Anthony Gilbert Swann (born 27 March 1975) is a 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 represented both

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

in international rugby league.

Background

He was educated at

Liston College Liston College is a school in Henderson, New Zealand, Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand, for year seven to 13 boys and offers a Roman Catholic, Catholic education to its students. It was the second List of Christian Brothers schools, school open ...

, Henderson.

Playing career

Swann's career started with the Waitakere City Raiders in the 1994 Lion Red Cup, before he signed with the

Auckland Warriors The 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 the Aucklan ...

, 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 are an Australian rugby league football club based in Cammeray on Sydney's North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The club currently competes in the NSW Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL s ...

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 city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

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 Rugb ...

before moving to England to join the

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

. Swann played for

at the 2000 World Cup. In 2002 he switched to

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 played for the

Bay of Plenty Steamers Bay of Plenty (often known as the Bay of Plenty Steamers) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand. The union was originally established in 1911, with the National Provincial Championship estab ...

. 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 Auckland Rugby League season, 2009 ...

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 Ze ...

, 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 Allen (basketball) (born 1949), American basketball player and ...

, and his cousin, Logan Swann, both played for the

References

External links

Anthony Swann
''Rugby League in New Zealand'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Swann, Anthony 1975 births Living people 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Auckland rugby league team players Canberra Raiders players 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 Rugby league players from Auckland Samoa national rugby league team players Samoan rugby league players Waitakere rugby league team players Warrington Wolves players