Ronald Phillip O'Regan is a New Zealand former

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, and coach who represented

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 ...

between 1983 and 1986. His nephew,

Daniel Daniel commonly refers to: * Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname * List of people named Daniel * List of people with surname Daniel * Daniel (biblical figure) * Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the acti ...

, played for 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 ...

Playing career

As a young boy he idolised players such as Roger Bailey. In 1981 and 1983, while playing for City Newton, O'Regan won the Rothville Trophy, awarded to the player of the year 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. ...

competition. He toured England with the New Zealand Māori side in 1983. As a 17 year old was offered a contract to play league at Wigan but did not take it up. He was selected as an 18 year old to play for the Auckland representative team in the

Amco Cup The Amco Cup (subsequently known by various other sponsors' names including the Tooth and Co., Tooth Cup, KB Lager, KB Cup, National Panasonic Cup and Panasonic Cup) was a mid-week rugby league competition held in Australia between 1974 and 198 ...

against professional New South Wales Rugby league clubs and other Australian teams. Between 1983 and 1986 O'Regan represented

, playing in eight Test Matches for

. He and Dean Bell debuted in the first test in 1983 against Australia at Carlaw Park. They lost to Australia in the first test but won the second test which was played in Lang Park, Brisbane. O'Regan spent the 1981–82 and 1982-83 off seasons in England, playing for the

Barrow Raiders The Barrow Raiders are a semi-professional rugby league team in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club play home games at Craven Park (Barrow), Craven Park and compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rug ...

in the North of England. At age 21 he captained the team. He also represented the

Mt Albert Lions The Mount Albert Lions are a rugby league club based in Mount Albert, New Zealand. The Lions home ground is at Fowlds Park. Their patron is the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark. In 2008 and 2009 Auckland Rugby League season, 2009 ...

. In 1987 O'Regan toured England again, this time with the

Auckland 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 ...

side.1987 Tour Match: Wigan 6 Auckland 10
''Cherry and White'' coached by Bob Bailey. The Auckland team beat a Wigan team containing some greats of the game such as

Andy Gregory Andrew Gregory (born 10 August 1961) is an English former professional rugby league footballer. A Great Britain international representative , he is an inductee of the Wigan Hall of Fame. He was the first player to win five Challenge Cup Fina ...

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Ellery Hanley Cuthwyn Ellery Hanley (born 27 March 1961) is an English former rugby league player and coach. Over a nineteen-year professional career (1978–1997), he played for Bradford Northern, Wigan, Balmain, Western Suburbs and Leeds. He won 36 ca ...

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and Joe Lydon by 10 points to 6. In 1988 O'Regan was the

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

of the

Te Atatu Roosters The Te Atatu Roosters is a rugby league club based in Te Atatū Peninsula, Te Atatū, New Zealand. They participate in the Auckland Rugby League competition. They currently have 25 teams across schoolboy, junior and senior grades. The Roosters ...

and guided them to winning the Fox Memorial Grand Final. He won the Hyland Memorial Cup that year as coach of the year.

Coaching career

O'Regan later became a full-time coach of the Roosters and in 1993 nearly repeated the feat, as the Roosters lost the Fox Memorial grand final 10–29 to the

Northcote Tigers The Northcote Tigers are a rugby league club based in Northcote, New Zealand. The club was founded in 1910 as the Northcote Warriors though they became known as the Northcote Ramblers shortly afterwards.John Haynes ''From All Blacks to All Go ...

. O'Regan was the coach of the

Waitakere City Raiders The Waitakere City Raiders were a New Zealand rugby league club that represented Waitakere City in the Lion Red Cup from 1994 to 1996. Notable players Notable players included; Boycie Nelson, David Bailey, Ben Lythe, Tony Tuimavave, Robbie ...

in the

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 ...

in 1994 and 1995.

Later years

O'Regan now trains greyhounds in Paeroa. In 2006 he was involved with a doping scandal that saw a vet banned from the sport for 10 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oregan, Ron Living people 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Auckland rugby league team players Barrow Raiders players City Newton Dragons players Mount Albert Lions players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team captains New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league coaches New Zealand rugby league players Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Waikato Sportspeople from Paeroa Te Atatu Roosters coaches Te Atatu Roosters players Year of birth missing (living people)