{{Short description|Irish rugby union player}} {{EngvarB|date=March 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox rugby biography | name = Gerry Culliton | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | full_name = Gerard Culliton | birth_date =15 June 1936 | birth_place = Clonaslee, County Laois, Irish Free State | death_date = {{death date and age|2012|9|7|1936|6|15|df=y}} | death_place = Rearymore, County Laois, Ireland | height = <!-- or ''height_cm'' or ''height_ft'' and ''height_in'' --> | weight = <!-- or ''weight_kg'' or ''weight_st'' and/or ''weight_lb'' --> | school = Cistercian College | university = | clubs1 = Tullamore | clubs2 = Wanderers | clubs3 = Leinster | repteam1 = Ireland | repcaps1 = 19 | | coachteams1 = Portlaoise }} '''Gerard Culliton''' (15 June 1936 – 7 September 2012)<ref>[http://www.espnscrum.com/ireland/rugby/player/6364.html Gerry Culliton player profile] Scrum.com. Retrieved 10 March 2020.</ref> was an Irish international rugby union player. A native of Clonaslee in County Laois, he won 19 caps for Ireland, playing in four different positions.<ref name=in />
== Career == Culliton was educated at Cistercian College, Roscrea. While at school he played hurling and represented Laois GAA at junior level. He was going to be called up to the Laois senior team, but was invited by a friend to play a rugby match for Tullamore RFC. He played the match under a pseudonym; however, he later received a phone call from the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), stating that he had been seen playing rugby and was thus banned from playing Gaelic games under Rule 27, which prohibited any GAA player from playing rugby, football, hockey or cricket at the time.<ref name=lt>{{cite web|url=https://www.laoistoday.ie/2019/02/09/19-caps-for-ireland-the-barbarians-and-junior-hurling-title-with-clonaslee-the-amazing-sporting-career-of-gerry-culliton/ |title=19 caps for Ireland, the Barbarians and a junior hurling title with Clonaslee – the amazing sporting career of Gerry Culliton |publisher=Laois Today |date=9 February 2019 |accessdate=10 March 2020}}</ref>
After playing for Tullamore for two years, Culliton moved to Wanderers in Dublin, where he played for seventeen years. He went on to play provincial rugby for Leinster and then received a call-up to the Ireland national rugby union team, making his debut against England in 1959 at Lansdowne Road.<ref name=es>{{cite web|url=http://en.espn.co.uk/scrum/rugby/player/6364.html |title=Gerry Culliton |publisher=ESPN |date= n.d.|accessdate=10 March 2020}}</ref> He played for Ireland for six years.<ref name=es /> He also played for the Barbarians against South Africa national rugby union team and New Zealand.<ref name=in />
In the 1970s, he started coaching Portlaoise RFC. In 1971, the GAA repealed Rule 27, allowing Culliton to rejoin the GAA. He started coaching hurling for Clonaslee–St Manman's and coached that club to its first Laois Senior Hurling Championship title since 1910, when Laois was still referred to as Queen's County.<ref name=lt />
== Personal life == Culliton was a Christian and carried out the Lough Derg pilgrimage fifty times.<ref name=ie>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.ie/opinion/editorial/another-farm-reared-rugby-hero-29108559.html |title=Another farm reared rugby hero |work=Irish Independent |accessdate=10 March 2020}}</ref> Away from rugby, he worked as a farmer.<ref name=ie /> He had six children, with his son Garrett representing Ireland at the Paralympics four times.<ref>{{cite web|last=Healy |first=Martin |url=https://extra.ie/2018/11/23/sport/rugby/garrett-culliton-irfu-charitable-trust |title=Garrett Culliton: From The Rugby Pitch To The Paralympics |publisher=Extra.ie |date=23 November 2018 |accessdate=10 March 2020}}</ref> He died on 7 September 2012 at his home in Rearymore, County Laois.<ref name=in>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/celebrated-rugby-player-whose-heart-was-in-hurling-1.556716 |title=Celebrated rugby player whose heart was in hurling |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=24 November 2012 |accessdate=10 March 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/rugby/94641/Laois-mourns-passing-of-rugby-legend.html |title=Laois mourns passing of rugby legend Culliton |work=Limerick Leader |date=2012-09-12 |accessdate=2025-02-05}}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culliton, Gerard}} Category:1936 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Barbarian F.C. players Category:Gaelic games players from County Laois Category:Hurling coaches Category:Ireland international rugby union players Category:Irish rugby union players Category:People educated at Cistercian College, Roscrea Category:People from Clonaslee Category:Rugby union locks Category:Rugby union players from County Laois Category:Wanderers F.C. (rugby union) players Category:20th-century Irish farmers Category:20th-century Irish sportsmen