In cellular telecommunications, the term handover or handoff refers to the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another. In satellite communications it is the process of transferring satellite control responsibility from one earth station to another without loss or interruption of service.

Handover or handoff

American English tends to use the term handoff, and this is most commonly used within some American organizations such as 3GPP2 and in American originated technologies such as CDMA2000. In British English the term handover is more common, and is used within international and European organisations such as ITU-T, IETF, ETSI and 3GPP, and standardised within European originated standards such as GSM and UMTS. The term handover is more common than handoff in academic research publications and literature, while handoff is slightly more common within the IEEE and ANSI organisations.

Purpose

In telecommunications there may be different reasons why a handover might be conducted:

when the phone is moving away from the area covered by one cell and entering the area covered by another cell the call is transferred to the second cell in order to avoid call termination when the phone gets outside the range of the first cell;

when the capacity for connecting new calls of a given cell is used up and an existing or new call from a phone, which is located in an area overlapped by another cell, is transferred to that cell in order to free-up some capacity in the first cell for other users, who can only be connected to that cell;

in non-CDMA networks when the channel used by the phone becomes interfered by another phone using the same channel in a different cell, the call is transferred to a different channel in the same cell or to a different channel in another cell in order to avoid the interference;

again in non-CDMA networks when the user behaviour changes, e.g. when a fast-travelling user, connected to a large, umbrella-type of cell, stops then the call may be transferred to a smaller macro cell or even to a micro cell in order to free capacity on the umbrella cell for other fast-traveling users and to reduce the potential interference to other cells or users (this works in reverse too, when a user is detected to be moving faster than a certain threshold, the call can be transferred to a larger umbrella-type of cell in order to minimize the frequency of the handovers due to this movement);

in CDMA networks a (see further down) may be induced in order to reduce the interference to a smaller neighboring cell due to the "near-far" effect even when the phone still has an excellent connection to its current cell;

etc.

The most basic form of handover is when a phone call in progress is redirected from its current cell (called source) and its used channel in that cell to a new cell (called target) and a new channel. In terrestrial networks the source and the target cells may be served from two different cell sites or from one and the same cell site (in the latter case the two cells are usually referred to as two sectors on that cell site). Such a handover, in which the source and the target are different cells (even if they are on the same cell site) is called inter-cell handover. The purpose of inter-cell handover is to maintain the call as the subscriber is moving out of the area covered by the source cell and entering the area of the target cell.

A special case is possible, in which the source and the target are one and the same cell and only the used channel is changed during the handover. Such a handover, in which the cell is not changed, is called intra-cell handover. The purpose of intra-cell handover is to change one channel, which may be interfered or fading with a new clearer or less fading channel.

Types of handover

In addition to the above classification of inter-cell and intra-cell classification of handovers, they also can be divided into hard and soft handovers:

A hard handover is one in which the channel in the source cell is released and only then the channel in the target cell is engaged. Thus the connection to the source is broken before or 'as' the connection to the target is made—for this reason such handovers are also known as break-before-make. Hard handovers are intended to be instantaneous in order to minimize the disruption to the call. A hard handover is perceived by network engineers as an event during the call. It requires the least processing by the network providing service. When the mobile is between base stations, then the mobile can switch with any of the base stations, so the base stations bounce the link with the mobile back and forth. This is called ping-ponging.

A soft handover is one in which the channel in the source cell is retained and used for a while in parallel with the channel in the target cell. In this case the connection to the target is established before the connection to the source is broken, hence this handover is called make-before-break. The interval, during which the two connections are used in parallel, may be brief or substantial. For this reason the soft handover is perceived by network engineers as a state of the call, rather than a brief event. Soft handovers may involve using connections to more than two cells: connections to three, four or more cells can be maintained by one phone at the same time. When a call is in a state of soft handover, the signal of the best of all used channels can be utilised for the call at a given moment or all the signals can be combined to produce a clearer copy of the signal. The latter is more advantageous, and when such combining is performed both in the downlink (forward link) and the uplink (reverse link) the handover is termed as softer. Softer handovers are possible when the cells involved in the handovers have a single cell site.

Comparison of handovers

An advantage of the hard handover is that at any moment in time one call uses only one channel. The hard handover event is indeed very short and usually is not perceptible by the user. In the old analog systems it could be heard as a click or a very short beep, in digital systems it is unnoticeable. Another advantage of the hard handoff is that the phone's hardware does not need to be capable of receiving two or more channels in parallel, which makes it cheaper and simpler. A disadvantage is that if a handover fails the call may be temporarily disrupted or even terminated abnormally. Technologies, which utilise hard handovers, usually have procedures which can re-establish the connection to the source cell if the connection to the target cell cannot be made. However re-establishing this connection may not always be possible (in which case the call will be terminated) and even when possible the procedure may cause a temporary interruption to the call.

