Jonah Tali Lomu was born on 12 May 1975, in Greenlane, Central Auckland, New Zealand, of Tongan descent. He was a rugby union player, best known for being the youngest rugby player to represent the New Zealand All Blacks internationally.
So just how rich was Jonah Lomu? According to sources, Lomu had earned a net worth of over $2 million, acquired largely during his rugby career which began in the early ‘90s.
Jonah Lomu Net Worth $2 Million
Lomu grew up in a working-class family in Auckland, where he attended Wesley College. He began playing rugby league during his teenage years, but joined the New Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks, in 1994, on the left wing. He was the youngest person to play for the team, being aged 19, and the first All Black since 1905 to score four tries in a match against France.
Not long after, he was selected to the squad for the 1995 World Cup in South Africa. Although his team lost in the in the World Cup final, Lomu was praised for scoring a remarkable seven tries in five matches, which put him into the international spotlight, boosting his popularity. His wealth started to rise.
In 1996 Lomu led the team to become the winner of Tri Nations, an annual competition between New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, however, later that year, he was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, a severe kidney disorder, which caused him to miss the 1997 Tri Nations Series. The following year saw him winning a gold medal in the Rugby Sevens event at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
In 1999 Lomu’s team won the Tri Nations championship again, and not long after came the 1999 World Cup, during which he scored eight tries, and although his team lost to France, he set the record of most tries in a single World Cup. This reinforced his popularity in the world of rugby, significantly contributing to his net worth.
The following year the player scored a try in the 2000 Tri Nations Series, in the acclaimed ‘match of the century’ against the Australian Wallabies, enabling the All Blacks to win 39-35, but his team finished second in the Series. He also played for the Barbarian F.C. in 2000, and the following year for the New Zealand Sevens, winning the 2001 Sevens World Cup.
Despite his worsening physical condition in 2002, Lomu played 63 tests, scoring 37 tries, He was inactive the following year, due to undergoing dialysis three times a week, followed by a kidney transplant in 2004. Afterward, he was able to play sporadically, however, with limited success. After suffering an injury while playing for the New Zealand first division provincial team North Harbour in the NPC in 2005, he briefly played for Welsh club the Cardiff Blues, then the following year he returned to North Harbour, but failed to sign a Super 14 deal, and thus didn’t make it to the World Cup Squad.
Lomu retired from professional rugby in 2007. Aside from participating in several charity matches in the following years, he also briefly played semi-professional rugby in the French amateur league system, for the Marseille Vitrolles.
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Lomu had established an outstanding career in rugby, which enabled him to earn numerous awards and honors, such as being inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame as well as in the World Rugby Hall of Fame. It had also enabled him to amass a significant fortune.
In his private life, Lomu married three times; his first marriage was to Tanya Rutter(1996-2000), then to Fiona (2003-08). In 2011 he married Nadene Quirk, with whom he had two children and with whom he had remained until his death in 2015 from a heart attack related to his kidney disease.
Lomu was active in philanthropy. After his retirement, he was involved in several charity matches, and was a member of the Champions for Peace club, a group of celebrity athletes focused on serving peace in the world through sport.
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