Julian O'Neill (born 24 July 1973) is a former

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 territorie ...

international

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 spent most of his career playing 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 ...

. His position of preference was at .

Background

O'Neill was born in

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 ...

, New Zealand.

Early years

After attending

Liston College Liston College is a school in Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand, for year seven to 13 boys and offers a Catholic education to its students. It was the second school opened by the Christian Brothers in Auckland. It was named after Archbishop Li ...

, O'Neil started his career with the

Marist Saints The Marist Saints is a rugby league club based in Mount Albert, New Zealand. They currently compete in the top grade in Auckland Rugby League, the Fox Memorial Premiership. History Founded in 1919, the Marist club first won the Fox Memorial in 1 ...

before making the

Waitakere City Raiders The Waitakere City Raiders were a New Zealand rugby league club that represented Waitakere City in the Lion Red Cup from 1994 to 1996. Notable players Notable players included;Rick Andrew Anthony Edwards, Boycie Nelson, David Bailey, Ben Ly ...

side in the

Lion Red Cup The Lion Red Cup was a New Zealand domestic rugby league competition that ran from 1994 to 1996 sponsored by brewers Lion Nathan. It was created due to the increase in public awareness of domestic rugby league due to the Auckland Warriors being a ...

. He was an Auckland Warrior 1995-1996 where he played a crucial role in laying a platform for the reserve grade to reach the 1996 grand final.

Playing career

St Helens

In 1997 O'Neill moved to England and joined the St. Helens in the

competition where he gained the club's highest tackler and most offloads in the 1997 season. He played for St. Helens at prop forward in their

1999 Super League Grand Final The 1999 Super League Grand Final was the Second official Grand Final conclusive and championship-deciding game of the Super League IV season. The match was played between St. Helens and Bradford Bulls on Saturday 9 October 1999, at Old Traffo ...

victory over

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 ...

. O'Neill went on to play in 82 games for the Saints, including being involved in the side that won the 1997

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

and 1999's Super League IV title. Having won the 1999 Championship, St. Helens contested in the 2000 World Club Challenge against

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 ...

Premiers the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

, with O'Neill playing at prop forward in the loss. O'Neill played for St. Helens at prop forward in their

2000 Super League Grand Final The 2000 Super League Grand Final was the third official Grand Final and the conclusive and championship-deciding game of 2000's Super League V. Held on Saturday 14 October 2000 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between St. Helens ...

victory over

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

Widnes

In 2001 O'Neill joined the

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, betw ...

but at the end of the 2001 season was signed by

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at the Halton Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twenty-two rug ...

to boost their forward pack. O'Neill spent four years at the Vikings, playing in 96 games for the club. In 2003 he played alongside namesake

Julian O'Neill Brian Julian O'Neill (born 14 October 1972) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. Primarily a goal-kicking or and goal-kicker, during his 14-year top-grade career he played with sever ...

, who adopted the nickname Jules to avoid confusion.

Return to Auckland

In 2006 he returned to

, playing for the

Auckland Lions The Auckland Lions were a rugby league club that had teams in both the New Zealand Bartercard Cup and the NSWRL Premier League. They were mostly drawn from the Mt Albert Lions Rugby League club. Mt Albert had a proud tradition in Auckland and had ...

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 ...

. He also made the

New Zealand Residents The New Zealand Residents (also previously known as New Zealand 'A', New Zealand XIII, the Lion Red Cup XIII and currently known as the Bartercard Premiership Selection) are a New Zealand rugby league football representative side that is selected f ...

side that competed in the 2006 Trans Tasman Quadrangular Series. He scored a try in the Auckland Lions 2007 Bartercard Cup Grand Final win over

Harbour League Harbour League were a franchise in the now defunct Bartercard Cup rugby league competition in New Zealand. They represented Aucklands North Shore City. They were formed in 2006 to take over from the Hibiscus Coast Raiders and the North Harbour ...

. In 2009 O'Neill played in the

Fox Memorial 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 for the

Mt Albert Lions The Mount Albert Lions are a rugby league club based in Mount Albert, New Zealand. The Lions home ground is at Fowlds Park. Their patron is the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark. In 2008 and 2009 the Lions won the Fox Memorial. ...

and was awarded Man of the match.

Representative career

O'Nell represented NZ playing for the residents team in 1996 and again in 2006 O'Neill also represented the

United States national rugby league team The United States national rugby league team represents the United States in international rugby league football competitions. The team is managed by the USA Rugby League (USARL). The United States competed with little success in some interna ...

References

External links

Saints Heritage Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Julian 1973 births Living people Auckland rugby league team players Expatriate rugby league players in England Marist Saints players Mount Albert Lions players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand people of American descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportsmen People educated at Liston College Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league props St Helens R.F.C. players United States national rugby league team players Waitakere rugby league team players Wakefield Trinity players Widnes Vikings players