Mark McLinden (born 8 July 1979) is an Australian former professional

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

er of the 1990s and 2000s. He played

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 ...

in the

NRL 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 ...

for Australian club, the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

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 wh ...

for English club the London Broncos/

Harlequins RL 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 ...

, which he also captained. A Country New South Wales representative backline player, McLinden finished his career in 2009 with a few

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 ...

games for the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

Early years

McLinden was born in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, ACT, and played his early rugby at West Belconnen Warriors in the Canberra District Junior Rugby League. While attending Hawker College, McLinden played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 1996 and 1997.

Rugby league career

In 1998, McLinden signed to play in the

for his local team

. Following an impressive début season, Mark was named

Rookie of the Year, and later won the Raiders' player of the year award. He also received representative honours with selection for the Australian

Junior Kangaroos The Junior Kangaroos side represents Australia in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kangaroos, after the native marsupial of that name. Since 2019, they are an under-23 side, with players selected from the NRL. The ...

squad to play tests against 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 ...

. In 2001 McLinden was selected to play in the

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Sydne ...

for Country. During his seven seasons at the

, McLinden made 165 appearances, featuring in five play-off series.

Super League

McLinden signed for the London Broncos in November 2004 and was appointed team captain following on from

Jim Dymock Jim Dymock (born 4 April 1972) is a professional rugby league coach who is the assistant coach of the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL and a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A Tonga and Australia inter ...

. During 2005's Super League X, his first in the

, Mark showed his versatility by appearing at or . In 2006's

Super League XI Engage Super League XI was the official name for the year 2006's Super League season in the sport of rugby league in Europe. Bradford Bulls were looking to retain the title they won in Super League X. The competition kicked off the weekend after ...

, with his club now operating as the

, Mark was the club's leading Super League try scorer with 14 tries from 17 appearances. His season was, however, disrupted by a persistent back injury which required an operation in late 2006. McLinden had played much of his career at , and with the arrival of

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 is ...

international

Chris Melling Christopher "Mello" Melling (born 21 September 1984) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for England (Under-16s, and Under-18s), and as a for Great Bri ...

at the

he played several games of 2007's

Super League XII Engage Super League XII is the official name for the year 2007's Super League season in the sport of rugby league. The 2007 season kicked off on the weekend of 2 February 2007 at the Galpharm Stadium. For the first time, the league had a stagge ...

in the halves. The 2007

saw McLinden return from injury. However, he was replaced as captain by

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 ...

international

Rob Purdham Rob Purdham (born 14 April 1980) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. An England international representative , he previously played for Whitehaven and London Broncos/ Harlequins. ...

. McLinden signed a three-year extension to his contract to keep him at Harlequins until the end of the 2009 season. However, in 2008 he suffered from a long debilitating illness which caused him to lose a lot of weight. As a result, he barely featured in Super League and he was released at the end of the year. Before his switch to rugby union he was asked to play for the

Ireland national rugby league team The Ireland men's national rugby league team, known as the Wolfhounds, is organised by Rugby League Ireland and represents Ireland in international rugby league. The representative team is composed largely of players of Irish descent who compete ...

at the 2008 World Cup, but declined in favour of Super 14 pre-season training.

Rugby union career

McLinden played

for the

in 2009. He scored his first Super 14 try in his side's 22-3 win over South Africa's

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

Suncorp Stadium Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

. Just before the 2009/10 Super 14 season he retired from the game due to medical advice.

Later life

McLinden is a co-director of Animalates, an exercise program for children aged 4–11, combining

Pilates Pilates (; ) is a type of mind-body exercise developed in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates, after whom it was named. Pilates called his method "Contrology". It is practiced worldwide, especially in countries suc ...

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

aerobics Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness (flexibility, muscular strength, and cardio-vascular fitness). It ...

and

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

with an animal characters theme. McLinden was arrested for a

pitch invasion A pitch invasion (known in North America as field storming or rushing the field) occurs when a person or a crowd of people spectating a sporting event run onto the competition area, usually to celebrate or protest an incident, or sometimes as ...

at the 2022 NRL Grand Final. He entered the field wearing a shirt with "end coal, gas & oil" on the front and "for our kids" on the back, in protest against Government inaction to prevent

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. McLinden was fined $5000 and banned from future NRL games.

References

Video Links

BBC Video

External links

"My life in rugby league: Mark McLinden"
interview at ''TotalRL.com''
Quins RL profileLife with LondonTriple drama for Harlequins squad
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLinden, Mark 1979 births Living people Australian people of Irish descent Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players Canberra Raiders players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players London Broncos captains London Broncos players Queensland Reds players Rugby league halfbacks