John Anthony Gallagher (born 29 January 1964) is a 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 ...

and

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 1980s and 1990s. Born in England to Irish parents, he moved to New Zealand and played rugby union for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

as a

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

, winning 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 ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

. In 1990, he moved to rugby league, playing for

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, and the London Crusaders as a . Gallagher returned to rugby union and played one game for Ireland A in 1996.

Early life

Gallagher was born in

Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...

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 ...

to Irish parents. An enthusiastic Arsenal football supporter, he was introduced to rugby union at his childhood school, St. Joseph's Academy, Blackheath, where he was required by the headmaster to join the team.

Rugby union

Gallagher first visited New Zealand in 1984 and played for the Oriental Rongotai club in Wellington. He went on to play for the

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

provincial team, before he returned to England and joined the Metropolitan Police. He subsequently returned to New Zealand and joined the police there, while continuing to play for Wellington. In 1986 Gallagher switched from centre to fullback and his Wellington team won the

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship (NP ...

. He was chosen for the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, qualifying through permanent residency. He went on to play 41 games (18 test matches) for the All Blacks. Gallagher began with four matches in France in 1986, and continued through the 1987 season, cementing his test match starting spot and winning the inaugural Rugby World Cup that year in Auckland, New Zealand. In 1990 he was named the International Rugby Player of the Year. He did not suffer a loss while representing New Zealand. He is considered by many sources, including

the New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, ...

and

the Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

newspapers, to be one of the greatest fullbacks and All Blacks of all time.

Rugby league

In 1990, Gallagher was one of the first of a succession of

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

to switch codes to rugby league, following his understudy

Matthew Ridge Matthew John Ridge (born 27 August 1968) is a New Zealand television presenter, and a former rugby union and rugby league footballer. A fullback in both codes, Ridge played rugby union for Auckland and became an All Black, but never won an ...

, who signed with the

NSWRL The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission.It was registered on 21 ...

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League sea ...

only a week before. Other All Blacks who followed soon after were

Frano Botica Frano Michael Botica (born 3 August 1963) is a New Zealand-Croatian rugby union and rugby league coach and former player in both codes, who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He is the head coach of the Philippines sevens team. He represented New ...

(

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

John Schuster Nesetorio Jonny Schuster (born 17 January 1964) is a former international rugby league and rugby union player, a dual-code international. Schuster went to St Joseph's College and played for Marists Saint-Joseph, then six times for Samoa befo ...

(

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 two years later

Va'aiga Tuigamala Va'aiga Lealuga Tuigamala Pulelua Fesola'i (4 September 1969 – 24 February 2022), often known as Inga Tuigamala, was a professional rugby union and rugby league player. Born in Samoa, he represented New Zealand in rugby union, winning 19 cap ...

(Wigan). He was initially signed by David Ward for

. He was considered one of the fastest players over 30m when he switched to league, and this was put to good early use by Leeds. He was targeted by opposition players in defence and was badly injured in an alleged ''

spear tackle A spear tackle is an illegal tackle in rugby union, rugby league and Australian rules football in which a player lifts another player into the air and drops them so that they land on their back, head or neck. Spear tackles have caused serious inj ...

'', playing away at St Helens involving Tea Ropati. He may also have found the tactical differences between the two codes difficult to adjust to, particularly in his favoured full-back position and the move was unsuccessful. Perhaps his finest moment for Leeds came in a match against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

during the Australian teams

1990 Kangaroo tour The 1990 Kangaroo Tour was the seventeenth Kangaroo Tour, where the Australian national rugby league team (known as the XXXX Kangaroos due to sponsorship reasons) travelled to Europe and played eighteen matches against British and French cl ...

when he scored the opening try of the game at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

. Gallagher's defense came into question later in that game when giant Kangaroo second rower

Paul Sironen Paul Sironen (born 23 May 1965) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of Finnish descent who was a prominent Second-row forward for the Balmain Tigers during the late 1980s, and early 1990s. He was part of the team tha ...

scored two tries, both times running over the top of him. Following the signings of fullbacks

Morvin Edwards Morvin Renata Tewhetu Aroha Edwards (born 8 May 1968) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who following the footsteps of his father Sam Edwards former NZ Kiwi rugby league player, Morvin represented New Zealand. His pos ...

and

Alan Tait Alan Victor Tait (born 2 November 1964) is a former Scottish dual-code rugby footballer, and now coach. He is a defence coach at the Super 6 side Southern Knights. He was previously head coach at Newcastle Falcons and a former rugby union an ...

in the 1991–92 season, Gallagher lost his place in the first team. Gallagher signed a three-year contract for the London Crusaders in July 1993, and played for one season.

Return to rugby union

After his contract with London ended in 1995, and rugby union was turning professional, Gallagher was training with Harlequins in rugby union. In 1995 and 1996 he was involved in training squads 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 ...

, and played for Ireland A in the centre against Scotland A in 1996. He also played semi-professionally for Blackheath.

Later career

Gallagher took up teaching in 1994 at Colfe's Preparatory School in south-east London. He spent two years as Director of Rugby at Harlequins, from July 1998 to March 2000, before returning to Colfe's, later becoming headteacher there. His son, Matt Gallagher, is a professional player with Benetton and has played test for

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

References

External links

*
Colfe's Preparatory School

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, John 1964 births Living people Alumni of Leeds Beckett University English rugby league players Heads of schools in London Footballers who switched code Irish rugby union players Leeds Rhinos players London Broncos players New Zealand international rugby union players People educated at St Joseph's Academy, Blackheath Rugby league players from London 1987 Rugby World Cup players Rugby union centres Rugby union fullbacks New Zealand police officers Wellington rugby union players 20th-century English sportsmen