Nathaniel Joseph McAvoy (born 31 December 1976) is an English former professional

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 or . He spent most of his club career with

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

(1994–98 and 2004–05) and

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

(1998–2002 and 2007), but also had short spells with

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

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 ...

and

Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England. Leigh play homes games at Leigh Sports Village and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. ...

. At international level, he was capped four times for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

between 1996 and 1999. He also played

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 ...

for

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

in 2003–04. As of 2011, he is a qualified PE teacher and teaches in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Playing career

Salford

Born and brought up in

Weaste Weaste () is an inner-city suburb of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is bordered by the town of Eccles, Greater Manchester, Eccles to the West and Seedley to the East. In 2014 Weaste and Seedley (ward), Weaste and Seedley ward had a pop ...

, Salford, McAvoy's first professional contract was given to him by

. He joined Salford in 1994 from Eccles ARL, where he played alongside Adrian Morley, Ian Watson and Carlo Napolitano. He made 118 appearances for the Salford City Reds, scoring 75 tries during his five-year stint at the club.

Bradford Bulls

Super League giants

signed McAvoy in July 1998 for a fee of £140,000. McAvoy played for

from the interchange bench in the 1999 Super League Grand Final which was lost to St. Helens. During his time at Bradford he lifted the Rugby League

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

, and the Grand Final in which he scored a spectacular try against bitter rivals

in 2000 which is remembered fondly by fans.

Rugby union

Nathan left Bradford and decided it was time for a new challenge and changed codes to play

for

during the 2003–04 season. His rugby union career was frustrating with an early injury causing loss of form and only made a handful of appearances before joining Salford again mid-2004.

Later career

He joined Leeds Rhinos in January 2006 and he made his début in the Tetleys Festive Challenge 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 ...

against Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, and scored a try in a 46 – 18 win It was announced on 28 April 2006 that Nathan had joined Wigan Warriors on a months loan. A day later it was announced that Leeds Rhinos had released Nathan from his contract. Nathan was awarded with a 1-year contract at the JJB Stadium this season after successfully helping the Wigan club survive relegation last season. It was announced 2 February 2007 that Nathan was not offered a contract with Wigan and will be returning to Bradford for the 2007 season taking the squad number 2. In August 2007 it was announced that Nathan would be released at the end of 2007. In December 2007, it was announced that Nathan had signed a part-time contract to play with

for the 2008 season.

Representative career

In 1994, McAvoy played for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

under-21s 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 ...

. McAvoy won

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

s for

while at Salford in 1996 against Wales, and while at Bradford Bulls in 1999 against France, and France (sub). During his time at Salford, McAvoy was given the captaincy of the Great Britain Academy squad when they toured in New Zealand. He was also selected in the

squad for the 1996 European Championship, and he made his début against Wales before being named in the squad for the 2000 World Cup.

Post-playing career

In the 2008 season, McAvoy suffered a shattered kneecap and broken neck. Although he fully recovered he subsequently decided to retire from professional sport and complete his studies at Salford University where he gained a 2:1 in Sport Science & Management in 2009 (dissertation – Salary Caps in Sport). He then went on to train as a teacher and in 2010 became a PE teacher at Manchester Academy. Nathan currently resides on the RFL disciplinary board.

References

External links

Nathan McAvoy Player ProfileMcAvoy returns for second spell at Bradford
{{DEFAULTSORT:McAvoy, Nathan 1976 births Living people 20th-century English sportsmen 21st-century English sportsmen Alumni of the University of Salford Bradford Bulls players England national rugby league team players English rugby league players English rugby union players Schoolteachers from Greater Manchester Great Britain under-21 national rugby league team players Leeds Rhinos players Leigh Leopards players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Stockport Rugby league wingers Rugby union players from Stockport Salford Red Devils players Saracens F.C. players Wigan Warriors players