Dean Parata (born 4 October 1991) is a former

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

international

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 as a for the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...

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 ...

. Parata has previously played for the

Barrow Raiders The Barrow Raiders are a semi-professional rugby league team in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club play home games at Craven Park (Barrow), Craven Park and compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rug ...

Toulouse Olympique Toulouse Olympique or TO XIII is a professional rugby league club in Toulouse, south-west France. Founded in 1937, two years after the French Rugby League Federation, the club is a six-time winner of the French Rugby League Championship. The clu ...

and

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

Background

Parata was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales, Australia New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

Early life

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

descent, Parata attended

Keebra Park State High School Keebra Park State High School (KPSHS), referred to as Keebra Park or Keebra, is a co-educational public secondary school, located in the Gold Coast suburb of Southport, Queensland, Australia. The school falls within Division 6 of Gold Coast ...

and played his junior rugby league for the Nerang Roosters in the

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast, also known by its initials, GC, is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, located approximately south-southeast of the centre of the list of Australian capital cities, state capital, Brisbane. It is ...

. After being signed by 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 ...

, he moved to Sydney and attended

Holy Cross College, Ryde Holy Cross College is an independent Roman Catholic secondary day school for boys, located in the Sydney suburb of Ryde, New South Wales, Australia. It is administered bCatholic Schools New South Wales with an enrolment of 736 students and a te ...

Playing career

Parata played 25 games for the Tigers in the National Youth Competition between 2009 and 2011. At the time of his selection for the 2013 World Cup, Parata was playing for the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

' feeder team, the

Wentworthville Magpies The Wentworthville Magpies, colloquially known as ''Wenty'', are an Australian rugby league team based in the suburb of Wentworthville in Greater Western Sydney, Sydney's Western Suburbs. Founded in 1963 (or 1937), the club has competed in vari ...

in the

New South Wales Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

. He later joined the

Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles The Blacktown Workers Rugby League Football Club, formerly known as Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles, are an Australian rugby league football club based in Blacktown, New South Wales formed in 1962. From 2017 until 2024, they had a side in the NSW C ...

in the same competition. In the 2018 season, he signed for the

in the

where he made 30 appearances for the club. In October 2018, Parata signed with

for the 2019 season. In October 2019, Parata joined

on a two-year contract, but with the suspension of the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

he returned to Australia. In the 2021 season, Featherstone reached the play-off final, but lost to Toulouse and missed out on promotion. The final was Parata's last game for Featherstone and in October 2021 he signed for

where he was appointed as vice-captain. In the 2023 season, London earned promotion to the

with a 18–14 win over Featherstone in the Championship final. Parata was named (jointly with

Lachlan Walmsley Lachlan Walmsley (born 12 June 1998) is a Scotland international rugby league footballer who plays as a er and for Wakefield Trinity in the Super League. He previously played for Halifax in the 2022 RFL Championship and Whitehaven in Leag ...

) as the Championship Player of the Year at the RFL annual awards.

International

Parata was selected to represent Italy at the 2017 World Cup qualifying tournament in 2016. Parata was named as a shadow player for

at the 2017 World Cup. He was selected to represent Italy at the 2022 postponed

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received � ...

. He started at hooker against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and scored a try in the 28–4 win.

References

External links

London Broncos profileSuper League profile2017 RLWC profileItaly profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parata, Dean 1991 births Living people Australian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent Australian rugby league players Barrow Raiders players Blacktown Workers players Featherstone Rovers players Italy national rugby league team players London Broncos players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Sydney Toulouse Olympique players Wentworthville Magpies players People educated at Holy Cross College, Ryde 21st-century Australian sportsmen