Jan Cunningham is an Irish former

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 ...

player, who played centre, wing and fullback for

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

. He was educated at

Bangor Grammar School Bangor Grammar School (The Grammar or B.G.S.), is a Northern Irish voluntary grammar school for boys in Bangor, County Down. It was founded in 1856 by the Conservative politician Robert Ward and is one of eight Northern Irish schools represen ...

, where he captained the 1st XV at rugby and the 1st XI at cricket.Trevor Gray, The History of Bangor Grammar School, 2015
Chapter 13b: 1990-1998
/ref> He captained Ulster Schools, was part of the

Ireland Schools The Irish Schoolboys rugby union team is the national team for secondary school students and under-18 school players in Ireland. There is an equivalent Ireland under 18 clubs side that play international rugby. Role The Irish Schoolboys side re ...

team that won the Triple Crown. He studied Law at

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, playing rugby for

Dublin University The University of Dublin (), corporately named as The Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a research university located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dublin, whi ...

, and was selected for Ireland at under-19 and under-21 level. He made his debut for Ulster against

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

in 1995. After completing his law degree in 1997, he joined

Ballymena R.F.C. Ballymena Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in the town of Ballymena, Northern Ireland, playing in Division 2A of the All-Ireland League. It is affiliated to the Ulster branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. The club fields five ...

And signed a full-time contract with Ulster.Jim Stokes, "Mark off to join Exiles", ''Belfast Telegraph'', 17 July 1997. He played all but one of Ulster's

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

matches in the first four seasons of the competition. He was part of the Ulster team who won the 1999 Heineken Cup, scoring three tries during the campaign. He started the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, but fractured his jaw and cheekbone in a tackle early in the first half, and was withdrawn at half-time.Jonathan Bradley, ''The Last Amateurs: The Incredible Story of Ulster Rugby's 1999 European Champions'', The Blackstaff Press, 2018, pp. 168-171 Internationally, played for Ireland 'A' and Ireland Sevens, and was an unused substitute for the senior

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 ...

team in a friendly against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1997. At club level, he moved to

Dungannon RFC Dungannon RFC (Dungannon Football Club) is a rugby union club from Dungannon, Northern Ireland, playing in Division 2B of the All-Ireland League. History The 5th Earl of Ranfurly, who was President of Dungannon Football Club for 24 years an ...

before the 1999-2000 season, and was part of the Dungannon team who were the first Ulster club to win the All-Ireland League in 2001. He fell out of favour at Ulster under head coach

Alan Solomons Alan Solomons (born 31 July 1950) is a former rugby union coach. Law career After studying law at the University of Cape Town, Solomons practised law for 20 years where he was a partner at Sonnenberg, Hoffmann & Galombik. Professional rugby coa ...

, who left him out of the squad for the

2001–02 Heineken Cup The 2001–02 Heineken Cup was the seventh edition of the Heineken Cup. Competing teams from France, Ireland, Italy, Wales, England and Scotland, were divided into six pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. T ...

. His final appearance for the province came in December 2002, after a series of injuries left the team short of centres for a Heineken Cup tie against

Biarritz Olympique Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque (; ), usually known simply as Biarritz, is a French professional rugby union team based in the Iparralde, Basque city of Biarritz in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...

, scoring a try in a narrow defeat. His contract was up at the end of the 2002-03 season, and he was not offered a new one. He had made 54 appearances for the province. He resumed his legal career as a trainee solicitor with Millar McCall Wylie, rising to become a partner at the firm in 2011. His younger brother Bryn also played for Ulster, and has been the team's Operations Director since 2015.Richard Mulligan, "Ulster management happy with progression across all fronts", ''News Letter'', 15 December 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Jan Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Irish rugby union players Ulster Rugby players Rugby union wings Rugby union centres Rugby union fullbacks People educated at Bangor Grammar School Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Dublin University Football Club players Ballymena R.F.C. players Dungannon RFC players Rugby union players from County Down Ireland international rugby sevens players