Tony Roy Iro (born 30 May 1967) is a professional

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 11 ...

coach who is the head coach of the Cook Islands national rugby league team and a former professional

footballer. He is a former

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

international representative, playing on the wing or in the second row in 25 Tests.

Background

Tony Iro is also the older brother of former professional rugby league international footballer

Kevin Iro Kevin Leslie Iro (born 24 May 1968), also known by the nickname of '"The Beast", is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, and coached in the 2000s. He played at representative level for New Zeala ...

. He is the uncle of Kayal Iro

Playing career

Iro first played as a professional in England played with the

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 Northern Rugby Football Union followin ...

from 1987 to 1989. During the 1988–89 season Iro played on the wing in Wigan's 22–17 victory over

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 ...

in the

1988 Lancashire Cup File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Final at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For a period, the venue also hoste ...

, St. Helens on Sunday 23 October 1988. He made his début for the Kiwis in the 1988 World Cup Final against Australia. Playing on the wing, he scored a try on debut, but the Kiwis were defeated 25–12 in front of 47,363 at

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

's Eden Park. During the 1988–89 season Iro played on the wing in the 12–6 victory over

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 r ...

in the 1988–89 John Player Special Trophy Final at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of English football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup Final replay, it was the scene in 1946 of one of the greatest disasters in English footba ...

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

on Saturday 7 January 1989. Iro moved to Australia in 1990 and played for 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 ...

. In 1990-91 he returned to England for a short stint with Leigh ( Heritage № 1010). He played at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup for the Kiwis, helping them to the semi-finals where they again went down to Australia in extra time. He signed with new Super League club Hunter Mariners and after a season with his brother Kevin, ventured to play for the

Adelaide Rams The Adelaide Rams were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition. The Rams lasted two seasons, the first in the Super Le ...

after moving to the forwards. Iro, who at the time played for the short-lived

(1997–98), earlier in 1998 became the only Rams player selected for international duty when he played in the ANZAC Test against Australia at the

North Harbour Stadium North Harbour Stadium is a stadium situated in Albany, in North Shore City, New Zealand. It was opened in 1997, after nearly a decade of discussion, planning and construction. Rugby union, association football, rugby league, and baseball are ...

in Auckland. Iro's last international series was against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

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 ...

in late 1998 where he played from the bench in the first two tests of the series, both won by NZ. Following the demise of the Rams, 1999 found Iro at the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...

before his return to

Coaching career

In 2005 Iro joined the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

coaching staff and in 2008 was named in inaugural coach of the Toyota Cup (Under-20s) team. He was appointed to the New Zealand coaching staff in February 2009. For the 2010 season, Iro was promoted to be the Warriors Assistant Coach. In 2010 Iro was appointed a

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team ( Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of ...

selector for two years. Following

Brian McClennan Brian "Bluey" McClennan (born 16 February 1962) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer and coach. He was previously the head coach of the New Zealand national team (with whom he won the 2005 Tri-nations) and then England' ...

's sacking on 21 August 2012, Iro was appointed the caretaker coach of the Warriors for the last two matches of the season. At the end of 2012 Iro left the club but rejoined for the 2015 season. Since 2017, he has been the head coach of the Cook Islands national rugby league team.

Achievements

*Wigan: Challenge Cup,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

County Cup, Regal Trophy, Charity Shield

References

External links

*
Tony Iro Wigan Career Page
on the Wigan RL Fansite''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Iro, Tony 1967 births Living people Adelaide Rams players Auckland rugby league team players Cook Islands national rugby league team coaches Hunter Mariners players Leigh Centurions players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Mount Albert Lions players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand people of Cook Island descent New Zealand rugby league administrators New Zealand rugby league coaches New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Warriors coaches Rugby league second-rows Rugby league wingers South Sydney Rabbitohs players Rugby league players from Auckland Sydney Roosters players Wigan Warriors players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia