English Soccer Player Finn Tapp Wins ‘Love Island’ Season 6

Tapp, who didn’t tell his team he was flying to South Africa for the show, is expected to return to the club.
English Soccer Player Finn Tapp Wins ‘Love Island’ Season 6
English Soccer Player Finn Tapp Wins ‘Love Island’ Season 6 /

Finley Tapp and Paige Turley on the set of reality show 'Love Island'
ITV/Shutterstock

Finn Tapp is about to be the most famous player in the sixth tier of English football. 

Tapp, a defender for National League South club Oxford City, flew off to South Africa to compete on the wildly popular British reality show Love Island in January and neglected to tell the team where he was going

The move paid off for the 20-year-old Tapp, though. He and fellow contestant Paige Turley were named the show’s winning couple in Sunday’s season finale. They’ll split the £50,000 prize ($64,700). 

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Everything really worked out swimmingly for Tapp. Not only did he win the competition, but his club is ready to welcome him back with open arms. 

“He was [in breach of his contract] but I think you need to take a pragmatic sort of view: A 20-year-old lad, he’s offered all this reality TV stuff,” Oxford City commercial director Mick Livesey told the BBC.

"He has a contract, so he has to finish the contract he has with the football club.

“He’s done very, very well for us.”

Oxford City could have used the young defender’s help in a 3–0 loss to Tonbridge on Saturday. The club’s next game is Tuesday on the road at Billericay Town’s 2,000 seat stadium, a far cry from the millions who watched Tapp compete for love. 


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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).