Robert Rawiri Hunter-Paul (born 3 February 1976) is a New Zealand former

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. He has since become a business owner and television pundit, runnin
Xtra Mile Marketing
an inbound and digital marketing company. Robbie retired from playing at the end of the 2011 season following a 19-season career with the Bradford Bulls,

Harlequin FC Harlequins (officially Harlequin Football Club) is a professional rugby union club that plays in Premiership Rugby, the top level of English rugby union. Their home ground is the Twickenham Stoop, located in Twickenham, south-west London. ...

, Huddersfield Giants, Salford City Reds and the

Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in the Betfred Super League. The club was founded in 1878, and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern R ...

. He then spent just under 2 years as business development manager at the Huddersfield Giants, and 3 years as CEO at the Bradford Bulls. Robbie played for the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

Kiwis national team from 1997 - 2006. He is the younger brother of former New Zealand Kiwis and England Rugby player Henry Paul.

Background

Born in Tokoroa, New Zealand, his junior club was the Te Atatu Roosters in West Auckland. His mother, Gail, is of English descent and his father, Te Whata, known as Walter, is Maori (NZ indigenous).

Playing career

Club career

In the

1994 Lion Red Cup The 1994 New Zealand rugby league season was the 87th season of rugby league in New Zealand. The main feature of the season was the inaugural Lion Red Cup competition that was run by the New Zealand Rugby League. The North Harbour Sea Eagles won ...

he played 11 games for the

Waitakere City Raiders The Waitakere City Raiders were a New Zealand rugby league club that represented Waitakere City in the Lion Red Cup from 1994 to 1996. Notable players Notable players included;Rick Andrew Anthony Edwards, Boycie Nelson, David Bailey, Ben ...

, scoring three tries.''Lion Red Rugby League Annual 1994'',

New Zealand Rugby Football League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood '' ...

, 1994. p.121

Bradford Bulls

Paul joined Bradford in July 1994 from New Zealand at the age of 18 and has since gone on to represent

. He made his debut for Bradford after months languishing in the reserves. When Super League and summer rugby arrived, so did Australian coach Brian Smith, who made Paul captain. In the semi-final of the 1996 Challenge Cup, Bradford shocked traditional foes Leeds at Huddersfield. Paul captained Bradford at scrum half back in the

1996 Challenge Cup The 1996 Challenge Cup was the 95th staging of the Challenge Cup tournament. Known as the Silk Cut Challenge Cup due to sponsorship from Silk Cut, it was the first Challenge Cup of the summer era. The tournament featured 40 teams playing 42 gam ...

Final and became the fourth player ever to achieve what was a Challenge Cup final record of three tries, being awarded the

Lance Todd Trophy The Lance Todd Trophy is a trophy in rugby league, awarded to the annual Challenge Cup Final's man of the match. Introduced in 1945–46, the trophy was named in memory of Lance Todd, the New Zealand-born player and administrator, who was killed i ...

for man-of-the-match. He was the 1996 Bradford Bulls season's top try scorer and still holds the record for most tries scored for the Bulls. Paul played for Bradford Bulls as his brother

Henry Henry may refer to: People * Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

's halves partner in the

1999 Super League Grand Final The 1999 Super League Grand Final was the Second official Grand Final conclusive and championship-deciding game of the Super League IV season. The match was played between St. Helens and Bradford Bulls on Saturday 9 October 1999, at Old Trafford ...

which was lost to

St Helens R.F.C. St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain. They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and bec ...

Paul played for the Bradford Bulls as his brother

's halves partner in their

2001 Super League Grand Final The 2001 Super League Grand Final was the Fourth official Grand Final and the conclusive and championship-deciding match of Super League VI. The match was held on Saturday 13 October 2001 at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by Bradfor ...

victory against 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 ...

. As

Super League VI Tetley's Super League VI was the official name for the year 2001's Super League championship season, the 107th season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the sixth championship run by the Super League. The season began ...

champions, the Bulls played against 2001 NRL Premiers, 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 ...

in the

2002 World Club Challenge The 2002 World Club Challenge was held on Friday, 1 February 2002, at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Newcastle Knights. Background Bradford Bulls The 2001 Super League Grand Final ...

. Paul captained at stand-off half back and scored two tries in Bradford's victory. Paul played for Bradford Bulls at stand-off half back, scoring a try in their

2002 Super League Grand Final The 2002 Super League Grand Final was the Fifth official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding game of Super League VII. Held on Saturday 19 October 2002 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between St. Helens and Brad ...

loss against St Helens. Robbie Paul

Paul captained the Bulls to the "Treble" in 2003. He played for the Bradford Bulls from the interchange bench in their

2003 Super League Grand Final The 2003 Super League Grand Final was the 6th official Grand Final conclusive and premiership-deciding match of Super League VIII. Held on Saturday 18 October 2003 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between Bradford Bulls and Wigan ...

victory against the

. He captained the Bulls to victory against Australian side

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penri ...

in the

2004 World Club Challenge The 2004 World Club Challenge was held on Friday, 13 February 2004, at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and the Penrith Panthers. Background Bradford Bulls Penrith Panthers Match ...