One advantage of the soft handovers is that the connection to the source cell is broken only when a reliable connection to the target cell has been established and therefore the chances that the call will be terminated abnormally due to failed handovers are lower. However, by far a bigger advantage comes from the mere fact that simultaneously channels in multiple cells are maintained and the call could only fail if all of the channels are interfered or fade at the same time. Fading and interference in different channels are unrelated and therefore the probability of them taking place at the same moment in all channels is very low. Thus the reliability of the connection becomes higher when the call is in a soft handover. Because in a cellular network the majority of the handovers occur in places of poor coverage, where calls would frequently become unreliable when their channel is interfered or fading, soft handovers bring a significant improvement to the reliability of the calls in these places by making the interference or the fading in a single channel not critical. This advantage comes at the cost of more complex hardware in the phone, which must be capable of processing several channels in parallel. Another price to pay for soft handovers is use of several channels in the network to support just a single call. This reduces the number of remaining free channels and thus reduces the capacity of the network. By adjusting the duration of soft handovers and the size of the areas, in which they occur, the network engineers can balance the benefit of extra call reliability against the price of reduced capacity.

Possibility of handover

While theoretically speaking soft handovers are possible in any technology, analog or digital, the cost of implementing them for analog technologies is prohibitively high and none of the technologies that were commercially successful in the past (e.g. AMPS, TACS, NMT, etc.) had this feature. Of the digital technologies, those based on FDMA also face a higher cost for the phones (due to the need to have multiple parallel radio-frequency modules) and those based on TDMA or a combination of TDMA/FDMA, in principle, allow not so expensive implementation of soft handovers. However, none of the 2G (second-generation) technologies have this feature (e.g. GSM, D-AMPS/IS-136, etc.). On the other hand, all CDMA based technologies, 2G and 3G (third-generation), have soft handovers. On one hand, this is facilitated by the possibility to design not so expensive phone hardware supporting soft handovers for CDMA and on the other hand, this is necessitated by the fact that without soft handovers CDMA networks may suffer from substantial interference arising due to the so-called "near-far" effect.

In all current commercial technologies based on FDMA or on a combination of TDMA/FDMA (e.g. GSM, AMPS, IS-136/DAMPS, etc.) changing the channel during a hard handover is realised by changing the pair of used transmit/receive frequencies.

Implementations

For the practical realisation of handoffs in a cellular network each cell is assigned a list of potential target cells, which can be used for handing-off calls from this source cell to them. These potential target cells are called neighbours and the list is called neighbour list. Creating such a list for a given cell is not trivial and specialised computer tools are used. They implement different algorithms and may use for input data from field measurements or computer predictions of radio wave propagation in the areas covered by the cells.

During a call one or more parameters of the signal in the channel in the source cell are monitored and assessed in order to decide when a handover may be necessary. The downlink (forward link) and/or uplink (reverse link) directions may be monitored. The handover may be requested by the phone or by the base station (BTS) of its source cell and, in some systems, by a BTS of a neighbouring cell. The phone and the BTSs of the neighbouring cells monitor each other others' signals and the best target candidates are selected among the neighbouring cells. In some systems, mainly based on CDMA, a target candidate may be selected among the cells which are not in the neighbour list. This is done in an effort to reduce the probability of interference due to the aforementioned "near-far" effect.

In analog systems the parameters used as criteria for requesting a hard handover are usually the received signal power and the received signal-to-noise ratio (the latter may be estimated in an analog system by inserting additional tones, with frequencies just outside the captured voice-frequency band at the transmitter and assessing the form of these tones at the receiver). In non-CDMA 2G digital systems the criteria for requesting hard handover may be based on estimates of the received signal power, bit error rate (BER) and block error/erasure rate (BLER), received quality of speech (RxQual), distance between the phone and the BTS (estimated from the radio signal propagation delay) and others. In CDMA systems, 2G and 3G, the most common criterion for requesting a handover is Ec/Io ratio measured in the pilot channel (CPICH) and/or RSCP.

In CDMA systems, when the phone in soft or softer handoff is connected to several cells simultaneously, it processes the received in parallel signals using a rake receiver. Each signal is processed by a module called rake finger. A usual design of a rake receiver in mobile phones includes three or more rake fingers used in soft handoff state for processing signals from as many cells and one additional finger used to search for signals from other cells. The set of cells, whose signals are used during a soft handoff, is referred to as the "active set". If the search finger finds a sufficiently-strong signal (in terms of high Ec/Io or RSCP) from a new cell this cell is added to the active set. The cells in the neighbour list (called in CDMA neighbouring set) are checked more frequently than the rest and thus a handoff with a neighbouring cell is more likely, however a handoff with others cells outside the neighbor list is also allowed (unlike in GSM, IS-136/DAMPS, AMPS, NMT, etc.).

Reasons for failure

There are occurrences where a handoff is unsuccessful. Lots of research was conducted regarding this. In the late 80's the main reason was found out. Because frequencies cannot be reused in adjacent cells, when a user moves from one cell to another, a new frequency must be allocated for the call. If a user moves into a cell when all available channels are in use, the user’s call must be terminated. Also, there is the problem of signal interference where adjacent cells overpower each other resulting in receiver desensitization.

Vertical handover

There are also inter-technology handovers where a call's connection is transferred from one access technology to another, e.g. a call being transferred from GSM to UMTS or from CDMA IS-95 to cdma2000.

The 3GPP UMA/GAN standard enables GSM/UMTS handoff to Wi-Fi and vice-versa.

