Sean Holley

Last updated

Sean Holley
Date of birth (1970-11-06) 6 November 1970 (age 52)
Place of birth Neath, Wales
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight96 kg (15 st 2 lb)
University Loughborough University
Rugby union career
Position(s) Fullback
Senior career
YearsTeamApps(Points)
1990
1990-1992
1992-1993
1993-1995		 Uni NSWales
Maesteg
Rugby Lions
Aberavon 		()
Coaching career
YearsTeam
2000–2003
2003–2012
2013–2016		 Gloucester RFC Academy
Ospreys
Bristol Rugby
Official website
www.seanholley.co.uk

Sean Holley (born 6 November 1970) is a Broadcaster and Rugby Union Coach

Contents

Rugby career

After a year in Australia playing sport Holley played for Maesteg RFC at centre and full back. He studied for a degree in Physical Education & Sports Science at Loughborough University, playing for Loughborough Students and transferring to Rugby Lions whilst at University. On completing his studies Holley gained employment at CCTA (now Coleg Sir Gar) and signed as a fullback for Aberavon RFC until an injury sustained in a match in 1994 against South Africa which saw him forced to end his playing career at the age of 24. During his time as a sports lecturer at Carmarthenshire College, Holley devised a two-year national diploma course in Rugby Studies in 1998. [1] Holley took the concept with him to Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, where he became the college's first Director of Rugby. [2]

Between 2000 and 2003, Holley was the head coach of the Gloucester RFC Academy. Holley joined the Ospreys regional team at their formation in 2003, as assistant coach working under Lyn Jones. When Jones left the region in May 2008, Holley took charge of the region for the 2008–09 season. [3] He remained Head Coach until 2012 winning 5 major trophies with the Region.

Holley was appointed as assistant coach for the Wales national team's 2009 summer tour of North America, with responsibility for defence. The opportunity arose as regular defence coach Shaun Edwards, along with two other Wales coaches, were unavailable due to their participation in the 2009 Lions tour to South Africa. [4]

The 2009–10 season saw Scott Johnson join the Ospreys as Director of Rugby, with Holley remaining at the region as head coach. [5] Holley left the Ospreys in February 2012 by mutual agreement after a dire run of results. [6] The Ospreys went on to win all eight of their remaining games after Holley's departure, including the Grand Final.

After providing short-term cover at the Scarlets regional team while Mark Jones was away assisting the Wales national side during the 2013 Six Nations tournament, [5] Holley joined Bristol Rugby as first team coach ahead of the 2013–14 season. [7] He renewed his contract with Bristol in April 2015. [8] Bristol gained promotion to the English Premiership under Holley's leadership at the end of the 2015/16 season beating Doncaster in their third play off final in as many years. On 24 June 2016, he and Bristol Rugby parted company by mutual consent. [9]

Media work

Following his departure from the Ospreys in February 2012, Holley has worked as a pundit and analyst on BBC Wales' rugby programming including Scrum V. [10]

In June 2012, Holley was approached by Town & Country Broadcasting regarding hosting a radio show about rugby. [11] The first series of the show, titled Rugby Nation and broadcast on Nation Radio along with other Town & Country stations across South Wales started in August 2012. [12] Rugby Nation was nominated in the Best Sports Programme category at the 2013 Sony Radio Academy Awards, [13] and won the bronze award in the category. [14]

Holley now works regularly not only for the BBC and Nation but also for BT Sport, Talksport and Sky Sports. He has recently collaborated with award-winning education technology company Aspire2Be to devise a new programme for schools called iBroadcast. He is an Ambassador for the charity Rugby For Heroes as well as the Velindre Cancer Centre and works closely with sports travel company Venatour. Holley also hosts a rugby and entertainment podcast called Tuesday Club with fellow commentator and Welsh rugby player Shane Williams and Rugby fan and actor Kyle Rees.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ospreys (rugby union)</span> Rugby team

The Ospreys, formerly the Neath–Swansea Ospreys is one of the four professional rugby union teams from Wales. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team formed as a result of Neath RFC and Swansea RFC combining to create a new merged entity, as part of the new regional structure of Welsh rugby, that began in 2003. They are also affiliated with a number of local semi-professional and amateur clubs, including Welsh Premier Division sides Aberavon RFC, Bridgend Ravens, and original founding clubs Neath and Swansea. The regional area represented by the team has widely become known for rugby purposes as 'Ospreylia'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Rugby Championship</span> Annual rugby union competition in Europe and South Africa

The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in South Africa, and the BKT United Rugby Championship in the competition's other territories, the split branding mirroring the format previously adopted in Super Rugby. The Championship represents the highest level of domestic club or franchise rugby in each of its constituent countries. The Championship is one of the three major professional leagues in Europe, the most successful teams from which go forward to compete in the highest-level continental club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and Challenge Cup. Since 2022–23, despite the name, South African teams have been eligible to qualify for European competitions, and one South African place in the Champions Cup from the Championship is guaranteed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiff Rugby</span> Professional Welsh regional rugby union team

Cardiff Rugby is one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scarlets</span> Rugby team based in Llanelli, Wales

The Scarlets are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The club was originally named the Llanelli Scarlets but was renamed at the start of the 2008–09 rugby season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristol Bears</span> English rugby union football club

Bristol Bears are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Thomas</span> Wales international rugby union footballer

Jonathan Thomas is a Welsh rugby union coach and former player, he played mainly at flanker having also played at number eight and lock. He was previously head coach of Worcester Warriors. On 17 January 2023 he was appointed as an Assistant Coach of the Welsh rugby union team.

