Alexander "Alex" Gray (born 1 May 1991) is an English former

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 ...

and

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player. He has played for the England Sevens,

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

Yorkshire Carnegie Leeds Tykes (formerly Leeds RUFC, Leeds Carnegie and Yorkshire Carnegie) is an English rugby union club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the National League 2 North. The club was founded as Headingley FC, but renamed in 1991 whe ...

, and

Bath Rugby Bath Rugby is a professional rugby union club in Bath, Somerset, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Founded in 1865 as Bath Football Club, since 1894 the club has played at the Recreation Ground, Bath, Rec ...

, and played

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He also appears as Apollo in the 2024

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

reboot of ''

Gladiators A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...

''.

Rugby union (2010–2017)

Club career

Gray was a product of

Academy and signed a two-year first-team contract at the age of just 17. His primary position is number eight, but he can also play openside flanker. It was announced that the back-rower joined

on 8 August 2011. After finishing the England Sevens commitment in the summer of 2016, Gray signed for

for 2016/17 season.

International career

The former

Barnard Castle School Barnard Castle School (colloquially Barney School or locally the County School) is a co-educational private day and boarding school in the market town of Barnard Castle, County Durham, in the North East of England. It is a member of The Head ...

Schoolboy has captained England to Grand Slams at Under-16s Under-18s and Under-20s levels, making his Under-18s debut three years young when they toured Australia in 2007. He then skippered the Under-18s through a clean sweep in the 2008 Home Nations tournament, before leading them to six wins from six on their summer tour to Argentina. 2009 saw more success at age group level as he led England 18s again. Gray made his England Sevens debut in 2013. Subsequently, he was named as 2015 RPA Sevens Player of the Year. In May 2016, Gray was included in extended Great Britain Sevens squad in preparation for the

Rio Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

NFL career (2017–2019)

Gray signed with

club

on 25 May 2017, the first British rugby player to pursue a career in

. He was signed as a

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

player after attending the

NFL Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

and tryouts in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

through the NFL's

International Player Pathway Program International Player Pathway (IPP) is a program run by the National Football League (NFL) to increase the number of players from outside the United States or Canada in the NFL. The program was formed as part of the NFL's strategy to grow globally ...

. Under the rules governing this scheme, teams in the

NFC South The National Football Conference – Southern Division or NFC South is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It was created before the 2002 NFL season when th ...

division receive one extra practice squad position specifically for an international player, but these players cannot be activated during the season following their signing. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Falcons on 15 January 2018. On 1 September 2018, Gray was waived by the Falcons and re-signed to the practice squad. Gray signed a reserve/future contract with the Falcons on 31 December 2018. He was waived/injured during final roster cuts on 31 August 2019, and reverted to the team's

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

list the next day. He was waived from injured reserve on 13 January 2020.

Rugby union (2020–2021)

Gray returned to rugby union from the NFL when he signed with

in November 2020. He left the team in the offseason after making only six appearances.

''Gladiators''

In the beginning of 2024, Gray joined the cast of the British television series ''

'' as Apollo.

References

External links

Statbunker profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Alex 1991 births Living people American football tight ends Atlanta Falcons players English players of American football English rugby union players Footballers who switched code International Player Pathway participants Newcastle Falcons players Bath Rugby players People educated at Barnard Castle School Sportspeople from Bishop Auckland Rugby union players from Bishop Auckland English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate players of American football Rugby union centres