Ben Harris (born 24 September 1983) is an Australian 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 2000s. He became the first player in the history of the sport to have won grand finals in each hemisphere in consecutive seasons. Harris played in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

(NRL) for the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

, with whom he won the 2004 premiership, and 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 ...

. He also played in England for the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

, with whom he won 2005's Super League X. He played primarily as a .

Canterbury-Bankstown

Of English descent and an Old Bar Pirates junior, Harris made his NRL début for the

in 2002 at the age of 18. He played in 42 first-grade matches for the club, including as the starting centre for their 2004 NRL Grand Final victory over cross-city rivals, the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

Bradford Bulls

Harris joined English club the

in May 2005. The Bradford Bulls won 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 ...

premiership in his first season there, and he started at centre in the 2005 Super League Grand Final win over the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

. He thus won premierships in each hemisphere over consecutive seasons, becoming the first player in the history of rugby league to do so. As

champions Bradford faced

premiers the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

in the 2006 World Club Challenge. Harris played on the wing in the Bradford Bulls' 30–10 victory.

North Queensland Cowboys

Harris returned to the NRL in 2008, signing for the

as a replacement for the retiring Paul Bowman in the centres. In his first season for the Cowboys he was selected for the Country Origin team, his first and only representative football. Over time, he moved into the Cowboys' forward pack, playing in the second row. He retired from professional football after injury plagued seasons in 2009 and 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Ben 1983 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian people of English descent Bradford Bulls players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players North Queensland Cowboys players Rugby league centres Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Taree Rugby league second-rows 21st-century Australian sportsmen