George Gatis is a professional
rugby leagueRugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
player who has played in the
National Rugby LeagueThe National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
and
Super LeagueSuper League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...
competitions. His position of choice is at hooker.
North Queensland
He made his
first gradeThe National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
debut for the
North Queensland CowboysThe North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...
in 2001. Gatis played 24 games for the Cowboys between 2001 and 2003.
A broken arm in 2003 followed by a knee reconstruction kept Gatis out of first-grade for several years.
New Zealand Warriors
When the
New Zealand WarriorsThe New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...
visited Townsville in 2005, assistant coach
Kevin CampionKevin Campion is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. His positions of choice were in the second row and at lock. Kevin is the younger brother of Australian radio personality Paul Campion...
offered Gatis a chance to come and spend the pre-season with the Warriors.
Gatis accepted the offer and, in 2006, he was signed by the
New Zealand WarriorsThe New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...
. He played in thirty nine games for the club over two seasons.
Huddersfield
In August 2007 Gatis signed for the
Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are a professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire who play in the European Super League competition. They play their home games at the Galpharm Stadium which is shared with Huddersfield Town F.C....
for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. However, just three months into a two-year contract with Huddersfield, George was forced to quit the club for personal reasons.
Retirement
Gatis returned to Australia and helped his parents
fish and chipFish and chips is a popular take-away food in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada...
shop. During the 2008 season he signed with the
North Queensland CowboysThe North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...
and played one NRL match for the club, starting at hooker. For the majority of the season he played with the
Northern PrideThe Northern Pride RLFC is a Queensland rugby league club founded in 2007. Based in Cairns, Queensland they compete in the Queensland Cup.-History:...
in the Queensland Cup.
Gatis retired at the end of the season.
Representative career
Gatis, of
GreekGreeks are the seventh-largest ethnic group in Australia, after those declaring their ancestry simply as "Australian". In the 2006 census, 365,147 persons declared having Greek ancestry, either alone or in conjunction with another ethnicity....
heritage, has played for the
Greek national sideThe Greece national rugby league team represents Greece in rugby league football. The team has been participating in international competition since 2003, and have since become an affiliate member of the Rugby League International Federation.-History:...
several times. He received Greek citizenship in November, 2007.
External links