See also

Cellular network

Roaming

Mobility management

Radio resource management

UMA/GAN

Voice call continuity

Interleaving

Perimeter (EU Project)

External links

Intra-MSC GSM Handover Call Flow

Inter-MSC GSM Handover Call Flow

Handoff protocols

: Cellular Mobile Communication System — Amos Edward Joel (Bell Labs), filed December 21, 1970, issued May 16, 1972

Category:Mobile technology Category:Radio resource management

ca:Handover de:Handover es:Handover fa:هند آف fr:Handover it:Handover ja:ハンドオーバー pl:Handover pt:Handoff ru:Хэндовер sv:Handover vi:Chuyển giao (thông tin di động) zh:切换

name	Cory James Baxter Jane
birth name	Cory James Baxter Jane
birth date	February 08, 1983
birth place	Wellington, New Zealand
height
weight
allblackid	1080
allblackno	1080
nicknames
school	Heretaunga College
ru position	Fullback/Wing
super14	Hurricanes
super14caps	47
super14update	8 December 2010
ru provinceyears	2003–20042005–present
ru province	Hawke's BayWellington
ru provincecaps	26
ru provincepoints	(81)
ru nationalyears	2008 –
ru nationalteam	New Zealand
ru nationalcaps	20
ru nationalpoints	(25)
website	}}

}}

Cory James Baxter Jane (born 8 February 1983 in Wellington, New Zealand) is a New Zealand international, who made it in the all blacks in 2008. Since then, he has been a brilliant wing. In 2011 Jane was selected into the tri-nations team as injury cover. A few weeks later he made the Rugby World cup squad of 30 after tight competition in the back 3.

Biography

Career

Jane plays for Wellington in the Air New Zealand Cup and for the Wellington Hurricanes in the Super Rugby (formerly Super 12/14) competition. He has previously played for Hawke's Bay and was in the New Zealand team that won the Rugby Sevens gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Furthermore he has also represented the New Zealand Maori Rugby union team.

Jane was 3rd-equal on the 2006 Air New Zealand Cup leading try scorer list with 6 tries, behind Richard Kahui (8 tries) and Sitiveni Sivivatu (7 tries), both from Waikato.

References

External links

Hurricanes profile

Profile on the Wellington Lions Official Website

Category:Living people Category:1983 births Category:New Zealand rugby union players Category:Rugby union wings Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Category:People from Lower Hutt Category:New Zealand international rugby union players Category:Rugby sevens players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games

de:Cory Jane fr:Cory Jane it:Cory Jane ja:コーリー・ジェーン

name	Sonny Bill Williams
birth name	Sonny William Williams
nickname	SBW, Superman
birth place	Auckland, New Zealand
height
weight
ru position	Inside centre
allblackno	1108
allblackid	1108
ru nationalteam	New Zealand
ru nationalcaps	7
ru nationalpoints	0(0)
ru ntupdate	21 November 2010
super14	Crusaders
super14caps	15
super14points	25
super14years	2011
ru province	Toulon Canterbury
ru provinceyears	2008-2010 2010-present
ru provincecaps	33 6
ru provincepoints	30 15
other	yes
relatives	Niall Williams (New Zealand international Touch Football player)
occupation	Professional rugby union player, Heavyweight boxer, former professional rugby league player
school	Mount Albert Grammar
birth date	August 03, 1985 }}

Position
Club1	Bulldogs
Year1start	2004
Year1end	2008
Appearances1	73
Tries1	31
Goals1	0
Fieldgoals1	0
Points1	124
Teama	New Zealand
Yearastart	2004
Yearaend	2008
Appearancesa	7
Triesa	2
Goalsa	0
Fieldgoalsa	0
Pointsa	8
Ru appearances2	6
Ru tries2	3
Ru goals2	0
Ru fieldgoals2	0
Ru points2	15
Source	RLP, Toulon profile }}

Sonny William Williams (born 3 August 1985), better known as Sonny Bill Williams, is a New Zealand rugby union player and a heavyweight boxer. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for New Zealand in rugby league, and the first to do so since Karl Ifwersen in the 1920s. He is also the only athlete to simultaneously pursue careers in both professional boxing and international rugby and both his offloading in the tackle and shoulder charges have been cited as benchmarks in both rugby league and union.

He started his professional rugby league career with the Canterbury Bulldogs in the Australian NRL. In 2008 he controversially left the Bulldogs to play rugby union with French club Toulon. In 2010 Williams signed with the New Zealand Rugby Union in a bid to play for the All Blacks at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He played for Canterbury Rugby Football Union in the 2010 NPC ITM Cup before being selected for the All Blacks end of year tour in 2010, making his debut against England at Twickenham. He played for the Crusaders in the 2011 season of Super Rugby.

Early life

Williams was born on 3 August 1985, in Auckland, New Zealand, the son of John and Lee. He is of Samoan descent from his fathers side. He grew up in the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert and attended Owairaka Primary School, Wesley Intermediate, and Mount Albert Grammar School. Though his father was an accomplished rugby league player, Williams said it was his mother who introduced him to the game.