. He played for the Bradford Bulls at in their

2004 Super League Grand Final The 2004 Super League Grand Final was the 7th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding game of Super League IX. It was held on Saturday 16 October 2004, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was played between Leeds Rhinos, who f ...

loss against the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Head ...

. The following year he played for the Bradford Bulls from the interchange bench in their

2005 Super League Grand Final 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on each ...

victory against the

. His Bradford Bulls testimonial was played on 27 January 2006 against

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 Challenge ...

Odsal Stadium Odsal Stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, is the home of Bradford Bulls Rugby League team. It has also been used by the Bradford Dukes speedway team, BRISCA F1 and F2 stock cars, the football team Bradford City, following the V ...

. He has been included in Bradford's; 'Millennium Masters', 'Bull Masters', and in August 2007 he was named in the 'Team of the Century'. Only six players have been included in all three lists. Robbie Paul was voted the 1996 Super League Player of the season at 20 years of age.

Huddersfield Giants

At the start of 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 ...

, Paul moved from Bradford Bulls to fellow

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exis ...

side Huddersfield Giants. He played at scrum half back in his

2006 Challenge Cup The 2006 Challenge Cup (also known as the Powergen Challenge Cup due to sponsorship from Powergen) was the 105th tournament played for rugby league's Challenge Cup. It features teams from across Europe including England, Scotland, Wales, France ...

Final in August. Despite scoring a second-half try, his side lost 42–12 to

Twickenham stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union ( RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team pl ...

Salford City Reds

In September 2007, it was announced that he had signed for the Salford City Reds on a two-year deal. This was seen as something of a coup for the club, as they had just been relegated from the Super League. Robbie Paul Leigh

Leigh Centurions

He signed with

Co-operative Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football League, the governing body for the sport in England, ...

side

for the 2010 season. He retired at the end of the 2011 season.

Harlequins

Paul went into his winter loan spell with rugby union club Harlequins in 1996 and 1997.

International career

Paul was selected for the New Zealand team to compete in the end of season

1999 Rugby League Tri-Nations The 1999 Rugby League Tri-Nations series was contested by Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand in 1999. It was the first multi-national rugby league tournament to feature the sport's three world powers since the 1989–92 World Cup (the 19 ...

tournament. In the final against Australia he partnered his brother Henry in the halves, kicking six goals in the Kiwis' 22–20 loss.

Music

In 2000, alongside his brother

and Lazarus, he released a single with his band Massey, named after the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

in New Zealand where the Paul brothers grew up. They had played a couple of dates by the end of 2000 and previously released a cover version of 'Ain't no stopping us now' in 1999.

Radio

Robbie used to host the weekly rugby league show 'The RHP Show' every Wednesday at 6pm on West Yorkshire's

pulse 2 Pulse 2 was a local radio station serving Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale areas from studios in Bradford. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020. Background The station was pr ...

Radio Station. His contract was terminated in 2019

Television

Robbie Hunter-Paul regularly appears on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

's rugby league coverage including the

Super League Show The ''Super League Show'' is the BBC's principal rugby league programme, shown on BBC One in the North of England on Monday evenings, repeated nationally on BBC Two on Tuesday lunchtimes and also on BBC iPlayer. The programme, produced by PDI ...

and the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves a ...

games.

Name change

On 17 December 2010, Robbie married Natalie Hunter in Auckland, New Zealand, at a ceremony attended by many of the world's greatest rugby players and duly changed his surname to incorporate "Hunter".

References

;Bibliography * Hodgson, Phil. ''Odsal Odysseys – The History of Bradford Rugby League''. Skipton, North Yorkshire, UK: Vertical Edition, 2006. . * Hunter-Paul, Robbie with Irvine, Chris. ''Robbie Rugby Warrior''. Great Northern Books, 2012, .

External links

Robbie Paul player profile from GiantsRL.com

Passion for Sport 2001The Millennium Masters – SubstitutesBull Masters – Robbie PaulTeam Of The Century
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter-Paul, Robbie 1976 births Living people BBC sports presenters and reporters Bradford Bulls captains Bradford Bulls players Harlequin F.C. players Huddersfield Giants players Junior Kiwis players Lance Todd Trophy winners Leigh Centurions captains Leigh Centurions players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand people of Cook Island descent New Zealand people of English descent New Zealand rugby league players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Tokoroa Rugby union players from Tokoroa Salford Red Devils players Te Atatu Roosters players Waitakere rugby league team players