Stanley Gene (born 11 May 1974) is a

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

n 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 ...

Kumul (№ 166) player and Assistant Coach of the Hull F.C. He previously coached Gateshead Thunder and assistant coach at

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

and served as the

Papua New Guinea Kumuls The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea in the sport of rugby league football. In Papua New Guinea, Rugby League is a highly popular sport and is regarded as the country's national sport. The national side ar ...

head coach in 2010. Having moved to England following an impressive showing for PNG in the

1995 Rugby League World Cup The 1995 Rugby League World Cup (also known as Halifax Centenary World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh World Cup for mens national rugby league teams. It was held between 7–28 October and hosted by England and Wales and was wo ...

, Gene enjoyed a long career in the British game with spells at

Huddersfield Giants The Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Huddersfield play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league sy ...

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 ...

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 ...

and Halifax. Gene was a versatile player with the ability to cover virtually any position on the pitch, though he spent most of his test career playing at stand off (off-half). He was a regular for the PNG Kumuls for 14 years between 1994 and 2008, and captained the side on at least three occasions, including being the PNG captain during 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 ...

, before retiring from international rugby league following the 2008 tournament. Gene is considered a hero in his home country and almost universally regarded as a rugby league legend.

Career

Club career

Gene was born in

Goroka Goroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people (2000), above sea level. It has an airport (in the centre of town) and is on the " Highlands Highway", about from Lae in Mor ...

. After playing in the

for Papua New Guinea, Gene was offered a contract to play for

in the old Second Division. After moving to the United Kingdom, Gene played for Hull KR from 1996 to 2000. He scored 94 Tries in 111 matches during that period, and was a massively popular figure at the club. He moved to Gateshead and was then forced to play for rivals Hull F.C. when they merged. However, he had a frustrating time there, mainly featuring as a substitute. He was granted a release from his contract midway through 2001 and allowed to look for another club. Gene signed with

midway through 2001, but was unable to save them from relegation. However, he was instrumental in the club's unbeaten run and promotion back into Super League the following year. He went on to establish himself as one of Huddersfield's most important players. Gene moved to the

for the 2006 Season. Along with fellow Papua New Guinea national

Marcus Bai Marcus "George" Bai (born 11 October 1972) is a Papua New Guinean former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. An international representative er, he represented Papua New Guinea on numerous occasions including ...

, Gene's first match for the club was their win the

2006 World Club Challenge The 2006 World Club Challenge was a Rugby league match held on Friday, 3 February 2006, at Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield, UK. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Wests Tigers. Qualification Bradford Bulls Bradford Bulls qualified fo ...

against the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...

. He played from the interchange bench and scored a try in the Bradford Bulls' 30–10 victory. After only one season with the Bradford Bulls, he was allowed to rejoin Hull Kingston Rovers. Gene returned to Hull Kingston Rovers, his first English club, following their promotion to Super League in 2007. He provided experience and a steadying influence as the club established itself in Super League, before being allowed to leave at the end of the 2009 season. Following his release from Hull Kingston Rovers, Gene signed for Cooperative Championship side Halifax for the 2010 season along with fellow countryman and close friend Makali Aizue.

PNG

Gene's representative career lasted over a decade. He made his test début for PNG against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at the

Lloyd Robson Oval PNG Football Stadium, known by the sponsored name of Santos National Football Stadium and previously as Lloyd Robson Oval until 2015, is a sporting ground in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It hosted three games for the 1989–1992 Rugby League ...

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

during the France's tour of Oceania in 1994. Selected as a substitute for his first test, Gene contributed a field goal in PNG's 29–22 win.. He then went on to play for the Kumuls during the

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 ...

, and also played in the

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

World Cups. In addition, he represented his country in numerous test matches before announcing his intention to retire from international rugby league following the 2008 World Cup. Following PNG's exit from the tournament, he was tearfully carried from the field by his teammates and given a standing ovation by the 16,239 strong crowd at the

Dairy Farmers Stadium The Willows Sports Complex (last known as 1300SMILES Stadium due to naming rights) was a grass football stadium situated in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It was used predominantly as a rugby league ground as the home ground of the North Que ...

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

, Australia (his last game was a 46–6 defeat by the

Kangaroos Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey ...

Coaching

In 2010,

Adrian Lam Adrian Lam (born 25 August 1970) is a Papua New Guinean professional rugby league coach, and former player, who is currently the head coach of the Super League club Leigh Leopards. He played for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby Leagu ...

stepped down as the coach of the PNG national team. Within a few days, it was announced that Gene would be installed as his replacement. The first game under Gene's leadership was the annual fixture between PNG and the Australian PM's XIII. Gene went on to coach the team for the

2010 Four Nations The 2010 Rugby League Four Nations tournament was played in Australia and New Zealand in October and November 2010. The tournament was the second time the Four Nations had been held, following on from the 2009 edition held in England and France. ...

in Australia and New Zealand, failing to register a victory over tournament winner

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 ...

, runner up Australia, and

. In September 2013 Gene was appointed head coach of Gateshead Thunder (now Newcastle Thunder) for the 2014 season.

Personal life

Gene lives in Yorkshire, Gene has three sons, Cameron, Elliott and Leo. In 2006, he paid for the installation of electricity in his home village of Segu, located on the outskirts of

. In 2012, he set up the Stanley Gene Foundation, aiming to supply donations to the deprived areas of Papua New Guinea.

Pronunciation of 'Gene'

There has been confusion over the pronunciation of 'Gene'. "When I first arrived in England people called me Gene (Jean) and I thought it sounded quite posh, so I got used to it, but it is Gene (Gennay), that's how it is pronounced back home."

Stanley Gene's age

Stanley Gene's age was a major talking point about the player for many years. Although his date of birth registered with the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

(RFL) was 11 May 1974, many of his former teammates and coaches insisted he was considerably older than this. In 2008, Gene himself stated that he was 34, and explained that some people believe that Papua New Guineans "look older in the face" than in other countries. Despite this explanation, it was rumoured that he was unable to provide a birth certificate to prove his age, and that he allegedly held several passports with different dates of birth. Former

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 ...

player Bryan Fletcher predicted that Gene could be as old as 45. On 11 May 2013, Gene confirmed that it was his 39th birthday. He showed guests at his birthday dinner his birth certificate, which confirmed that his date of birth is 11 May 1974.

References

External links

Stanley Gene Official Player ProfilePlayers to watch - Stanley Gene (Papua New Guinea)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gene, Stanley 1974 births Living people 20th-century Papua New Guinean sportsmen 21st-century Papua New Guinean sportsmen Bradford Bulls players Papua New Guinean expatriate rugby league players in England Goroka Lahanis players Halifax Panthers players Huddersfield Giants players Hull F.C. players Hull Kingston Rovers players Newcastle Thunder coaches Papua New Guinea national rugby league team captains Papua New Guinea national rugby league team coaches Papua New Guinea national rugby league team players Papua New Guinean expatriate rugby league players Papua New Guinean expatriates in the United Kingdom Papua New Guinean rugby league coaches Papua New Guinean rugby league players PNG Prime Minister's XIII captains PNG Prime Minister's XIII coaches PNG Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from the Eastern Highlands Province