Willie Faloon (born 30 September 1986) is a

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 its m ...

coach and former player from Northern Ireland. His main position was at flanker and he primarily played at openside. Since 2021, he has been an Elite Performance Development Officer with the

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Ulster Branch, which is one of ...

academy.

Career

Ulster

Faloon's professional team was his native province of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

, signing a contract with the side in December 2008. He had previously played for amateur side

Ballynahinch Ballynahinch may refer to: Northern Ireland * Ballynahinch, County Armagh, a townland *Ballynahinch, County Down, a town Republic of Ireland *Ballynahinch (barony), in County Galway *Ballynahinch, County Galway, a townland in County Galway * Bally ...

in the All-Ireland League and was part of the province's academy system. Faloon played his first game for Ulster on 24 January 2009, in a

2008–09 Heineken Cup The 2008–09 Heineken Cup was the fourteenth edition of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. It started in October 2008 and ended on 23 May 2009 at Murrayfield Sta ...

game with

Stade Francais Stade (), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (german: Hansestadt Stade, nds, Hansestadt Stood) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district () which bears its name. It is l ...

. He made his league debut for the team in the final game of the

2008–09 Celtic League The 2008–09 Celtic League (known as the 2008–09 Magners League for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth Celtic League season and the third with Magners as title sponsor. The season began in September 2008 and ended in May 2009. Ten teams played ...

, against

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which ...

. In his second season with the side, Faloon appeared more often. He played in 13 games in the

2009–10 Celtic League The 2009–10 Celtic League (known as the 2009–10 Magners League for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of the league now known as Pro12 and the fourth with Magners as title sponsor. The season began in September 2009 and ended with the G ...

, starting 12 of them, and scored his first try for the team against Scarlets on 2 October 2009. In European competition Faloon played in 4 games, starting 3 of them and scoring a try against

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. In the

2010–11 Celtic League The 2010–11 Magners League was the tenth Celtic League season and the fifth with Magners as title sponsor. The regular season began on 3 September 2010 and finished on the weekend of 6–8 May 2011. During these stages, each team played every ot ...

, Faloon played in 17 games for Ulster as they climbed from their 8th-place finish the previous season to finish sixth and qualify for the play-offs. In that season's Heineken Cup Faloon played in six of the team's seven games, including coming on as a replacement in Ulster's quarter-final against

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

Stadium mk Stadium MK is a football ground in the Denbigh district of Bletchley in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. Designed by Populous and opened in 2007, it is the home ground of EFL League One side Milton Keynes Dons and FA Women's National ...

. In his final season with Ulster, Faloon played in 16 of their games in the league, which had been renamed as the

Pro 12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

, as Ulster finished sixth. In the

2011–12 Heineken Cup The 2011–12 Heineken Cup was the 17th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The final was held at Twickenham on Saturday, 19 May 2012, kicking off at ...

, Faloon played five, with four of these appearances coming as a replacement. He came on from the bench against

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. In the summer of 2012, Faloon joined rival Irish province and Pro 12 team

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

on a 2-year deal. It had been announced in March that year that Faloon would be leaving Ulster.

Connacht

Faloon joined Connacht ahead of the 2012–13 season. He played in 14 games for Connacht in the

2012–13 Pro 12 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

and scored three tries. Faloon made his European debut for Connacht against

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning "Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by the ...

in the

2012–13 Heineken Cup The 2012–13 Heineken Cup was the 18th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The tournament began with two pool matches on 12 October 2012 and ended with t ...

, and played 3 times for the team in the competition, starting in each game. In his first season with his new side, Faloon made an outstanding impression and was awarded Connacht Rugby Player of the Month for February 2013. At the end of his first year with the side, the Connacht Clan, the team's supporters club, voted him as their player of the season.

Ulster

On 10 February 2015 it was announced that Faloon would be returning to Ulster on a one-year deal.

Coaching

Faloon became head coach of

City of Armagh RFC The City of Armagh Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Armagh, Northern Ireland, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League (rugby union), All-Ireland League. Honours *Ulster Senior League (rugby union), Ulster Senior Leagu ...

in 2017, leading them to three

Ulster Senior Cup The Ulster Senior Cup is a knock-out competition for senior rugby union teams in the province of Ulster. It is administered by Ulster Rugby. The most successful club is Queen's University with 23 wins. The current holders are City of Armagh RF ...

titles. He also joined the coaching team of

the Royal School, Armagh The Royal School, Armagh is a co-educational voluntary grammar school, founded in the 17th century, in the city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. It has a boarding department with an international intake. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Hea ...

, leading them to the

Ulster Schools' Cup The Ulster Schools' Challenge Cup is an annual competition involving schools affiliated to the Ulster Rugby, Ulster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. The Schools' Cup has the distinction of being the world's second-oldest rugby competitio ...

final in 2020. In 2021 he joined the staff of the Ulster academy as Elite Performance Development Officer with responsibility for coaching forwards. He was named defence coach of the Ireland under-20 team for the 2022 under-20 Six Nations.Adam McKendry
"Former Ulster flanker Willie Faloon named defence coach with Ireland Under-20s ahead of Six Nations"
''Belfast Telegraph'', 23 December 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faloon, Willie Ballynahinch RFC players Connacht Rugby players Living people 1986 births Ulster Rugby non-playing staff Ulster Rugby players