Shayne McMenemy (born 19 July 1975) is a former

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 ...

international

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 back rower in the 1990s and 2000s. He played club football in Australia for the

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) is an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as the club is commonly ...

and

WA Reds The Western Reds were a rugby league football club based in Perth, Western Australia. Founded in 1992 as the Western Reds, they entered into the Australian Rugby League competition in 1995 before defecting to the rival Super League competition i ...

, and in England for the

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the League 1, the third tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs tha ...

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 ...

, Halifax and

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 ...

Early years

McMenemy was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, New South Wales, Australia. He attended Macquarie Fields High School in his early years, before attending

St Gregory's College, Campbelltown St Gregory's College Campbelltown (abbreviated as SGC or Greg's or St Greg's) is an Independent school, independent Catholic Single-sex school, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational comprehensive and specialist Primary school, prim ...

Playing career

Australia

A Macquarie Fields Hawks Junior, McMenemy made his first grade début in 1997 against the

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995 to 1996) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and on ...

. The Magpies won the game against a Balmain Tigers team including

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 ...

and

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 ...

. McMenemy signed a scholarship at 14 and went on to play Harold Mathews, SG Ball, Jersey Flegg, Presidents Cup, Reserve Grade and first grade. McMenemy début in the

Tommy Raudonikis Thomas Walter Raudonikis (13 April 1950 – 7 April 2021) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He played 40 International games and World Cup games as Australia representative and captained his country in two matches of the 1 ...

era in the late 1990s. McMenemy mostly played for the Magpies. A bad elbow injury finished off his career in 1999 and he joined 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 ...

England

McMenemy's English career started at

where he played a handful of games before moving onto

. McMenemy was named Player of the Year and Clubman of the Year, and was selected in the Northern Ford Dream Team of the year.

finished one game short of the grand final. McMenemy signed on for

for the 2001 season but only played one game before he transferred to Halifax. McMenemy was named player of the year in 2001 and Defensive player of the Year in 2002. By mid-2003, Halifax were experiencing financial problems and McMenemy was signed by

midseason. Making his début against the

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the RFL Championship, Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at DCBL Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twe ...

, McMenemy dislocated his elbow and only appeared in a few games at the end of the season. McMenemy played for

, and was part of the winning

2005 Challenge Cup The 2005 Powergen Rugby League Challenge Cup was played by teams from across Europe during the 2005 rugby league season. Hull F.C. won the cup defeating Leeds Rhinos in the final. Qualifying round First round Second round Third round F ...

team at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

against

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 ...

, 25–24. McMenemy played a major role in the semi-final against St. Helens, scoring two tries in the 34–8. Hull FC reached the 2006 Super League Grand final against St. Helens, and McMenemy played at second-row forward in his side's 4–26 loss at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

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 ...

. McMenemy's career with Hull ended with a serious injury, when he dislocated his shoulder scoring against

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby le ...

at Belle Vue, requiring season-ending surgery. He was named in the Ireland training squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

. After not initially being selected for the final 24-man squad, he was called up as a replacement in the

squad for the

. In 2008 McMenemy returned to Australia to play in the

Jim Beam Cup The Ron Massey Cup (formerly known as the Bundaberg Red Cup and Jim Beam Cup) is a semi-professional development level rugby league competition in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, run jointly by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) and the ...

for

as captain-coach. He was included in the Jim Beam Cup NSW team in the Quad series.

References

External links

Ireland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMenemy, Shayne 1976 births Living people Australian people of Irish descent Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Halifax Panthers players Hull F.C. players Ireland national rugby league team players Irish rugby league players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league second-rows Western Suburbs Magpies players