Anthony Gilbert Swann (born 27 March 1975) is 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 112 ...

footballer who represented both

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 ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

in international rugby league.

Background

He was educated at Liston College, Henderson.

Playing career

Swann's career started with 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 ...

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 ...

, before he signed with the

Auckland Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

, joining their reserve grade side.''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 He made the Warriors' first grade side in 1996 and played 36 times for the club. He was a

representative in 1996, playing in three test matches. After this Swann spent a year with the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the ...

where he was in the lineup for North Sydney's last ever first grade game against The

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 30 ...

scoring a try. He spent a season and a half with the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

before moving to England to join the

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warringto ...

. Swann played for

at the 2000 World Cup. In 2002 he switched to

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

, and played for the Bay of Plenty Steamers. In 2004 Swann returned to Auckland, playing rugby league for the

Mt Albert Lions The Mount Albert Lions are a rugby league club based in Mount Albert, New Zealand. The Lions home ground is at Fowlds Park. Their patron is the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark. In 2008 and 2009 the Lions won the Fox Memorial. A ...

in the

Bartercard Cup The Bartercard Cup (successor of the Lion Red Cup) was the top level rugby league club competition in New Zealand from 2000 until 2007. For the entire life of the tournament it was sponsored by Bartercard. The cup was administered by the New Zea ...

, and representative football for the Auckland side.

Later years

After retiring from rugby Swann became a teacher at Glen Eden Intermediate School.

Personal life

His brother,

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scr ...

, and his cousin,

Logan Swann Logan Swann (born 10 February 1975) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who represented New Zealand. Swann is related to several other international rugby league players, notably cousins Willie Swann and Anthony Swan ...

, both played for the

References

External links

Anthony Swann
''Rugby League in New Zealand'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Swann, Anthony 1975 births Living people Auckland rugby league team players Canberra Raiders players Date of birth missing (living people) East Coast Bays Barracudas players Marist Saints players Mount Albert Lions players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand people of I-Kiribati descent New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand schoolteachers New Zealand Warriors players North Sydney Bears players People educated at Liston College Place of birth missing (living people) Rugby league centres Samoa national rugby league team players Waitakere rugby league team players Warrington Wolves players