Simon Hammersley (born 20 March 1993) is a former English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player who played as a fullback. He has been nicknamed "Lord Hammer of Hammershire" by

BT Sport BT Sport is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe and BT Group, they first launched on 1 August 2013. The channels are based at the former International Bro ...

commentator Nick Mullins.

Club career

Hammersley started his career at his local amateur club Hull Ionians in

National League 2 North National League 2 North is one of three, level four leagues in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in the northern half of England, the North. The remainder of England is covered by the two counte ...

, before attending Durham University where he was part of the team who won the

BUCS British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for higher education sport in the United Kingdom. BUCS was formed in June 2008 following a merger of British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) and University College Sport ...

national final at Twickenham. Hammersley signed with

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

in summer 2013 and quickly established himself as a first team player, aided by injury to the regular starting full back Alex Tait. He was called into the

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

squad as injury cover in August 2016 Following Newcastle's relegation to the

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 ...

, Hammersley invoked a relegation release clause in his contract that would allow him to leave the club should such a situation occur. It was announced shortly afterwards that Sale Sharks had signed a three-year deal with the fullback, a move which would keep him in the Premiership. In May 2022, Hammersley announced his retirement from professional rugby in order to a pursue a career outside the sport.

References

External links

ESPN profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammersley, Simon 1993 births Living people Newcastle Falcons players Sale Sharks players English rugby union players Rugby union players from Kingston upon Hull Rugby union fullbacks Durham University RFC players Alumni of the College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham