Joe Williams (rugby League)
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Joe Williams (born 4 September 1983) is an Australian sportsman who played
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 ...
and boxed as a professional. His rugby league football career spanned from 2004 to 2008 and included appearances as a and with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Penrith Panthers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the
NRL 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 ...
.


Background

Williams was born in
Cowra, New South Wales Cowra is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre and the council seat for the Cowra Shire, with a population of 9,863. Cowra is located approximately above sea level, on the ...
, Australia.


Playing career

A Cowra Magpies junior who moved to South Sydney Rabbitohs lower grades. He was educated at Marcellin College Randwick, Williams was selected to play for the 2001 Australian Schoolboys. In 2002, Williams kicked the winning field goal in the 2002 Jersey Flegg Grand Final in the Sydney Roosters victory over the St George Illawarra Dragons. Williams joined South Sydney after failing to break into the Sydney Roosters first grade side. He made his debut for South Sydney in round 12 of the
2004 NRL season The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...
against Cronulla-Sutherland which ended in a 38–18 loss at Shark Park. Williams played 14 games for Souths in his debut season as the club finished last on the table. The following two seasons at Souths proved to be difficult as Williams was part of the side which finished last in 2006 and narrowly avoided the wooden spoon in 2005. During the
2007 NRL season The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusio ...
, Williams played in the first semi-final Souths had reached since 1989. They were defeated by Manly 30–6 at Brookvale Oval. As he had played 9 games for feeder club North Sydney Bears in the NSW Cup, he was eligible to play in the rest of the finals series. They made it through to the Grand Final, only to be narrowly defeated by Parramatta 20–15, after a late try was awarded after a dubious decision. Williams had kicked a field goal with 3 minutes remaining to make the score 15-14 until Parramatta scored a try with 20 seconds remaining through
Weller Hauraki Weller Hauraki (born 18 February 1985) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or and played for the New Zealand Māori at international level. He has played for the Parramatta Eels in the NRL, and Crus ...
. In September 2007, Williams signed a one-year contract to play with the Penrith Panthers for the
2008 NRL season The 2008 NRL season was the 101st season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the eleventh run by the National Rugby League. For the second year, National Rugby League teams, sixteen teams competed for the 2008 Telstr ...
after initially agreeing to a contract with French side, Toulouse Olympique. He was released from his Penrith Panthers contract on 14 May 2008 and joined Canterbury-Bankstown. After only two games with Canterbury-Bankstown, Williams retired from the game and turned to boxing. His final game in the
NRL 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 ...
was a 58–18 loss against the Canberra Raiders in round 15 of the
2008 NRL season The 2008 NRL season was the 101st season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the eleventh run by the National Rugby League. For the second year, National Rugby League teams, sixteen teams competed for the 2008 Telstr ...
. Canterbury would go on to finish last at the end of 2008. He last played with Country Rugby League side Dubbo CYMS and later coached them in 2012.


Career stats

*''First Grade Debut:'' 2004 - Round 12, Souths v Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at Toyota Park, 29 May, scoring three goals *'' North Sydney Bears:'' 2007-2010 19 appearances 7 tries, 54 goals, 3 field goals, 133 points.


Boxing career

On 18 October 2014 he successfully defended his World Boxing Federation (WBF) junior welterweight world title against Indonesian opponent Rusmin Kie Raha at Bolton Park Stadium. He also obtained a
World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...
(WBA) Asian title with a unanimous points victory.


Personal life

Joe Williams is the son of Wilfred Williams, who played for a number of Sydney teams in the late 1980s. He has spoken about his battles with depression, especially during his time in Rugby League. In October 2014, a short story called ''The Enemy Within'' was released. He currently works as a
motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ca ...
. In October 2016 Williams visited the
Standing Rock Indian Reservation The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaksa ...
during the
Dakota Access Pipeline protests The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, also called by the hashtag #NoDAPL, began in April 2016 as a grassroots opposition to the construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States and ended on Febru ...
, carrying an Australian Aboriginal Flag to demonstrate solidarity between
Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
and Native Americans.


Music

Williams appears on the
Brothablack Shannon Narrun Williams, known as Brothablack, is a Sydney-based Indigenous hip hop performer. Brothablack was a founding member of Deadly Award-winning group South West Syndicate. He has since gone solo and has worked as an MC for The National ...
music video, ''Are You With Me Out There'', along with Anthony (Mouth) Mundine.


Footnotes


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Joe 1983 births Living people Australian male boxers Australian motivational speakers Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Indigenous Australian rugby league players North Sydney Bears NSW Cup players Penrith Panthers players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Cowra, New South Wales South Sydney Rabbitohs players Windsor Wolves players