Mark Lennon (born 17 August 1980) is a former Wales 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 played in the 2000s 2010s. He played at club level for the

Cronulla-Sutherland 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 ...

(junior grade), the

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until the ...

( reserve grade), the

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

( Heritage No. 772), the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

, the

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...

, the

Crusaders RL Crusaders Rugby League ( cy, Croesgadwyr Rygbi'r Gynghrair) was a professional rugby league club based in Bridgend and later in Wrexham, Wales. They played for six seasons in the Rugby Football League competitions, including three years in the ...

, as a or , however he could fit into any of the backline positions with ease making him somewhat of a

utility As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosopher ...

back.

Background

Lennon was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia.

Overview

Lennon originally began playing rugby league at a young age for local club side Como Jannali RLFC before he was spotted by scouts from the

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 ...

club the

, and signed to a development deal. After several seasons with the Cronulla-based club Lennon found it hard to make his way into the first grade side under head coach John Lang, and decided to take up an offer with 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 ...

club the

at the age of twenty in 2001. While at the Castleford Tigers Lennon made his Welsh début for the national side in a mid-season fixture against

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 ...

. After several years at the Castleford Tigers he left and returned to Australia signing for the

but only managed to make a sole appearance in three years with the club. In 2007 he then returned to his first club the

playing

(NRL) before again moving to England after being signed by Super League newcomers

Childhood and early career

Lennon originally began playing rugby league at an early age 10 for Gymea (in

Gymea, New South Wales Gymea is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Gymea is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Sutherland Shi ...

) before moving to Miranda Magpies at age 11 and the joined the Como Jannali RLFC. After several seasons with the club he was spotted by a

scout and offered a junior development contract. After working his way through the junior grades at Cronulla Lennon moved to the

and could only reach reserve grade at the club before he signed for English club the Castleford Tigers while still twenty years of age.

Castleford Tigers

After signing for the

in 2001 Lennon quickly made a name for himself as somewhat of a classy

back usually playing at either or filling one of the half positions. Mark would quickly cement his place within the Castleford Tigers starting thirteen and became a vital member of the teams attack and with his contribution the Castleford Tigers had successful 2001 and 2002 campaigns finishing mid-table and making the Rugby League

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 ...

semi-finals in consecutive years. Lennon missed the majority of the 2003 season because of injury, mainly due to a broken leg which meant he could only make a few appearances for the club that year and at the conclusion of the 2004 season the Castleford Tigers were relegated to English division one. With the relegation of the Castleford Tigers from

Lennon returned to Australia signing with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

Lennon was originally signed as a depth replacement on an incentive-based offer for the beginning of the 2004

season and was seen as the long term option to take over from

Luke Dorn People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

who had been released from the club because of his arrival.

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

Lennon returned to his original 'home' club side the

in 2007 for the first time since he originally signed for them as a teenager. During the first four rounds of competition however he failed to make a sole first grade appearance for the club and was relegated to playing in reserve grade as a

. After only several weeks at the

he left and returned to the United Kingdom signing with

Hull Kingston Rovers

After newly promoted

had sustained several injuries to key players during their maiden

season, head coach

Justin Morgan Justin Morgan (February 28, 1747 – March 22, 1798) was a U.S. horse breeder and composer. He was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, and by 1788 had settled in Vermont. In addition to being a horse breeder and farmer, he was a teacher of ...

(a Wales teammate) offered Lennon a one-year deal at Craven Park. Morgan stated that his versatility and accomplished goal-kicking were key points in the signing. He made his début for his new club during their home fixture against

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

. Lennon would start on the bench eventually being substituted onto the field and scoring a try on début although Rovers would eventually lose by four points 28–24. He was released from Hull Kingston Rovers on 17 September 2007 Mark Lennon

Celtic Crusaders

Lennon signed with the Celtic crusaders in 2008 in the hope they would win a Super League licence and played in the National League Grand Final in 2008. 2009 was Lennon's last year in the Super League with the Celtic Crusaders before returning to Australia and playing the 2010 season with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NSW Cup.

Wales

Lennon made his début for the Welsh national side during the 2001 season after qualifying to play for them through his parental heritage with his mother being born in Wales. His first match for Wales was a mid-season test match against

where he had an impressive début playing at fullback although Wales would eventually lose by five points in a narrow 38–33 loss. For the following five years Lennon would go on to make a further eight appearances for Wales with matches against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

as well as playing in the

European Nations Cup European Nations Cup may refer to: *UEFA European Championship, formerly known as European Nations' Cup *Europcar Cup, a European Tour golf tournament *European Nations Cup (golf), a European Ladies Tour golf tournament *European Nations Cup (field ...

where he scored a sixteen-point haul against Russia at

Aberavon Aberavon ( cy, Aberafan) is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a distri ...

in 2003. His most recent appearance came during the European Championship when he was flown out from Australia while playing for Manly for an international fixture against France where Wales would eventually lose 38-16Cymru RL
After signing with

for the 2007 season Lennon appeared in squads for Wales in their next major matches against Papua New Guinea in late 2007. Lennon scored a late try in the game v PNG but tore a hamstring and missed the Scotland and Lebanon game for the rugby league 2008 World Cup qualifiers. Lennon appeared in 2008 for wales v England then did not feature due to family circumstances in 2009. Lennon then made 5 more appearances in 2010 and 2011 in Wales' triumphant

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, and Four Nations campaigns.

International honours

Lennon won

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

s for

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 ...

while at the Castleford Tigers, the Manly Sea Eagles, the Hull Kingston Rovers, and the Celtic Crusaders 2001...present 13(10, 12?)-caps 4(3?)-tries 12(13?)-goals 40(38?)-points. He was named in the

squad to face

at the

Keepmoat Stadium The Eco-Power Stadium (formerly known as Keepmoat Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Doncaster, England, with a capacity of 15,231. It cost approximately £20 million to construct, as part of the wider Lakeside Sports Complex that it ...

prior to England's departure for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

. In 2010 he represented Wales in the

Alitalia European Cup The 2010 European Cup, known as the Alitalia European Cup for sponsorship purposes, is a rugby league football tournament. Three of the competing teams participated in the 2009 European Cup, with France also being included in the tournament after ...

Career playing statistics

Point scoring summary

Matches played

Celtic Crusaders 2008-2009 Cronulla Sharks NSW CUP 2010

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Super League Statistics at slstats.org
*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at rleague.com
*(archived by web.archive.org
Statistics at thecastlefordtigers.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lennon, Mark 1980 births Living people Australian people of Welsh descent Australian rugby league players Burleigh Bears players Castleford Tigers players Crusaders Rugby League players Hull Kingston Rovers players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Sydney Wales national rugby league team players