Career

Rugby league

Williams was a Marist Saints junior when he was spotted playing in Auckland by Bulldogs talent scout John Ackland. In 2002 he was offered a contract and moved to Sydney (as the youngest player to ever sign with the Bulldogs) to play in the Bulldogs junior grades. He advanced up the ranks quickly, becoming a starting player in the forward pack for the Bulldogs Jersey Flegg Cup side in his first year. The following year Williams cemented a starting spot in the Premier League side. In 2004, when only 18 years old, he made his National Rugby League debut against the Parramatta Eels at Telstra Stadium. He experienced Premiership success in his rookie year and became the youngest person to play for the Bulldogs in a Grand Final when playing off the bench in the Bulldogs 16–13 victory over the Sydney Roosters in the 2004 Grand Final. Williams capped off a successful debut season by being named the International Newcomer of the Year Award and was named in the BBC's 2003 World XIII squad.

In 2004, he was selected to represent his country after only a handful of NRL matches and on 23 April made his debut for the New Zealand national rugby league team as their youngest-ever test player in the 2004 ANZAC Test against Australia. Williams played 15 NRL premiership matches during the season, firmly establishing himself in the Bulldogs squad. His contract was due to expire in 2005 and Williams received several lucrative offers to attempt to lure him away from the Bulldogs, with the largest rumoured to be from Super League club St. Helens in the UK worth about $3 million. Williams decided to stay with the Bulldogs and signed on for a further two years. It was later revealed that the amounts may have been exaggerated, with St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus saying they hadn't made an offer to him.

Williams had a disappointingly short 2005 season after sustaining a severe knee injury plus several other minor injuries. Williams only played five games through the year and he subsequently missed several international fixtures for New Zealand. Williams had publicly expressed his frustration at his limited participation through the season stating "You've got to be pretty strong mentally when you have injuries, and I've had a few." Williams would later dismiss claims he was injury prone as "bullshit".

Williams stayed relatively injury-free throughout the 2006 season, playing in 21 matches. He scored 8 tries and just missed out on a Grand Final berth, losing to eventual winners the Brisbane Broncos in the Preliminary Final. Despite having been mostly injury free throughout the year, off-season surgery forced him to miss the Tri-Nations for the Kiwis for the second year running. At the start of the 2007 NRL season, Williams' contract status was a frequent news item in the Australian print media. The speculation ended when Williams re-signed with the Bulldogs on 9 March 2007, with a 5 year contract believed to be worth over $2.5 million, that would have seen him stay with the club through to the 2012 season.

Commenting on the re-signing, Williams said: "I'm happy to be staying here with the boys and I'm happy to be here with the Club. I want to be a Bulldog for life. The club is just as much a part of me as I am of the club. I love the Bulldogs." Coach Steve Folkes said: "Sonny is a great athlete, a great footballer and will only get better over the next few years." Williams played in 21 matches and scored 14 tries during the season, although it did not end well as Williams broke his forearm in a tackle on Nathan Hindmarsh during the Semi Final against the Parramatta Eels. His team lost the match and Williams was again ruled out from representing his country in the post-season 2007 Great Britain Tour. For the first time in his career Williams was nominated for 'Second-Rower of the Year' at the 2007 Dally M Awards but lost the award to Manly Warringah Sea Eagles second-rower Anthony Watmough. That year he also became the first player of the 21st century to be sent to the sin bin in a first-round game.

Rugby union

In July 2008 Williams left Australia to join French rugby union club Toulon citing salary cap concerns in a controversial exit. In 2005 it had been suggested that the NRL's salary cap restrictions could prove problematic for trying to keep top-grade players in rugby league. Canterbury Bulldogs club officials and players were not notified of his defection until after Williams had already departed for Europe. Williams was 18 months into a five year contract with the Canterbury Bulldogs, which was resolved when Toulon paid a transfer fee of around £300,000 to the Bulldogs. According to Bulldogs CEO Todd Greenberg, Williams was "our best player" before he "walked out".

Williams' highest honour with Toulon was finishing runners-up in the 2009-10 European Challenge Cup. His contract with Toulon ended in June 2010, and in 2010 Toulon reportedly tabled a three-year offer to Williams worth $6 million, while the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) could only come up with $550,000 per year. Sonny Bill Williams rejected the largest offer in rugby union history and opted to sign with the NZRU in a bid to play for the All Blacks. He chose to play with Canterbury in the ITM Cup, and the Crusaders in the Super Rugby competition.

Williams' Canterbury debut was against Bay of Plenty on 3 September 2010. He was named in the reserves, but 18 minutes into the game he replaced second five-eight Ryan Crotty, who injured an ankle. Williams scored his first try in the ITM Cup against Taranaki, and followed up with tries against Wellington, Otago, and Counties Manukau. On the 5th November, Canterbury were crowned ITM Cup Champions after defeating Waikato 33-13. On 17 October 2010 he was named in the All Black squad to tour Hong Kong and the Northern Hemisphere.

He made his All Black debut, at Twickenham, against England on 6 November. He started at outside centre, and combined with Ma'a Nonu to form a 212 kg midfield partnership, the "heaviest in All Black history." His debut was highly anticipated in New Zealand. On 13 November 2010, in his second game for the All Blacks, Williams was awarded the man of the match for his performance against Scotland. His contract with New Zealand Rugby Union expires at the end of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He is reported to have been approached from a variety of sources, including his former French rugby union club Toulon, the Parramatta Eels league club, Russell Crowe, co-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs league club, the Sydney Roosters and the proposed Brisbane NRL bid team the Brisbane Bombers.

