Daniel Ojambo Adongo (born ) is a Kenyan former sportsman. He moved to South Africa in 2007 to join the ' rugby academy and played professional

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 ...

in South Africa and New Zealand between 2011 and 2013. He then converted to

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

, joining the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

as an

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

until 2015.

Rugby union

As a rugby player, he plays either as a lock or a flanker, and last played

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

for the

Southern Kings The Southern Kings were a South African professional rugby union team that competed in Super Rugby and Pro14. They were based in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province and played their home matches at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. They w ...

in the

2013 Super Rugby season The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brumbi ...

Youth

In Kenya, he joined the Kenya Harlequins junior team. He was spotted by South African scouts at the 2006

Safari Sevens The Safari Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament held in Nairobi, Kenya. The Safari Sevens is open to international representative sides, professional and amateur clubs, invitational teams, university and school teams. Initially held at t ...

tournament, playing in the schools category for School. In 2007, he joined to the academy. He progressed from Under–19 level in 2008 to Under–21 level in 2010.

Sharks

He was included in the squad for the

2010 Vodacom Cup The 2010 Vodacom Cup was contested from 26 February to 7 May. The 2010 Vodacom Cup is the 13th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vod ...

, but failed to play in any matches. He did play in twelve Under–21 matches later in the year and was once again included in the squad for the

2011 Vodacom Cup The 2011 Vodacom Cup was contested from 25 February to 13 May 2011. The tournament was the 14th edition of the Vodacom Cup, an annual domestic South African rugby union competition, and was played between the fourteen provincial teams in South ...

competition, where he made his debut in the opening match of the season, a 30–19 victory over the . He made a total of ten appearances in that competition, scoring three tries. He was also included in the squad for the

2011 Currie Cup Premier Division The 2011 Currie Cup Premier Division was the 73rd season in the competition since it started in 1889 and was contested from July to October 2011. The tournament (known as the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division for sponsorship reasons) is the to ...

, but failed to feature in that competition.

Blue Bulls

At the end of 2011, he was signed by the . He made eight appearances for them in the

2012 Vodacom Cup The 2012 Vodacom Cup was played between 10 March and 18 May 2012 and was the 15th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Premier and First Division ...

, but he was then released from his contract after just six months to join New Zealand

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Teknologi Mara, a public university in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia * Institute for Information, Tel ...

team .

Counties Manukau

He joined prior to the

2012 ITM Cup 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. He made his debut against and played in eight matches for them on their way to winning the Championship and subsequent promotion to the Premiership. However, he wasn't named in their 2013 squad.

Kings

He joined the from Counties Manukau for the

. He was an unused substitute in the Kings' historic first ever match against the , but he did make his

debut the following week, coming on as a late substitute against his former team the . He also appeared against the and then made his first Super Rugby start against the in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

. However, after another substitute appearance against the , he fell below Rynier Bernardo in the pecking order and reverted to playing domestic rugby, playing three matches for the in the

2013 Vodacom Cup The 2013 Vodacom Cup was played between 9 March and 18 May 2013 and was the 16th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. The Vodacom Cup is played between provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from the Currie Cup Premier and Fi ...

competition. One more substitute appearance in the home victory over the followed, as well as playing the opening match of the

2013 Currie Cup First Division The 2013 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 29 June to 11 October 2013. The tournament (also known as the Absa Currie Cup First Division for sponsorship reasons) is the second tier of South Africa's premier domestic rugby union compe ...

season, but his season then came to a premature end following a torn bicep injury.

Varsity Cup

He also played for in the

2012 Varsity Cup The 2012 Varsity Cup was contested from 6 February to 9 April 2012. The tournament (also known as the ''FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International'' for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-univ ...

, playing in three matches.

International

Internationally, he played for the Kenyan Under–18 and Under–21 national teams, and, although he initially expressed a desire to play for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

internationally, he declared himself available for for the

2015 Rugby World Cup qualifying The Rugby World Cup qualification, qualification process for the 2015 Rugby World Cup began during the pool stages of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, 2011 tournament in New Zealand, during which the top three teams from each of the four pools were award ...

series.

American football

On 25 July 2013, the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

announced that they signed Adongo as an outside linebacker despite the fact that he had no prior

experience. After spending time as a member of the Colts' practice squad, Adongo was added to the Colts' active roster on 3 December 2013. Adongo appeared in two games for the Colts in 2013, but did not record a tackle. On 7 August 2014, Adongo received a bicep injury during a pre-season game, and was waived with the injury designation by the Colts the following day. When he cleared waivers, he reverted to the Indianapolis Colts'

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

. On 5 September 2015, Adongo was waived by the Colts. He was signed to the practice squad the following day. Adongo was elevated to the active roster on 12 November. He was waived again on 17 December 2015 after law enforcement personnel received at least two reports of possible domestic violence between Adongo and an unidentified female.

Life after sport

Adongo's father has expressed concern about difficulties his son was experiencing after his sports career ended.

References

External links

Indianapolis Colts bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adongo, Daniel Living people 1989 births Rugby union flankers Kenyan rugby union players Southern Kings players Sharks (Currie Cup) players Blue Bulls players Sportspeople from Nairobi Kenyan expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby union players in New Zealand Kenyan expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Expatriate rugby union players in South Africa Kenyan expatriate sportspeople in South Africa University of Pretoria alumni Kenyan expatriate sportspeople in the United States American football linebackers Indianapolis Colts players Kenyan players of American football Footballers who switched code Alumni of Strathmore School