Anthony Kristian Baller (born 18 February 1987) is a

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 plays for the

West Wales Raiders The West Wales Raiders were a semi-professional rugby league club based in Llanelli, Wales. They competed in RFL League 1, League 1, the third tier of the British rugby league system, from 2018 until 2022. The club was founded in 2015 as an ama ...

Betfred League 1 RFL League One (for sponsorship reasons currently known as the Betfred League One) is a professional rugby league competition based in the United Kingdom. Part of the British rugby league pyramid, the competition features clubs from England an ...

Background

Baller was born in

Abercynon Abercynon (), is both a village and a community (and electoral ward) in the Cynon Valley within the unitary authority of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The community comprises the village and the districts of Carnetown and Grovers Field to the south, ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Playind career

Kristian Baller played his youth rugby for Merthyr RFC before returning to his hometown club at senior level. Gaining international honours with Wales at under 18 level, and touring with the Wales Crawshays under 20s, Kristian gained a reputation as an attacking full back or wing and a competent goal kicker. Invited to join Pontypridd as a trialist during the summer of 2006, Kristian was duly drafted into the club's senior squad for the commencement of the ensuing season. Making some impressive try scoring appearances in Ponty's league and campaigns, Kristian was called up to the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

regional under 20 squad. Playing across numerous positions during the 2008–2009 season, Kristian proved his versatility – able to cover almost any three-quarter position with an assured ease. At the commencement of the 2009–2010 season, in a squad blessed with wingers and full backs, Kristian decided that he would opt for Scrum Half as his preferred position, hoping that the move would lead to further honours.

References

External links

West Wales Raiders profilePontypridd RFC profileLlandovery RFC profileCross Keys RFC profile
1987 births Living people Pontypridd RFC players Rugby league players from Rhondda Cynon Taf Rugby union players from Abercynon South Wales Scorpions players Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players {{Wales-rugbyunion-bio-stub