2011

On 4 March 2011 Williams made his Super Rugby debut for the Crusaders against the Waratahs in which he scored a try and set-up another. This was followed a week later with Williams scoring his second try in as many matches, against the ACT Brumbies. On 27 March he returned to Twickenham to play in his fourth match for the Crusaders against the Sharks, in the first Super Rugby match played outside of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. On 9 April, in his fifth game for the Crusaders, Williams scored his 3rd try. On 23 April Williams experienced his first rugby defeat since his All Black debut more than five-and-a-half months earlier whilst playing off the reserves bench against the Otago Highlanders. A week later he scored his fourth try while playing against the Western Force. On 7 May Williams played his first rugby match on South African soil in the Crusaders victory over the Stormers at Newlands Stadium. On 29 May he played against the Queensland Reds in his first match on Australian soil since playing for the Barbarians against the Wallabies in 2009. At the time, the match set a new attendance record for an Australian Super Rugby game with 48,301 fans at Suncorp Stadium. On 25 June he scored his fifth try whilst playing against the Sharks in the first finals week of the Super Rugby competition. A week later against the Stormers in Cape Town he was part of the Crusaders team that became the first side to win a semifinal on foreign soil since 1999. On 9 July Williams was part of the Crusaders team that lost to the Queensland Reds in the Grand-Final held at Suncorp Stadium before a crowd of 52,113 – an Australian provincial attendance record. He ended the Super Rugby season with the most off-loads, was second to Quade Cooper for linebreak assists, was in the top ten for try assists, and was 13th overall for run metres; while no other centre came close to Williams's off-load and linebreak assist figures.

On the 30th July Williams played his first home test match during the second game of the 2011 Tri Nations Series.

Boxing

Weight	Heavyweight
|nationality
Style	Orthodox
Total	4
Wins	4
Ko	2
Losses by ko	}}

On 27 May 2009, Williams made his debut as a professional boxer and defeated Garry Gurr with a Technical knockout (TKO) in the second round in Sydney. On 30 June 2010, he defeated Ryan Hogan in a bout that ended by way of TKO after only two minutes and 35 seconds. Williams described the preparation for the fight as "good off-season training" for his imminent debut for the Canterbury rugby team.

Williams fought in his third professional match against Australian Scott Lewis (on 29 January 2011 at the Gold Coast Convention Centre) in his first fight as the main event. Lewis' trainer Terry Devlin named his youngest son after Sonny Bill Williams, whom he calls a "superb athlete". Williams was initially scheduled to fight Lewis on 29 January at Newcastle Entertainment Centre. However, the bout was moved to the Gold Coast to cross-promote Williams's Super rugby team, the Crusaders, and their pre-season trial against the Queensland Reds. Due to the 2010-2011 Queensland floods occurring at the same time as Williams's preparation for his bout against Scott Lewis, as well as his chief sparring partner Alex Leapai being stranded by the flooding in Gatton, Williams donated 200 tickets to his 29 January fight to flood victims. Williams won the bout against Lewis- which went the full six rounds- by unanimous points decision. He was scored favourably 60-55, 60-55 and 60-54 by the three judges. A fan paid $3,890 for an autographed pair of Williams's gloves from the bout, with the money going towards the Queensland flood relief fund.

Williams fought in his second of three allowed boxing bouts (under the agreement with NZRU) on 5 June, during the week in which the Crusaders had a bye in round 16. The bout was contested at Trusts Stadium, Waitakere City, with the opponent being Tongan Alipate Liava'a. Williams won the bout by unanimous points decision after being scored favourably 60-54 by all three judges. It was promoted as a February 2011 Christchurch earthquake charity fight dubbed "The Clash For Canterbury". The fight became one of the single biggest fundraisers for the 2011 Christchurch earthquake appeal with Sky donating its profits from the pay-per-view sales of the fight and Williams making a $NZ100,000 donation from his share of TV sales- one of the biggest individual donations by an athlete to a disaster appeal.

Personal life

Sonny Bill Williams became a Muslim after converting to Islam in 2008. He is the first Muslim to represent the All Blacks, Crusaders and Barbarians.

His younger sister Niall Williams is a New Zealand international Touch Football player, having won gold at the Youth World Cup in 2005 and silver at the 2011 Touch Football World Cup.

Williams was in Christchurch when both the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes struck.

Controversies

Williams has been involved in a number of controversial off-field incidents. On 17 August 2005 it was reported he had been charged with drunk driving; the Bulldogs fined Williams $5,000 over the incident and he was forced to appear in Waverley Local Court on 7 September. He was convicted of drunk driving, with a blood alcohol level of .075. In 2007, Williams was caught in a compromising position with Australian model/ironwoman Candice Falzon. A photo taken by a mobile phone of the incident was published on the Daily Telegraph website. Williams later apologised to his girlfriend (Genna Shaw) over this incident and said he was "ashamed and embarrassed". On 17 June 2007, Williams was caught by police urinating on a wall in a dark alleyway near a well known nightclub in Cronulla in Sydney and was handed an infringement notice and fine worth $650. Williams subsequently admitted he had an alcohol problem and would seek professional help for his problem. He also said in an official statement that he would be "taking drastic measures to make sure this doesn’t happen again." On 25 August 2010, Williams was reprimanded by his Canterbury provincial rugby team for skiing while on injury leave. A Canterbury Rugby Union spokesman confirmed Williams had not been given clearance to go on a skiing trip on the day of Canterbury’s fourth-round NPC match against Tasman, and said Williams had been “reminded of his responsibilities.”