Ian Evans is a former Wales international rugby union player. He was part of the coaching staff of the Dragons RFC, joining in 2018, until his departure in January 2020.

Lyn Jones is a former Wales international rugby union player. Originally playing as a flanker, Jones subsequently became a coach. He played most of his playing career for Neath RFC and started his coaching career at the same club. Jones has coached professional clubs in Wales and England and, in 2018, became head coach of the Russian national rugby union team. He subsequently beame a coach with national rugby team of the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Fussell</span> Rugby player

Richard Fussell is a former professional Welsh rugby union winger. During his career, he represented Pontypridd RFC, Newport Gwent Dragons, and the Ospreys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhys Webb</span> British Lions & Wales international rugby union footballer

Rhys Webb is a Welsh rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Ospreys. Born in Bridgend, he is a product of the Ospreys academy and played club rugby for Bridgend RFC and Aberavon RFC before breaking into the regional side in 2008. He played for the Ospreys for 10 years before moving to French club Toulon in 2018, but terminated his contract with them in 2020 and agreed a return to the Ospreys; however, he was unable to join the Ospreys immediately and signed for Bath for the remainder of the 2019–20 season before returning to the Ospreys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Biggar</span> Wales and British Lions international rugby union player

Daniel Biggar is a Welsh rugby union player currently playing for French Top 14 side Toulon as a fly-half. A Wales international, Biggar has also twice been selected to tour with the British and Irish Lions.

Jonathan Evans is a Welsh rugby union footballer, who play at scrum half for Ebbw Vale RFC. He also played for the Scarlets, Newport Gwent Dragons and Bath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordan Williams (rugby union)</span> Welsh rugby union player

Jordan Rhys Williams is a Welsh rugby union footballer who plays for the Dragons. His regular position is at full-back, but he has also played at fly-half and on the wing. He began his career with amateur side New Dock Stars RFC, before being signed by Llanelli RFC and ultimately breaking into the Scarlets regional side. However, he struggled to find playing time with the Scarlets and moved to Bristol in 2016, only to return to Wales with the Dragons two years later. He has also played internationally for Wales at under-16, under-18 and under-20 level, as well as for the Wales Sevens team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashley Beck</span> Wales international rugby union footballer

Ashley Beck is a Wales international rugby union player. Beck currently played for Merthyr RFC, and has previously played for Worcester Warriors and the Ospreys. He has represented Wales and Wales U20. He is the current attack coach of Premiership Women's Rugby side Worcester Warriors Women.

Hanno Dirksen is a South African rugby union player currently playing for NOLA Gold of Major League Rugby (MLR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Baldwin (rugby union)</span> Rugby player

Scott Baldwin is a former Welsh international rugby union player. He played as a hooker for the Ospreys, Harlequins and Worcester Warriors.

Dan Baker is a Wales international rugby union player. A back row forward, he plays for Ystradgynlais RFC having previously played for the Dragons, Stade Montois, Ospreys and Aberavon RFC

The 2013–14 season was Edinburgh Rugby's thirteenth season competing in the Pro12.

Kevin Hopkins is a retired Welsh International rugby union player. He made seven appearances for his country, as well as representing Cardiff RFC, Swansea RFC and Neath RFC in the top division of Welsh club rugby, and played twice for the Barbarians invitational side. Following his retirement from playing, Hopkins has held numerous coaching positions.

References

  1. ↑ Richards, Huw (18 September 1998). "Pick up the ball and run". Times Educational Supplement.
  2. ↑ Richards, Huw (14 October 2010). "A Student of Rugby Leads Ospreys as Coach". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 October 2010.
  3. ↑ "Ospreys start season under Holley". BBC Sport Online. 12 June 2008.
  4. ↑ "Holley Jumps To The Defence of Wales". Welsh Rugby Union. 11 May 2009.
  5. 1 2 "Pro12: Sean Holley appointed to Scarlets role". BBC Sport Online. 18 January 2013.
  6. ↑ "Steve Tandy replaces Sean Holley as Ospreys coach". BBC Sport Online. 15 February 2012.
  7. ↑ "Bristol release 11 players as Sean Holley is added to backroom". BBC Sport Online. 23 April 2013.
  8. ↑ "Sean Holley: Bristol first-team coach agrees new deal". BBC Sport Online. 21 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "Sean Holley: Bristol first-team coach leaves promoted club". BBC News. 24 May 2016.
  10. ↑ "Pro12: Sean Holley turns down Connacht role". BBC Sport Online. 7 January 2013.
  11. ↑ "SH RADIO: Rugby Nation Show". seanholley.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "'RUGBY NATION' PRESS RELEASE" (Press release). Town & Country Broadcasting. 13 August 2012.
  13. ↑ "Sony Radio Academy Awards 2013: full list of nominations". The Guardian. 10 April 2013.
  14. ↑ Goodacre, Kate (14 May 2013). "Sony Radio Academy Awards 2013: The winners in full". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.