Abi Ekoku is a director at international property group Candelisa Resorts. He is a former athlete and rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby 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.

Ekoku is the former manager of the Great Britain national rugby league team

Great Britain national rugby league team

The Great Britain national rugby league team represents the United Kingdom in rugby league football. Administered by the Rugby Football League , the team is nicknamed "The Lions" or "Great Britain Lions"....

 and was CEO at Bradford Bulls

Bradford Bulls

Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....

 from 2000 to 2003 - a period in which the club became Super League

Super League

Super 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...

, Challenge Cup

Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....

 and World Club Championship

World Club Challenge

The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league football match held between the champions of the Australasian National Rugby League and the European Super League competitions to determine the world's best rugby league club...

.

An all round athlete himself; Ekoku spent six years as a professional rugby league player as a and was a member of the 1997 Bradford Bulls Super League winning team, also playing in a Wembley Cup Final team that year. He previously played for Halifax

Halifax RLFC

Halifax RLFC is one of the most historic rugby league clubs in the game, formed over a century ago, in 1873 in the Yorkshire town of Halifax. Known as 'Fax', the official club colours are blue and white hoops, blue shorts and blue socks . They share The Shay stadium with football club FC Halifax Town...

 (1995 and 1996) and London Crusaders (1993—94) in a part-time playing capacity whilst also lecturing in further education.

Prior to rugby, he represented Great Britain and England at the Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....

, European Athletics Championships, and was AAA’s National Champion in the discus throw

Discus throw

The discus throw is an event in track and field athletics competition, in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than his or her competitors. It is an ancient sport, as evidenced by the 5th century BC Myron statue, Discobolus...

 and UK Champion in the early the early 1990s.

His brother Efan

Efan Ekoku

Efangwu Goziem "Efan" Ekoku is an English-born Nigerian former footballer who played as a striker.- Playing career :...

, was a former professional footballer who represented the Nigeria national football team

Nigeria national football team

The Nigeria national football team, nicknamed the Super Eagles or Green Eagles, is the national team of Nigeria and is controlled by the Nigeria Football Federation . The team has ranked as high as 5th in the FIFA World Rankings, in April 1994...

 and is now a football pundit with ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

.