Statistics

NRL

4 5 21 21 11

Season !! Matches !! Tries !! Goals !! Points
National Rugby League season 2004	2004	15	|	0	16
National Rugby League season 2005	2005	|	1	0	4
National Rugby League season 2006	2006	|	8	0	32
National Rugby League season 2007	2007	|	14	0	56
National Rugby League season 2008	2008	|	4	0	16

Professional boxing

|- | style="text-align:center;" colspan="8"|4 Wins (2 knockouts), 0 Losses, 0 Draws |- |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Res. |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Record |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Opponnent |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Type |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Rd., Time |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Date |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Location |align=center style="border-style:none none solid solid;background:#e3e3e3"|Notes |-align=center |Win |align=center|4-0||align=left| Alipate Liava'a | | | |align=left| Trusts Stadium, Waitakere City, Auckland Region}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|3-0||align=left| Scott Lewis | | | |align=left| Gold Coast Convention Centre, Broadbeach, Queensland}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|2-0||align=left| Ryan Hogan | | | |align=left| Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Queensland}} |align=left| |-align=center |Win |align=center|1-0||align=left| Garry Gurr | | | |align=left| Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Queensland}} |align=left|

Honours

Individual

2004: International Newcomer of the Year

2004: World XIII

2005: Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards "Fave Rising Star"

References

External links

RC Toulon profile

Sonny Bill Williams’ NRL playing statistics

League of his own- Part 1234 video by 20/20 (New Zealand)

BBC Article Williams has world at his feet

BBC Article Making big hits with Sonny Bill

Sonny's runner Essay on Williams' 2008 mid-season move by Rugby league historian Sean Fagan

League's most hated player?

Profile on itsrugby.co.uk

Category:1985 births Category:People from Auckland Category:New Zealand people of Samoan descent Category:New Zealand national rugby league team players Category:New Zealand rugby league players Category:Marist Saints players Category:Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Category:New Zealand rugby union players Category:New Zealand international rugby union players Category:Living people Category:Converts to Islam Category:RC Toulonnais players Category:Expatriate rugby union players in France Category:Former students of Mount Albert Grammar School Category:Dual-code rugby internationals Category:New Zealand boxers Category:Sportspeople of multiple sports Category:Heavyweight boxers Category:New Zealand Muslims Category:Barbarian F.C. players Category:Rugby union centres Category:Rugby league second-rows Category:Rugby league centres Category:Rugby league locks

fr:Sonny Bill Williams ja:ソニー・ビル・ウィリアムズ

Name	Miles Austin
Width	175px
Currentteam	Dallas Cowboys
Currentnumber	19
Currentposition	Wide receiver
Birth date	June 30, 1984
Birth place	Summit, New Jersey
Heightft	6
Heightin	2
Weight	215
Debutyear	2006
Debutteam	Dallas Cowboys
College	Monmouth
Undraftedyear	2006
Pastteams	Dallas Cowboys (–present)
Highlights	2× Pro Bowl Selection (2009, 2010) PFWA Most Improved Player of the Year (2009) CBS' All-Iron Award (2009) Cowboys franchise record 250 receiving yards in single game
Statweek	17
Statseason	2010
Statlabel1	Receptions
Statvalue1	168
Statlabel2	Receiving Yards
Statvalue2	2,715
Statlabel3	Receiving TDs
Statvalue3	21
Nfl	AUS467198 }}

Miles Jonathon Austin III (born June 30, 1984) is an American football wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. He was signed by the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He played college football at Monmouth.

Early years

He was born in Summit, New Jersey to parents Ann and Miles Austin, who were born in Nebraska and New Jersey and brother to Jennifer Austin. Austin grew up in in Garfield, New Jersey and attended Garfield High School and was a letterman in football, basketball, and track and field. In football, he played wide receiver and defensive back, and as a senior, he won All-Bergen County honors and All-State honors, under high school coach Tony Kostelnak. In basketball, Austin garnered All-Bergen County honors as well. In track and field, Austin participated in the 100 meter dash, long jump, triple jump, and the javelin throw. He recorded the third-longest javelin throw in Bergen County history with a throw of 214 feet, 8 inches. Austin finished third in the triple jump at the New Jersey Meet of Champions in 2001.

College career

During his college football days at Monmouth University, Austin caught 150 passes for 2,867 yards and 33 touchdowns. He is the school record-holder in receiving yards. Austin rushed 15 times for 140 yards and one touchdown. In 2003, Austin set a Monmouth single-season record for touchdown catches with 12. He ran 4.47 second 40 yard dash and jumped 40.5 inches in the vertical leap at the 2006 NFL combine.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

In his rookie season of 2006, he returned 29 kickoffs for 753 yards and recorded 5 tackles. His main highlight of the year was in the Cowboys playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks. He returned 3 kickoffs for 136 yards in the game, including a 93 yard touchdown return. In the 55 postseason games in franchise history, it was the Cowboys' first ever kickoff return touchdown in the playoffs.

