Vincent "Vinny" Mellars (born 27 January 1984) is a New Zealand

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 ...

and

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 ...

footballer who plays in the Centres. He has previously played in the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

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 ...

and

Air New Zealand Cup An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

and in the

RFL Championship The Rugby Football League Championship, (known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second highest division of rugby league in British rugby league system, Britain (with one team in the league also being based in France) ...

for

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

Background

Vinny Mellars was born in

Porirua Porirua, () a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Poriru ...

, New Zealand. His father,

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

, was a New Zealand international.

Early career

Mellars played his junior

for

Wainuiomata Wainuiomata () is a large Commuter town, dormitory suburb of Lower Hutt, in the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area in New Zealand. Its population was estimated as being as of with a density of 1,600 people ...

and

Petone Petone (Māori language, Māori: ''Pito-one'') is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. It stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. Europeans first settled in Petone in Januar ...

. After being signed by 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 ...

he moved to Auckland, playing for Otahuhu in the 2002 Bartercard Cup. He also represented

and

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 ...

in the Bartercard Cup.

New Zealand

Mellars made his

début aged 19, in round 13 of the 2003 NRL season with the

against the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

. Mellars played with the Warriors throughout the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

Cronulla-Sutherland

In 2005, Mellars signed with the

. Mellars scored two tries against Newcastle in 2005 including the winning try in

Golden Point The golden point, a sudden death overtime system, is used to resolve drawn matches in a number of sports. The term is borrowed from soccer's now-defunct golden goal. Rugby league Australia The golden point is used to determine a winner (where a ...

extra time.

Sydney Roosters

In round 6 of the

2006 NRL season The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Te ...

, Mellars featured for the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

when he was chosen to play against Brisbane on the Wing. Mellars scored his first try of 2006 in round 8 against North Queensland. His second try of 2006, was against Souths in round 11 and his third was against Melbourne in round 13. In round 18, Mellars was called up for the game against Manly-Warringah (to replace Shaun Foley). Mellars played in the 2006

NSW Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

grand final for Newtown, who were the feeder club for the

at the time. Newtown would lose the final 20–19 against

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

Rugby Union

In 2008, Mellars made the switch to

, moving to

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand to be with his wife, Charmian Purcell, who played basketball for the Christchurch Sirens and who had also represented New Zealand at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He was in the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

wider training squad and played in the

for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

Return to League

In 2009 Mellars played with the Auckland Vulcans in the

Super League

Just a few weeks before the start of the 2010 Super League season, Mellars signed for Crusaders RLFC. Only fourteen days later, he made his début in 2010's Super League XV against

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 ...

where he put Gareth Raynor over the line for his first try for the Crusaders. Following the demise of the Crusaders, Mellars joined

Wakefield Trinity 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 (Wakefield), Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier o ...

on a three-year deal, starting in 2012.Mellars makes Wildcats move
''rleague.com'', 1 August 2011 In 2013, Vince signed a contract to play with Kingstone Press Championship club

References

External links

Canterbury Crusaders Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellars, Vince 1984 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Auckland rugby league team players Canterbury rugby union players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Crusaders Rugby League players East Coast Bays Barracudas players Featherstone Rovers players Junior Kiwis players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand people of Tokelauan descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand Warriors players Newtown Jets NSW Cup players Otahuhu Leopards players People educated at Bishop Viard College Petone Panthers players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Porirua Rugby league wingers Rugby union players from Porirua Sydney Roosters players Wainuiomata Lions players Wakefield Trinity players