Christopher "Mello" Melling (born 21 September 1984) is an English former 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 112 ...

footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for

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 ...

(Under-16s, and Under-18s), and as a for

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 ...

, and at club level for Ashton Bears ARLFC (Under-15), Hindley ARLFC (16+), and in 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 w ...

for 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 Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

and Harlequins RL (renamed as the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

in 2012), as a or , consequently he was considered 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 philosophe ...

player.

Early career

Melling was born in Ashton-in-Makerfield,

Greater Manchester, England Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, T ...

. He was a pupil at Byrchall High School. played junior rugby league for the Ashton and Hindley junior clubs. Melling is a youth level international for

, touring Australia and New Zealand with England Under 16s in 2001 and also representing England's U18 Academy.

Wigan Warriors

Melling is a former Wigan Senior Academy captain who made several appearance for the Wigan first team. In 2004's Super League IX it had seemed that Melling's career was in doubt following a serious knee injury suffered playing for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington ...

against

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

. Melling had been seen as a future star before having his season ended by a cruciate ligament injury. Upon his return to first team action in 2005's

Super League X Super League X is the official name of 2005's Super League season. It was the 10th season of the Super League and saw twelve teams from across England compete for the premiership. The season kicked off in early February, culminating in a six te ...

Chris made a further 10 first-grade appearances for the

before picking up another

knee injury In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the h ...

requiring further

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pa ...

. Melling returned to full fitness in 2006, but found first team opportunities limited, due to the emergence of

Chris Ashton Christopher John Ashton (born 29 March 1987) is an English rugby union and former rugby league player, and one of the few players who have represented England in both rugby codes. A wing or fullback, he joined Leicester Tigers of Premiersh ...

at the club. Chris Melling moved to in Wigan's academy, impressing enough to be voted as the Under-21s Academy 'Player of the Year' for 2006. He left Wigan to pursue regular first team

Harlequins RL

Melling was initially signed as a back-up to Chad Randall, however the

international made the position his own. He has been compared to Wade McKinnon with the youngster being defensively solid and dependable, with an eye for a gap bringing the ball out in attack. His move to Harlequins was to have seen the youngster undergo a positional change with a move to hooker. He had been previously employed throughout the backline, with most of his first team appearances coming as an outside back. Melling impressed in 2007, starting games at and throughout the backline and scoring four tries. In May 2007 Melling agreed to a new two-year deal with Harlequins Rugby League, midway through his first season at the

Twickenham Stoop Twickenham Stoop Stadium (informally referred to as The Stoop) is a sports stadium located in south-west London, England. The stadium is home to Harlequins rugby union team, who play in the Gallagher Premiership. The stadium has a capacity ...

. This will keep Melling in the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

until 2009. He is seen as the emerging star at the Harlequins, with Harlequins RL investing in young British talent.

Representative football

In June 2007 Melling was called up to the

squad, and was in the Test match against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He was joined in the

Test side by Harlequins teammate Paul Sykes. Melling made his Great Britain début in the 42-14 victory over the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

on 22 June 2007, despite carrying an injury.

Away from football

Melling is a qualified

Physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patien ...

after studying at the

University of Central Lancashire , mottoeng = "From the Earth to the Sun" , established = as Institution for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledgere-established 1992 (University status granted) , type = Public , chancellor ...

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

, graduating in June 2006.Lester, Joanna: "Joanna Lester chats to full back and budding physiotherapist Chris Melling", game on!, Harlequins RL v Wakefield, p41, 14 April 2007 Melling hopes to set up his own physiotherapy practise in the future.

References

External links

Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk (statistics currently missing due to not having appeared for both Great Britain, and England)

Quins RL profileStatistics at wigan.rlfans.com
*(archived by web.archive.org
Always seems to be a lot of movement for the London club
*(archived by web.archive.org
Wigan Player Profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Quins land young British trio

Melling Kicks 10 goals

Carney praises Wigan's young guns

Profile at wigan-warriors.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melling, Chris 1984 births Living people English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players London Broncos players People from Ashton-in-Makerfield Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Wigan Rugby league second-rows Rugby league utility players Rugby league wingers Wigan Warriors players