2009 season

With the release of Terrell Owens, Austin started the regular season as the Cowboys' No. 3 receiver. During free agency, the New York Jets looked at Austin but did not offer him a contract, possibly because they would have had to give the Cowboys a second-round draft pick in order to sign him. Before the year, Football Outsiders rated Austin as the top prospect in football on their Top 25 Prospects list.

Austin got his first NFL start on October 11, 2009 against the Kansas City Chiefs, as a replacement for injured Roy Williams. Austin had 10 catches for 250 yards (a Cowboys record for receiving yards in a single game, breaking Bob Hayes' 246-yard effort in 1966 against the Washington Redskins) and 2 touchdowns including the 60-yard game winner in overtime. Austin made his second career start on October 25 against the Atlanta Falcons replacing Patrick Crayton as the No. 2 receiver. Austin solidified his place as a starting receiver with 171 receiving yards along with 2 touchdowns. After only two weeks as a starting wide receiver, Austin was the ninth-most productive receiver in the National Football League going into Week 8, and moved up to eighth just four weeks later having caught his 8th touchdown against Oakland on Thanksgiving Day. Against the Giants in week 13 he had 10 catches for 104 yards and a touchdown.

December 29, 2009, Austin was selected to the 2010 Pro Bowl, his first. He went on to lead the NFC (third overall in the NFL) with 1320 receiving yards for the 2009 season. He also tied for first in the NFC with 11 receiving touchdowns which was tied for third in the NFL for receiving touchdowns in only starting 11 games in the 2009 season.

2010 season

On September 9, 2010, Austin agreed to a six-year contract extension that will kick in beginning in 2011. The deal includes $18 million in guaranteed salary. Austin signed a $3.168 million contract in June 2010. Austin's extension is worth $54 million, bringing the total value of his contract to $57 million.

With 10 catches in each of the first two games of the 2010 season, Austin became the second player in Cowboys history to record double-digit catches in consecutive weeks. On Thanksgiving, Austin got a 60 yard touchdown on an end-around. However, the Cowboys lost 30-27 to the New Orleans Saints. He finished the season with 69 catches for 1041 yards and 7 touchdowns. He made his second consecutive Pro Bowl in 2010, replacing Desean Jackson who sprained his MCL during practice for the Pro Bowl.

Personal life

Austin started dating reality star Kim Kardashian in July 2010 but they split up in September.

Austin Family Foundation

In 2011, Austin founded The Austin Family Foundation with help from his family. The Austin Family Foundation’s mission is to support and promote youth programming, in lower income areas, that focuses on character development and community involvement. The Austin Family Foundation currently supports the Lindsey Meyer Teen Institute and the Garfield Boys' and Girls' Club.

References

External links

Dallas Cowboys bio

Monmouth Hawks bio

Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:American football wide receivers Category:American football return specialists Category:Dallas Cowboys players Category:Monmouth Hawks football players Category:People from Garfield, New Jersey Category:People from Summit, New Jersey Category:Players of American football from New Jersey Category:Undrafted National Football League players

de:Miles Austin fr:Miles Austin it:Miles Austin pt:Miles Austin sv:Miles Austin

name	Chris Colfer
birth name	Christopher Paul Colfer
birth date	May 27, 1990
birth place	Clovis, California, United States
occupation	Actor, singer, producer and writer
years active	2009–present
spouse	}}

Christopher Paul "Chris" Colfer (born May 27, 1990) is an American actor, singer, and writer known for his portrayal of Kurt Hummel on the television series Glee, for which he won a 2011 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and is also nominated for a 2011 Emmy.

Colfer was named to Time magazine's 2011 list of the world's 100 most influential people.

Early life and education

Colfer was born in Clovis, California, the son of Irish parents Karyn (née Boling) and Tim Colfer. MSN UK Colfer has Irish ancestry, "I’m very Irish, my family is all Irish and St. Patrick’s day in my house is crazy." While a student at Clovis East High School, Colfer was involved with the Speech & Debate program where he won "many speech and debate Champion titles," including placing 9th in the State Competition for Dramatic Interpretation, the drama club, the FFA, "was president of the Writer’s Club, editor of the school's literary magazine, and captain of Destination ImagiNation." As a high school senior, he wrote, starred in, and directed a spoof of Sweeney Todd entitled "Shirley Todd", in which all of the roles were gender-reversed. One of his real in-school experiences was later turned into a sub-plot for his character on Glee, when the high school teachers denied him the chance to sing "Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked because it is traditionally sung by a woman. His grandmother, a minister, let him sing the song in her church.

Career

When he was younger, he also starred in a version of The Sound of Music as the character 'Kurt'.

At the age of eighteen, Colfer starred as Russel Fish in Russel Fish: The Sausage and Eggs Incident, a short film where an awkward teenager must pass a Presidential Physical Fitness test or fail gym class and lose his admission to Harvard University.

