Jamie O'Callaghan (born 21 September 1990) is a former Ireland 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 played in the 2000s and 2010s. He was generally a full-time player 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 ...

, where he played from 2008 to 2014 and he also signed permanently for both London Skolars and Hemel Stags. He had played for both previously on loan or dual registration but offered little service; having left Skolars to return to Broncos without playing and less than 10 games at Hemel.

Background

Jamie O'Callaghan was born in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, he has Irish

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...

s, and eligible to play for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

due to the grandparent rule. As a teenager he was based in Whitton, Twickenham and was introduced to rugby league at Feltham College and played for West London Sharks. He represented London & South region for three consecutive years and signed for Harlequins RL. He was primarily a winger. The Super League licensing system of the late 2000's required 9 club trained players to be in the top 25 of each squad and under this system, the London club suddenly introduced a host of youngsters. In June 2008, O'Callaghan became the youngest player to represent the club in Super League when he played against Wigan at the JJB Stadium, aged just 17. He also played a handful of games in the 2009 season. In 2010 he became a first team regular in 2010, scoring 5 tries in 23 appearances and winning the Young Player of the Year award, securing himself a 3 year contract. He was named in the

squad for the 2010 European Cuphttp://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/10/09/12/RUGBYL_Ireland.html O'Callaghan had plenty of opportunities in London, playing over 100 games, but he was not awarded a new contract after the three years were up and Tony Rea released him, with O'Callaghan joining the part-time London Skolars on a permanent contract. However after a short period Joey Grima brought O'Callaghan back to the club for 2014 in a surprise move. O'Callaghan continued to struggle in a bottom of the table team and was released once again. He also played a handful of times at

Hemel Stags The Hemel Stags are an amateur rugby league club based in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. They were semi-professional and played in Betfred League 1 from 2013 until 2018. They withdrew from the professional system when their licence was purch ...

in Kingstone Press League 1.

References

External links

Harlequins profile
1990 births Living people English people of Irish descent English rugby league players Hemel Stags players London Broncos players London Skolars players Ireland national rugby league team players Irish rugby league players People from Hammersmith Sportspeople from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league centres Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from London {{England-rugbyleague-bio-stub