Aadel Kardooni (, born 17 May 1968 in Tehran) is a British-Iranian former professional

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 ...

player. He is the first Iranian

player to ever play professionally.

Playing career

Iranian born Aadel left his homeland at the age of 8 to attend bording school in

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England. At

Sherborne School Sherborne School is a full-boarding school for boys aged 13 to 18 located beside Sherborne Abbey in the Dorset town of Sherborne. The school has been in continuous operation on the same site for over 1,300 years. It was founded in 705 AD by Ald ...

Kardooni was coached by former England coach Mike Davis. Kardooni played for

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

and Middlesex before joining

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

in 1988. Kardooni made his Leicester debut away to

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

. A very agile scrum half with a bullet pass, Kardooni was a regular in the Midlands and England A squads but a full cap eluded him throughout his career. Kardooni could always be relied on throughout the early to mid-nineties but struggled when the game became professional, and slipped down the pecking order behind

Austin Healey Austin Sean Healey (born 26 October 1973 in Wallasey (now part of Merseyside, formerly Cheshire), is an English former rugby union player who played as a utility back for Leicester Tigers, and represented both England and the British & Irish L ...

and Jamie Hamilton. His last appearance in a Tigers shirt was as a late substitution in the Pilkington Cup final triumph over Sale in 1997.http://www.leicestertigers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11472&sid=059264be53396d67b7842f39866410c5&PHPSESSID=7d02e0d8d1f4315 ... Kardooni moved on to

Bedford Blues Bedford Blues are a semi-professional rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in the RFU Championship. History Foundation and 19th century Bedford RUFC was founded in 1886 after an amalgamation between Bedford Rove ...

as he preferred to stay in his career rather than go full-time professional at the age of 29.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kardooni, Aadel Leicester Tigers players Wasps RFC players Bedford Blues players Blackheath F.C. players Iranian rugby union players English rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves Iranian emigrants to the United Kingdom 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Tehran People educated at Sherborne School People educated at Clayesmore School 20th-century English sportsmen