Eddie Aholelei (born 3 December 1981) is a retired 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 ...

footballer. His regular playing position is

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

Early career

Aholelei is of

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

n descent. He was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand but grew up in Tonga most of his life with his parents and 4 brothers and represented Tonga at Under 19 World Cup 2000 in France. Aholelei moved to

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 ...

, Australia after high school and joined the Manly Marlins rugby club colts in 2001. Twelve seasons later, Aholelei played his 200th grade game for Manly against Parramatta in Round 9 of the 2012

Shute Shield The Shute Shield, currently known as the Charter Hall Shute Shield, is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team fro ...

and played 135 games in 1st grade . He also represented the Australian Barbarians twice.

Club career

Aholelei joined the Melbourne Rebels extended playing squad in 2011. He made his first appearance for the Melbourne Rebels vs Bath Rugby Football Club on their 2011 UK tour. In Round 8 2012 he made his Super Rugby debut off the bench against the

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005 to 2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the feral horses which inh ...

and went on to join the full squad in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. On 14 July 2014, Aholelei made his move to England to join

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club () was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from ...

who competed in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

from the 2014–15 season. He appeared 45 times for London Welsh between 2014 and 2016 in both the Aviva Premiership and RFU championships competition. In July 2016, he moved to the Romanian

SuperLiga Superliga (''super league'') may refer to: Sports Superliga can refer to different sports leagues: Association football *Albanian Superliga, the Albanian top-flight men's division * Argentine Superliga, the Argentine top-flight men's division *D ...

champions

Timișoara Saracens Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

. He also helped the club to win the Supa liga Champion for the second time in a row.

Charity (Youth in Union)

In 2015 he founded the charity "Youth in Union" (Nonprofit Organisation) to help youth through education and sports in his home country Tonga.

References

External links

Rebels profile
Living people 1981 births New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union props Melbourne Rebels players New Zealand emigrants to Australia New Zealand sportspeople of Tongan descent Tonga international rugby union players London Welsh RFC players Rugby union players from Auckland New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby union players in Romania SCM Rugby Timișoara players Tongan rugby union players Manly RUFC players {{Australia-rugbyunion-bio-1980s-stub