Dimitri Pelo (born 17 April 1985) is a French 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

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 ...

in the

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 ...

. He has previously played for Montpellier Herault RC after switching codes in 2010 and for the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

club of 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 plays as a or .

Career

Pelo was born in

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French Sui generis collectivity, special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest Francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main i ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

, an

overseas territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

of France. He emigrated to Australia with his parents while still in his adolescence, originally settling in the north-eastern state of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. While living there, Pelo began playing junior rugby league, catching the eye of

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

scouts who signed him to the Sydney club for several years. While at Cronulla-Sutherland, Pelo went on to represent the Australian Schoolboys team for whom he scored two tries in a Test match defeat against the England Academy in 2002, but he could not make his way into the Cronulla first-grade side, instead being relegated to the reserves and lower competitions. During the 2005 season, Pelo was called up by French national team along with fellow clubman Daniel Dumas; during this time his contract with the Cronulla club expired and he left the club. Pelo then moved back to Queensland, originally signing a short-term deal with the

Burleigh Bears The Burleigh Bears are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Gold Coast, Australia. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. Since their admission to the competition in 1997, the ...

club in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

in the hope of securing a longer-term deal with the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the ...

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). During the end of the 2006 season, the Gold Coast club displayed interest in Pelo, selecting him in several early trial matches and a sevens competition but ultimately he was unsuccessful in securing any deal with the club so began to look abroad. For the beginning of the 2007 season Pelo signed a deal with the French club

. He was named in the France training squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

. He was named in the France squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. He switched codes for the 2010/11 season, playing for

Montpellier Hérault RC Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the department of Hérault. At the 2020 census, 299,096 people lived in the ...

. In December 2011 he trialled with the

with the hope of gaining a first-grade contract after the departure of Daniel Vidot to the St. George Illawarra Dragons. His trial successfully earned him a one-year contract with the Canberra club. He made his debut in the Round 12 36–18 defeat against South Sydney on 12 May 2012.

Career highlights

* 1999-2001: Played for Queensland Juniors * 2001: Signed with the Bull Dogs * 2002: Represented Australian School Boys * 2002–2004: Played for Burleigh Bears – Queensland Cup * 2003: Represented France – Mediterranean Cup - 4 appearances, 1 try * 2004–2006: Played for reserves Cronulla Sharks * 2005: Represented France – Rugby Sevens Cup - 4 appearances, 2 tries * 2006: Played for Burleigh Bears (Gold Coast Titans Reserves) * 2007–2010: Played for Catalans Dragons (Super League) * 2007 – 12 appearances, 5 tries * 2008- 20 appearances, 10 tries * 2009 -24 appearances, 17 tries * 2010- 17 appearances, 4 tries * 2008- (play offs) 2 tries * 2009 – (play-offs) 3 tries * 2008- Carnegie challenge cup – 4 appearances, 1 try * 2009- carnegie challenge cup – 5 appearances, 2 tries * 2010- carnegie challenge cup - 6 appearances, 2 tries * 2008: Represented France – World Cup - 2 appearances * 2009: Represented France – 4 Nations - 2 appearances * 2010- 2011: Played for Montpellier MHR (top 14 rugby union) - 9 appearances, 5 tries ** Amlin challenge cup – 5 appearances, 2 tries * 2012: Played for

(NRL) – 5 appearance

Career playing statistics

Point scoring summary

Matches played

References

External links

Dimitri Pelo Official profile
''(in French)''
Dimitri Pelo Super League profile

Dimitri Pelo playing history

Players to watch - Dimitri Pelo (France)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelo, Dmitri 1985 births Living people Burleigh Bears players Canberra Raiders players Catalans Dragons players Expatriate rugby league players in Australia France national rugby league team players French expatriate rugby league players French expatriate sportspeople in Australia French rugby league players French rugby union players Montpellier Hérault Rugby players Mount Pritchard Mounties players New Caledonian rugby league players Sportspeople from Nouméa Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league wingers Rugby union players from Wallis and Futuna 21st-century French sportsmen