at the club, captaining them five times. In 1996, he played 12 games, finishing the season in reserve grade.

Paris Saint-Germain

In 1997, Martin joined

in the

, playing 20 games and scoring three tries.

Achievements and accolades

Individual

Rookie of the Year: 1990

Statistics

NSWRL/ARL

Super League

Discography

Singles

References

External links

Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Jason 1970 births Living people Australian rugby league players North Sydney Bears players Newcastle Knights players North Queensland Cowboys players Paris Saint-Germain Rugby League players Rugby league players from New South Wales