Jason Temu (born 17 April 1972) former

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

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 as a in the 1990s and 2000s. He played at representative level for

, and club level for the

Marist Saints The Marist Saints is a rugby league club based in Mount Albert, New Zealand. They currently compete in the top grade in Auckland Rugby League, the Fox Memorial Premiership. History Founded in 1919, the Marist club first won the Fox Memorial in 1 ...

, Counties Manukau, Oldham Bears,

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Hull play their home games at the MKM Stadium and compete in Super League, the t ...

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

and the

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

Background

Temu was born in

Auckland, New Zealand 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 ...

and is of

Cook Islanders Cook Islanders are residents of the Cook Islands, which is composed of 15 islands and atolls in Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean. Cook Islands Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of the Cook Islands, although the Cook Islands is curre ...

descent.

Early years

Temu grew up in New Zealand and played for the

in the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. Founded in 1909, the ARL has played a pivotal role in the development and promotion of rugby league in Auckland and beyond. ...

.''Lion Red Rugby League Annual 1994'',

New Zealand Rugby Football League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year.Coffey and Wood '' ...

, 1994. p.106 In 1994 he followed his coach, Stan Martin, to the

Counties Manukau Heroes The Counties Manukau rugby league team represents the Counties Manukau zone in the Albert Baskerville Trophy. Previously, teams representing Southern Auckland and the Franklin (district), New Zealand, Franklin district of New Zealand have competed ...

in the new

Lion Red Cup The Lion Red Cup was a New Zealand domestic rugby league competition that ran from 1994 to 1996 sponsored by brewers Lion Nathan. It was created due to the increase in public awareness of domestic rugby league due to the Auckland Warriors being a ...

competition.''Lion Red Rugby League Annual 1994'',

, 1994. p.94 After several strong seasons with the Heroes he was offered a professional contract to play for

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

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 ...

, and then for the renamed Oldham Bears 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 ...

. At Oldham Bears, Temu made an immediate impression, playing the first 22 consecutive games. Temu was to play for the club for the next three years. In 1995, after his first season with Oldham Bears, Temu was selected for the Cook Island to play in the

Emerging Nations Tournament In 1995 and 2000, the Rugby League International Federation held an Emerging Nations Tournament alongside the Rugby League World Cup. The competition was designed to allow teams who have failed to qualify for the World Cup proper a chance to play o ...

. The Cook Islands won the tournament.

Hull Sharks and Newcastle Knights

In 1998 Temu made the move to the Hull Sharks and the

. Temu played 15 games for the club that year. In 1999 Temu moved to Australia and joined 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 ...

competition. His time at the club was plagued by injury and over two seasons he only played 3 first grade games. He was released at the end of 2000.

World Cup and Warriors

At the end of 2000 Temu was selected in the Cook Island team for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

and was made vice-captain of the squad. The

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors is an English professional rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club competes in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system. Formed in 1872, the club is a founding member of the Ru ...

were interested in signing Temu, who did not count as a quota player due to the time he had spent in Great Britain. However he was denied a work permit due to the little game time he had had at Newcastle and so the deal fell through. Instead, Temu signed with the new

club and provided experience to the younger props in the side. When not selected by the first grade side he played for the

Marist Richmond Brothers The Marist Richmond Brothers were a New Zealand rugby league franchise that played in the Bartercard Cup. They were a joint venture between two Auckland Rugby League clubs, the Richmond Bulldogs and the Marist Saints. In 2005 the competition was ...

in the

Bartercard Cup The Bartercard Cup (successor of the Lion Red Cup) was the top level rugby league club competition in New Zealand from 2000 until 2007. For the entire life of the tournament it was sponsored by Bartercard. The cup was administered by the New Ze ...

.Round 7 Bartercard Cup Teams
''Rleague.com'', 26 April 2001 He played four first grade games for the Warriors and subsequently decided to retire at the end of the 2001 season.

References

External links

Jason Temu bio
''rugbyleague.co.nz''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Temu, Jason 1972 births Living people 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Cook Island rugby league players Cook Island expatriate rugby league players Cook Island expatriate sportspeople in Australia Cook Island expatriate sportspeople in England Cook Islands national rugby league team players Counties Manukau rugby league team players Hull F.C. players Marist Richmond Brothers players Marist Saints players New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in England New Zealand expatriate rugby league players in Australia New Zealand sportspeople of Cook Island descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Warriors players Newcastle Knights players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league props