Abagi 'Abi' Bienose Ekoku (born 13 April 1966) is a former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete in both discus and shot put, as well as a 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.

Sporting career

Athletics

Ekoku represented Great Britain at the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

and was

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’s National Champion in the Discus held in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

in 1992 and UK Champion in the early 1990s. He represented

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 ...

in the discus and shot put event, at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in

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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 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Rugby league

Ekoku spent six years as a professional

footballer as a . He started his rugby league career with the London Crusaders, playing on a part-time basis whilst also lecturing in further education. He was signed by Halifax in July 1995, and played in the inaugural Super League season with the club. He joined the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

in 1997, helping the club win the Super League that year, and also played in the 1997 Challenge Cup against St. Helens at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. Ekoku announced his retirement from playing in 1998, and became chairman of the Rugby League Players' Association. He quit this post in 1999, and had a brief spell as chief executive at the

Keighley Cougars The Keighley Cougars are a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England who compete in League 1, the third tier of English rugby league. Keighley's home ground, Cougar Park has a capacity of 7,800. History Early y ...

before being appointed by the

in a similar role. Ekoku was chief executive at Bradford Bulls from 2000 to 2003 - a period in which the club won the Super League, Challenge Cup and World Club Championship. Ekoku returned to the game in 2005 as an anti-doping tutor before being appointed team manager 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 i ...

in 2006. He stepped down from this role at the end of 2007.

Personal life

Ekoku's brother Efan is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who represented the

Nigeria national football team The Nigeria national football team represents Nigeria in men's international football. Governed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), they are three-time Africa Cup of Nations winners, with their most recent title in 2013. In April 1994, ...

, and as of 2011 is a football pundit with

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References

External links

* * 1966 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Bradford Bulls players British rugby league administrators Commonwealth Games competitors for England English male discus throwers English male shot putters English people of Nigerian descent English rugby league players Halifax R.L.F.C. players London Broncos players People educated at Liverpool College Rugby league centres Rugby league players from London Rugby league wingers {{UK-athletics-bio-stub