David Niumataiwalu, better known as David Niu (born 3 January 1966), is an Australian-American dual-code international

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

administrator, coach and former player. Regarded as one of the founders of rugby league in the United States, he established the American National Rugby League (AMNRL), the United States' first domestic rugby league competition and formerly the national governing body for the sport. He later served as president of AFL Global, an organization promoting

arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

. Niu played for the St. George Rugby Union Club from 1984 to 1989 before shifting to the rugby league code. His professional league career included two seasons with the St. George Dragons in Australia's

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

(now the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

) from 1990 to 1991; his position was . In 1993 he relocated to the United States where he was involved in promoting both codes. He was one of the founders of the

United States national rugby league team The United States national rugby league team represents the United States in international rugby league competitions. The team is managed by the USA Rugby League (USARL). The United States competed with little success in some international ga ...

, and played on the USA Eagles national rugby union team, appearing in the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup () was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's History of rugby union#The professional era, professional era. Four a ...

. In 1997 he founded the competition that became the modern AMNRL, serving as its president until 2013.

Early life and rugby career

Niumataiwalu was born and raised in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. He attended James Cook Boys Technology High School in nearby Kogarah."R2K interviews David Niu"
''R2K'', 19 May 2002 He is of

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

an descent. Niu played

for St. George Rugby Union Club from 1984 to 1989, playing a total of 250 first division games. He also represented Sydney, the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play t ...

and was a member of the Australian Barbarians, and captained the Australian College and University teams from 1984 to 1988. In 1986 he was one of three winners of the Ken Catchpole Medal. In 1987 he earned a spot on the

Australian national rugby union team The Australia men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for Australia. The Wallabies first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against ...

training squad for the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two semi-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 mat ...

. Niu shifted to professional

in 1989. In 1990 he was signed by the St. George Dragons of the

New South Wales Rugby League premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

(now the

), Australia's highest rugby league competition, as a . He played for St. George for two seasons, appearing in a total of nineteen games and scoring two tries and one

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

. As a former Dragons player, Niu has been outspoken about the club moving away from Kogarah's WIN Jubilee Oval. He later played for the Villeneuve Leopards in France, and had spells with the Bramley and

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

in the United Kingdom before retiring.

American career

In 1991, Niu met his future wife Donna Camac while on a St. George team retreat in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. He gained a release from the final years of his contract with the Dragons and relocated to her hometown of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, where he took a job as a teacher at the Glen Mills Schools, a reform school for court-referred youth with an aptitude for sports.Hannan, Tony (April 2002)
"Niu York, Niu York!"
. ''Rugby League World''. Retrieved 16 June 2011. He worked to introduce rugby league at the school, drawing the attention of American rugby league enthusiast Mike Mayer. Niu and Mayer organized a U.S. national rugby league team for a trip to the 1992 Rugby League World Sevens in Sydney. After Mayer departed Niu continued developing the national team, bringing them to international competitions such as the 1995 Emerging Nations Tournament and a short tour of Australia in 1997. During this time, Niu also played rugby union in the U.S. He was named in the

United States national rugby union team The United States men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, represents the United States in men's international rugby union competitions. USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States, a ...

, making eleven international appearances, including at the

. In 2000 he became head coach of

Philadelphia Whitemarsh RFC Philadelphia - Whitemarsh Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US. They are currently members of the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union, the organizational body for the sport in eastern Pennsylvania, and cu ...

in the Rugby Super League, the highest level of rugby union in the United States. In 1997 Niu was one of the founders of Super League America, the first major attempt to organize a domestic rugby league competition in the United States, and served as the new league's executive director. The organization managed the national team and launched a six-club domestic competition. On top of serving as head of Super League America, Niu was also

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

for the Glen Mills Bulls (now the Aston Bulls), the most dominant team in the league. In 2000 Super League America reorganized as the United States Rugby League, and the following year it became the American National Rugby League. In 2009 Niu was involved in a proposed American professional rugby league competition, the National Rugby League USA (NRLUS), though this failed to get off the ground. Niu was also heavily involved in planning the Atlantic Cup tournament, beginning in 2009, and in the United States being awarded the qualifying tournament for the final berth in the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth World Cup for men’s national rugby league teams. It took place between the 26 October and 30 November and was hosted by England and Wales (although some games were played in France and Ire ...

. Niu has served as head coach for the USA Tomahawks on three separate occasions.

AFL Global

In February 2013, Niu resigned from the AMNRL to take a position as president of AFL Global. The organization is an independent business venture that hopes to work with the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

to expand

to China and abroad.

References

External links

Bio at AMNRL Official Site
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niu, David 1966 births Living people 1999 Rugby World Cup players American National Rugby League American people of Australian descent American people of I-Taukei Fijian descent American rugby league players American rugby union players Aston Bulls coaches Aston Bulls players Australian people of I-Taukei Fijian descent Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league players Bradford Bulls players Bramley R.L.F.C. players Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby union fly-halves St. George Dragons players United States international rugby union players United States national rugby league team captains United States national rugby league team coaches United States national rugby league team players Villeneuve Leopards players Rugby union players from Sydney St. George Rugby Club players New South Wales rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen