Andrew Tangata-Toa (born 15 February 1974) is a Tongan former professional

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 ...

footballer who played in the 1990s. Primarily a er, he played for the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

St George Dragons The St. George Dragons are an Australian rugby league, rugby league football club from the St George, Sydney, St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales Rugby League, New South Wales competition ...

and

Huddersfield Giants The Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Huddersfield play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league sy ...

Background

Born on the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast, also known by its initials, GC, is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, located approximately south-southeast of the centre of the list of Australian capital cities, state capital, Brisbane. It is ...

, Tangata-Toa played junior rugby league for the

Burleigh Bears The Burleigh Bears are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Gold Coast, Australia. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. Since their admission to the competition in 1997, the ...

and attended

Miami State High School Miami State High School is a school in the suburb of Miami, Queensland, Miami (Queensland, Australia) established as "South Coast District State High School" in 1963. It is currently the Gold Coast's second oldest state school, second in age o ...

Playing career

In 1990, Tangata-Toa represented the Queensland under-17 side, kicking three goals in a 14-all draw with New South Wales. In Round 19 of the

1993 NSWRL season The 1993 NSWRL season (known as the 1993 Winfield Cup Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the eighty-sixth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. The New South Wales Rugby League's sixteen teams competed for the J. J. ...

, Tangata-Toa made his first grade debut for the

in a 14–16 loss to the

Manly Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

. That season, he represented the New South Wales under-19 side. In 1995, Tangata-Toa was a member of the

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

squad at the

1995 Rugby League World Cup The 1995 Rugby League World Cup (also known as Halifax Centenary World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh World Cup for mens national rugby league teams. It was held between 7–28 October and hosted by England and Wales and was wo ...

but did not play a game. In 1997, after four seasons with the Knights, Tangata-Toa joined the

. During the 1997 season, he represented the Rest of the World side in an 8–28 loss to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In his two seasons with the Dragons, Tangata-Toa played 26 games, scoring one try. In 1999, he moved to the

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

, playing 15 games in his lone season at the club.

Personal life

Tangata-Toa's younger brother,

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

, is a former professional rugby league player and coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tangata-Toa, Andrew 1974 births Living people Australian sportspeople of Tongan descent Huddersfield Giants players St. George Dragons players Newcastle Knights players Tongan rugby league players Rugby league players from the Gold Coast, Queensland Rugby league second-rows