Mark Kheirallah

Mark Kheirallah
Personal information
Born (1990-02-15) 15 February 1990 (age 34)
Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia
Height177 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight83 kg (13 st 1 lb)
Playing information
PositionFullback, Scrum-half
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2011 Sydney Roosters 1 0 0 0 0
2012–22 Toulouse Olympique 129 98 492 1 1377
2022–23 Featherstone Rovers 24 17 13 0 94
Total 154 115 505 1 1471
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2017 France 4 1 0 0 4
Source: [1][2][3]
As of 11 October 2023

Mark Kheirallah (Arabic: مارك خير الله; born 15 February 1990), also known by the nickname of "Killer",[4] is a former France international rugby league footballer who last played as a fullback or scrum-half for Featherstone Rovers in the Betfred Championship.

He previously played for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League.

Background

He was born in Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia. Kheirallah of Indigenous Australian and Egyptian descent.[5]

Playing career

Kheirallah played his junior football for Mascot Jets before being signed by the South Sydney Rabbitohs. He played for the Rabbitohs' S. G. Ball Cup team in 2008[6] and was a part of the Rabbitohs' NYC squad in 2009 but didn't play a game.

Sydney Roosters

In 2010, Kheirallah joined the Sydney Roosters. He played for the Roosters' NYC team in 2010[7] before moving on to the Roosters' NSW Cup, Newtown Jets in 2011.

In Round 17 of the 2011 NRL season, Kheirallah made his NRL debut for the Roosters against the Canberra Raiders.[8]

Newtown Jets

At the end of 2012, Kheirallah played in the Jets' 2012 New South Wales Cup Grand Final win over the Balmain Ryde-Eastwood Tigers.

Toulouse Olympique

In October 2012, Kheirallah signed with Toulouse Olympique in the Elite One Championship.[9] In 2013, Kheirallah joined the Kurri Kurri Bulldogs in the Newcastle Rugby League.[10] He played in the Bulldogs' Grand Final loss to the Western Suburbs Rosellas before returning to Toulouse in France.

In April 2014, Kheirallah played in Toulouse Olympique's Lord Derby Cup Final win over AS Carcassonne, scoring 3 tries, kicking 6 goals and winning the Man of the Match award in the game.[11] In June 2014, Kheirallah joined the Wyong Roos in the NSW Cup.[4] He again returned to France following his spell with Wyong, playing for Toulouse in their inaugural League 1 season in 2016 where he finished as the competition's top points scorer and was nominated for the league's player of the year. After qualifying on residency, Kheirallah was included in France's squad for the 2017 World Cup.[12] On 10 October 2021, he played for Toulouse in their victory over Featherstone in the Million Pound Game which saw the club promoted to the Super League for the first time in their history.[13] On 16 March 2022 his contract with Toulouse was terminated for gross misconduct.[14]

Featherstone Rovers

On 27 March 2022 Featherstone announced that they had signed Kheirallah.[15] On 28 May 2022, he played for Featherstone in their 2022 RFL 1895 Cup final loss against Leigh.[16]

On 11 Oct 2023 he announced his retirement from the professional game[17]

Personal life

Kheirallah is the nephew of Steve Linnane.[18]

References

  1. ^ loverugbyleague
  2. ^ "Mark Khierallah – Career Stats & Summary". Rugby League Project. 15 February 1990. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  3. ^ itsrugby
  4. ^ a b "VB NSW Cup Previews – Round Fourteen". NSWRL. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  5. ^ "Will Widnes Vikings 'do a Leicester' – and would it be good for the Super League?". The Guardian. 9 March 2016.
  6. ^ "Sharks Training – Matty's and SG BallCup and NYC". Ourfootyteam.com. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  7. ^ "Mark Kheirallah player results, scores, news and statistics". Archived from the original on 5 September 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  8. ^ "NRL 2011 – Round 17". Rugby League Project. 4 July 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Rugby à 13 : Mark Kheirallah signe à Toulouse". toulouseinfos.fr. Archived from the original on 13 June 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  10. ^ "Player statistics for Mark Kheirallah – SportsTG". Foxsportspulse.com. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  11. ^ "RLEF". Rlef.eu.com. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  12. ^ "Kheirallah heads to World Cup with France". SBS. 3 October 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  13. ^ "Toulouse promoted to Super League after beating Featherstone". Sky Sports.
  14. ^ Darbyshire, Drew (16 March 2022). "Toulouse Olympique officially terminate contract of Mark Kheirallah". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  15. ^ "Featherstone Rovers sign former Toulouse full-back Mark Kheirallah to bolster promotion push". Yorkshire Evening Post. 27 March 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  16. ^ "Featherstone Rovers: 1895 Cup final defeat to Leigh Centurions gives Brian McDermott's side signal of their progress". yorkshirepost.co.uk. 29 May 2022.
  17. ^ "Championship star Mark Kheirallah announces retirement: 'It has been an epic ride'". Love Rugby League. 11 October 2023.
  18. ^ "Dave Fleming's Blast from the Past". Halifax RLFC. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2018.