Evarn Tuimavave (born 28 June 1984) is a New Zealand 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 11 ...

footballer who played as a .

Playing career

Born in

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 ...

, New Zealand, Tuimavave played his junior football for the

Pt Chev Pirates The Point Chevalier Pirates are an Auckland rugby league club based in Point Chevalier. The Pirates currently compete in the Fox Memorial (First Division) competition run by the Auckland Rugby League. History The club was founded in 1919."Yo ...

, Richmond Rovers and Bartercard Cup team, Marist Richmond Brothers while being educated at Mount Roskill Grammar School and St Paul's College, which is noted for its rugby league teams. In 2002, he followed his uncle Tony's footsteps in joining

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

team, 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 ...

. In Round 25 of the

2002 NRL season The 2002 NRL season was the 95th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fifth to be run by the National Rugby League. The season was affected by the competition-leading Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' salary cap breach fi ...

he made his NRL début against the Northern Eagles. In early 2003, he was dropped and spent the next twelve months in the Bartercard Cup. In 2007, he played for the

Auckland Lions The Auckland Lions were a rugby league club that had teams in both the New Zealand Bartercard Cup and the NSWRL Premier League. They were mostly drawn from the Mt Albert Lions Rugby League club. Mt Albert had a proud tradition in Auckland and had ...

in the

NSWRL Premier League The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserv ...

. He then cemented his place in the top 25-man squad and was regularly named on the bench in 2008. In 2009, Tuimavave suffered a serious injury and did not play a first-grade game until Round 21. His contract was not renewed for the 2010 season. In September 2009, Tuimavave signed a 2-year contract with the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

starting in 2010. He tore his Achilles tendon in Round 10 of the

2010 NRL season The 2010 NRL season was the 103rd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the thirteenth run by the National Rugby League. The season commenced on 12 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 3 Octobe ...

which ruled him out for the rest of year. Tuimavave made his return in Round 1 of the

2011 NRL season The 2011 NRL season was the 104th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth and last run by the National Rugby League's partnership committee of the Australian Rugby League and News Ltd. The N ...

and went on to play 20 games that season. He then extended his stay into 2012. On 25 July 2012, Tuimavave signed a 2-year contract with English Super League club,

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challen ...

starting in 2013. He was released from his contract a year early on compassionate grounds.

Representative career

In 2002, Tuimavave was named in the

Junior Kiwis The Junior Kiwis side represents New Zealand in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. Since 2010, they are an under-20s side, with players selected from the NRL, Intrust Super ...

squad that played in two matches against touring Australian teams. In 2006, he was selected for New Zealand A, who played and won a match against an Australian Invitational side. He was first named in the

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 ...

squad in 2007 when he was 18th man for the ANZAC day test. In 2008 he was named in the training squads for both the New Zealand and Samoan

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

teams. After initially not being selected for the 24-man Kiwis squad he was called up as a replacement for the injured Jeff Lima and made his test début against

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 ...

Personal life

Tuimavave is from a famous

family, two of his uncles,

Tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

and Paddy both played for the

and his father played in the Auckland Rugby League Fox Memorial competition. His cousin,

Carlos Tuimavave Carlos Tuimavave (born 10 January 1992) is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a or for Hull F.C. in the Super League. He previously played for the New Zealand Warriors and the Newcastle Knights in the NRL. Backgroun ...

, is currently playing for Hull FC. In Tuimavave's early teens, he was an Auckland representative in

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

References

External links

2012 Newcastle Knights profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuimavave, Evarn 1984 births Living people Auckland rugby league team players Hull Kingston Rovers players Junior Kiwis players Marist Richmond Brothers players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Warriors players Newcastle Knights players People educated at Mount Roskill Grammar School People educated at St Paul's College, Auckland Point Chevalier Pirates players Richmond Bulldogs players Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league props Evarn