Chris Houston (born 15 February 1985) 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 last played for the

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the RFL Championship, Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at DCBL Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twe ...

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 ...

. He played as a and and previously played for the St. George Illawarra Dragons and

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 ...

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 ...

Background

Born in

Narooma, New South Wales Narooma () is a town in the Australian state of New South Wales on the far south coast. The town is on the Princes Highway, which crosses the Wagonga Inlet to North Narooma. The heritage town of Central Tilba is nearby to the south. The name ...

, Houston played his junior football for the

Narooma Devils Narooma Devils Junior Rugby League Football Club is an Australian rugby league football club based in Narooma, New South Wales formed in 1929. They conduct teams for both Junior & Senior competitions from Under 6's to First Grade. Notable Junio ...

before being signed by the St. George Illawarra Dragons. Houston played for the Dragons'

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

reserve-grade team in 2006.

Playing career

In round 3 of the

2007 NRL season The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusi ...

, Houston made his

NRL 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 ...

debut for St. George Illawarra 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 ...

. In late 2007, Houston signed a contract with the

starting in 2008. In round 13 of the

2008 NRL season The 2008 NRL season was the 101st season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the eleventh run by the National Rugby League. For the second year, sixteen teams competed for the 2008 Telstra Premiership title. The sea ...

, Houston made his first appearance as a captain due to the Newcastle Knights regular captain

Kurt Gidley Kurt Geoffrey Gidley (born 7 June 1982) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Warrington Wolves in the Super League. An Australia international and New South Wales State of Origin representative a ...

and vice-captain Steve Simpson being unavailable for the match. In March 2010, Houston was served with a notice to attend court on charges of supplying

ecstasy Ecstasy most often refers to: * Ecstasy (emotion), a trance or trance-like state in which a person transcends normal consciousness * Religious ecstasy, a state of consciousness, visions or absolute euphoria * Ecstasy (philosophy), to be or stand o ...

and

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

. He voluntarily terminated his contract with the Newcastle club. On 17 December 2010, Houston was cleared of all charges On 23 December 2010, due to being cleared of all charges, Houston signed a new two-year contract with the

starting in 2011. On 31 July 2012, Houston re-signed with Newcastle on a two-year contract. Houston made 992 tackles in the 2012 season, averaging over 41 tackles a game, the most of any player in the

. On 31 October 2014, Houston re-signed with Newcastle on a two-year contract. On 2 December 2015, Houston signed a two-year contract with

side

starting in 2016, after being told he was free to look elsewhere by incoming Knights coach Nathan Brown. On 11 July 2017, it was announced that Houston had signed an extension of his contract with

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

, keeping him at the club until the end of 2018.

Representative career

In 2009, Houston was named 18th man for

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in Game 3 of the 2009 State of Origin series, however he didn't play. In 2011, Houston played for

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

against

City A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in the annual

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Syd ...

match.

References

External links

Widnes Vikings profileSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houston, Chris 1985 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players St. George Illawarra Dragons players Newcastle Knights players Newcastle Knights captains Maitland Pickers players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks Rugby league players from New South Wales Rugby league props 21st-century Australian sportsmen