Dean Widders

Dean Widders

Widders in 2008
Personal information
Born	25 October 1979 (1979-10-25) (age 32) Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
Height	178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	101 kg (15 st 13 lb) [1]
Playing information
Position	Second-row, Stand-off
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2000–01	Sydney Roosters	13	1	0	0	4
2002–06	Parramatta Eels	112	28	0	0	112
2007–08	South Sydney	34	7	0	0	28
2009–11	Castleford Tigers	60	23	0	0	92
	Total	219	59	0	0	236
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2006	Country Origin	1	0	0	0	0

Dean Richard Widders (born 25 October 1979 in Armidale, New South Wales), an Indigenous Australian, is a former professional rugby league player.

Biography

Childhood

Dean Widders played his first game of rugby league at the age of six, he tried many other sports but excelled especially in rugby league. Widders was also an avid reader during his childhood, a skill that he continues to promote.^{[citation needed]}

During Widders' teenage years he honed his rugby league skills and became well known in the local area as a lock playing for the Armidale Greens. During this time a Sydney Roosters selector flew to Armidale to see Widders' play. When Widders' was 14, in 1993, he was invited to a selection trial and proved to be one of the best players.

Playing career

At the age of 17, in 1996, Widders' moved to Sydney to play with the Sydney Roosters. In this year he also captained an Aboriginal side.

Widders' played NRL Premier League for the Roosters, occasionally playing in NRL matches. In 2002 Widders' signed with the Parramatta Eels, he finished with this club at the end of 2006.

Widders' was involved in a racial vilification incident in July 2005 when South Sydney Rabbitohs captain Bryan Fletcher racially abused him [1]. In 2006 he signed a three year contract to play for the South Sydney Rabbitohs starting in 2007. Widders lost form remarkably in 2008 and played most of the year for NSW Cup side North Sydney before being released 1 year early and signing for Castleford Tigers in England where he has played since 2009

Castleford Tigers 2009

Dean joined Castleford for the 2009 season. Dean played 19 times in his first season for the tigers scoring 6 tries. He became a big fans favourite usually coming from the bench.

Castleford Tigers 2010

Dean started 2010 in great fashion scoring the final and clinching try away at Headingley in Castlefords opening game against Leeds Rhinos Dean unfortunately picked up an injury and missed 2 months of the season but has since came back and played in an unfamiliar role of Stand-off linking up with Rangi Chase He has blossomed in the position and remains a big favourite with the tigers fans.

Castleford Tigers 2011

Dean continued to play in 2011 and had a good season in which was his final season at Castleford Tigers The club failed to make the play offs after a narrow defeat to Hull KR. Dean said his final goodbyes to the Castleford public in the last home game against Hull RLFC

Off-field

In 1997 Widders' returned to Duval High School in Armidale to complete his Higher School Certificate.^{[citation needed]}

Widders' is very well respected in his hometown of Armidale, New South Wales: in 2004 he was awarded the NRL's Ken Stephens Medal for his positive work with youth in the community and in 2006 he was appointed to the Federal Government's National Indigenous Council. Widders is also an Ambassador for the National Aboriginal Sports Corporation Australia (NASCA).^[2]

When Widders' was a child he had access to reading material, in a context where not many Aboriginal children did. Widders' now travels around Australia distributing books to indigenous children and indigenous communities. He also helps indigenous children with their writing skills via email.^{[citation needed]}

Career highlights

• Junior Club: Armidale, Narwan
• Career Stats: 103 first grade games to date scoring 26 tries

Footnotes

1. ^ "Castleford Tigers First Team". web page. Castleford Tigers Rugby League Football Club Ltd. http://www.castigers.com/player/350. Retrieved 6 August 2011. 
2. ^ "New Member Appointed to National Indigenous Council". Commonwealth Government. 2006-06-19. Archived from the original on 2007-09-20. http://web.archive.org/web/20070920093708/http://www.vibe.com.au/dsounds/archive/read.asp?id=698. Retrieved 2008-01-02. 

External links

• Castleford Tigers profile
• Literally, Eels bookworm is a national hero
• Article on Racial Vilification Incident
• Deadly Vibe interview with Dean Widders
• Community Champions - Dean Widders

Persondata
Name	Widders, Dean
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	25 October 1979
Place of birth	Armidale, New South Wales
Date of death
Place of death