Glee

Colfer's first TV role came in 2009 when he was cast as Kurt Hummel on Fox's Glee - a fashionable gay countertenor who is routinely bullied at school, not only for being gay, but also for being part of the very unpopular Glee Club; and is dating Blaine Anderson played by Darren Criss. Colfer auditioned for the part of Artie Abrams, who uses a wheelchair, which eventually went to Kevin McHale. The show's creator, Ryan Murphy, was so impressed with Colfer that he created the role of Kurt specifically for him, and in the process, scrapped a planned character called Rajish so they could add Hummel. In a 2010 interview with Allison Kugel, Colfer stated that "There have been a couple of times when I have gone to Ryan Murphy and told him a couple of things that have happened to me, and then he writes it into the show. Or he’ll ask me what song I would want to sing, in this situation or in that situation. I don’t think any of us directly try to give input on the character or on the storyline, but they definitely steal things from us."

Ryan Murphy revealed in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter that at the conclusion of Glee's third season, Colfer's character Kurt will graduate from Mckinley High along with Rachel (actress Lea Michele) and Finn (Cory Monteith). At the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, producer Brad Falchuk stated that "because they’re graduating doesn’t mean they’re leaving the show." Falchuck also stated "it was never our plan or our intention to let them go…. They are not done with the show after this season."

Hummel's characterization

Colfer has explained that Hummel "puts on a very confident, 'I'm better than you' persona, but underneath it all he's the same anxious and scared teen everyone is/was at some point. In later episodes, he goes through an identity crisis, accepting and finding acceptance for who he is. [...] He's a tough guy in designer clothes." The character is also gay, which is at the crux of many of his conflicts on the show. Colfer has a high vocal range, as displayed in the episode "Wheels", in which his character demonstrates the unusual ability (for a man) of singing a "high F" (actually an F5). However, his character deliberately pretends to be unable to sing the note in order to spare his father the harassment he would receive for having a gay son.

At 20 years old, Colfer won the 2010 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series for his performance as Kurt Hummel. He was twice nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category for his portrayal of Kurt.

Writing and other work

Colfer will star in the coming-of-age comedy Struck by Lightning that has been set up with David Permut (Youth in Revolt). The plot revolves around Chris Colfer's character is struck and killed by a bolt of lightning and chronicles his exploits as he blackmails his fellow senior classmates into contributing to a literary magazine he's publishing. Colfer also wrote the script for Lightning, which is to be shot during the Glee hiatus in the summer of 2011.

On June 8, 2011, Colfer signed a book deal to write two novels for kids, the first of which, The Land of Stories, is scheduled for release in 2012.

Personal life

Colfer is openly gay and shared on Access Hollywood that his parents were accepting of him but he was frequently bullied at school. Colfer's sister, Hannah, suffers from severe epilepsy, and often experiences over fifty seizures in an hour. Colfer has commented that when he was younger he used acting as a method of escaping the stress involved with having a family member with disabilities.

Colfer appeared on the English chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on June 18, 2010, along with his fellow Glee co-stars Amber Riley and Matthew Morrison. He demonstrated his skill with a pair of sai, revealing that he bought a pair of them on eBay and regularly practices in his trailer when not shooting. He also mentioned during the interview that he would like it if his sai swords could be worked in to an episode of Glee.

Filmography

Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
rowspan	2009	Russel Fish: The Sausage and Eggs Incident	Russel Fish
2009–present		Kurt Hummel	Main CastGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2011)Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2010)Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (2010)Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (2011)Nominated - Monte-Carlo TV Festival Award for Outstanding Actor - Comedy SeriesNominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2009–2010)Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (2010)Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2011)Nominated - Lesbian/Bi People's Choice Awards "Favorite Music Duo or Group" (shared with Glee Cast) (2011)
	2010	Marmaduke (film)	Marmaduke	Drama Dog #2Shrooms Dog #1Beach Dog No.4
2011	The Cleveland Show	Kurt Hummel	Season 2, Episode 11, "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Roberta?"(Voice Role)
2011	Glee: The 3D Concert Movie	Kurt Hummel/Himself
2011			Writer, Producer
2011	Saturday Night Live	Himself (cameo)	Appeared in the What Up With That sketch, had no lines
2012		Carson Phillips	Lead role, Writer, Producer

Discography

Glee: The Music, Volume 1 (2009)

Glee: The Music, Volume 2 (2009)

Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna (2010)

Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers (2010)

Glee: The Music, Journey to Regionals (2010)

Glee: The Music, The Rocky Horror Glee Show (2010)

Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album (2010)

Glee: The Music, Volume 4 (2010)

Glee: The Music, Volume 5 (2011)

Glee: The Music Presents the Warblers (2011)

Glee: The Music, Volume 6 (2011)

Glee: The 3D Concert Movie (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2011)

References

Further reading

External links

Category:1990 births Category:Actors from California Category:American male singers Category:American television actors Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Countertenors Category:Gay actors Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:Living people Category:Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Clovis, California Category:Singers from California

cs:Chris Colfer da:Chris Colfer de:Chris Colfer es:Chris Colfer fr:Chris Colfer hr:Chris Colfer id:Chris Colfer it:Chris Colfer he:כריס קולפר nl:Chris Colfer ja:クリス・コルファー nn:Chris Colfer pl:Chris Colfer pt:Chris Colfer ru:Колфер, Крис fi:Chris Colfer sv:Chris Colfer tr:Chris Colfer uk:Крістофер Колфер