Seán William Scanlon (born 1 September 1988) is a retired Irish

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He played as a fullback or

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

. During his professional career, Scanlon played for his home province Munster, before moving to England and playing for Rotherham, Doncaster and Nottingham.

Early life

Born in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

, Scanlon attended Crescent College and first began playing rugby there, whilst also playing for Garryowen's underage teams. From a family with a

GAA Gaa may refer to: * Gaa language, a language of Nigeria * gaa, the ISO 639 code for the Ga language of Ghana GAA may stand for: Compounds * Glacial (water-free), acetic acid * Acid alpha-glucosidase, also known as glucosidase, alpha; acid, an e ...

background, Scanlon also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

for

at minor level. After completing his leaving cert, Scanlon attended

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

and played for Cork Constitution in the amateur All-Ireland League, where impressive performances earned him a place in Munster's academy and a call up to the Ireland under-20s squad.

Munster

Scanlon secured a development contract with Munster for the 2011–12 season, and made his debut for Munster against

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

in a

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

match on 26 December 2011, scoring his first try for Munster during the game. He signed a one-year contract extension with Munster in March 2012, and started at fullback for Munster A in their 31–12 British and Irish Cup Final victory against Cross Keys on 27 April 2012. A herniated disc ruled Scanlon out for seven months, and at the time the Munster back-three consisted of

Felix Jones Felix Jones Jr. (born May 8, 1987) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football for the Arkansas Razo ...

Doug Howlett Douglas Charles Howlett (born 21 September 1978) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He was primarily a wing, but he also sometimes played as a fullback. He played for Auckland, and the Highlanders, Hurricanes and Blues ...

, Keith Earls, Simon Zebo, Johne Murphy and Denis Hurley; injury and the lack of opportunities under new head coach

Rob Penney Robin Hugh Penney (born 27 April 1964) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former representative player. Generally known as Rob Penney he played in the positions of Flanker or No.8 throughout his career, most notably for Canterbury. He has s ...

led Scanlon to conclude that he would have to leave his home province to find regular gametime.

Rotherham

Scanlon left Ireland and joined English

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

side

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

at the ahead of the 2013–14 season. Rotherham were contenders for promotion under head coach

Lee Blackett Lee Blackett (born 21 November 1982 in Chester, Cheshire, United Kingdom) is an English former rugby union footballer. Educated at King Edward VII and Queen Mary School in Lytham, he played some of his earlier rugby at Fylde Rugby Club. His u ...

, but after defeat to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

in the play-off semi-finals during the 2014–15 season, the club experienced a downturn.

Doncaster

With Rotherham struggling, Scanlon was approached by another RFU Championship side,

Doncaster Knights Doncaster Knights Rugby Football Club ''(formerly, Doncaster RFC)'' are a professional rugby union club representing the city of Doncaster, England. The club play in the 2nd division of English rugby, the RFU Championship. Being the most prom ...

, and he joined them for the 2016–17 RFU Championship season.

Nottingham

After one season with Doncaster, Scanlon joined a third RFU Championship,

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, where former Munster man Ian Costello was coach. In early 2020, Scanlon had agreed a new two-year contract with the club as a player-coach, however, the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

was soon felt when the RFU drastically cut funding for the championship, leaving Scanlon, like many players, in a difficult position. He had offers to keep playing from clubs in France, but Scanlon instead chose to retire from the professional game. In his final season with the club, Scanlon won the ''Supporters Player of the Season'' and ''Try of the Season'' awards.

Post-retirement

Scanlon quickly started a new job with a company called LandTech, and he is still involved with rugby in his capacity as head coach of Dronfield, who compete in the amateur Midlands Rugby League Division Two; Scanlon has not ruled out returning to playing rugby with the club once the amateur game resumes.

References

External links

Munster ProfileNottingham ProfileU20 Six Nations ProfilePro14 Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scanlon, Seán 1988 births Living people People educated at Crescent College Alumni of University College Cork Sportspeople from Limerick (city) Rugby union players from Limerick (city) Irish rugby union players Garryowen Football Club players Cork Constitution players Munster Rugby players Rotherham Titans players Doncaster Knights players Nottingham R.F.C. players Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union wings Irish expatriate rugby union players in England