Andrew Scott Coley (born 7 July 1978) is an English former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played as a and forward in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. A

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

international forward, he played in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of ...

for the

Salford City Reds The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been the ...

and the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

Career

Early career

Born in

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The populati ...

, Coley began playing rugby league for local amateur side Laporte ARL.

Swinton Lions

He turned professional in 1997, joining the

Swinton Lions The Swinton Lions are a professional rugby league club based in Swinton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Championship. The club has won the Championship six times and three Challenge Cups. Before 1996, the club was known ...

. In March 2000, Coley suffered a cruciate ligament injury, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.

Salford City Reds

In 2001, Coley signed for

as a prior to the 2001's

Super League VI Tetley's Super League VI was the official name for the year 2001's Super League championship season, the 107th season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the sixth championship run by the Super League. The season began ...

, but subsequently moved up into the front row. Coley impressed in his first season at the club, and was rewarded with a new four-year contract. He required another knee operation at the end of the year, which ruled him out of the first few months of the 2002 season. In 2004, Coley signed a new three-year contract with Salford. Coley agreed a deal to join

in September 2007 from

who were relegated in the 2007

season.

Wigan Warriors

Coley was first team at the

since his arrival. He played in the

2010 Super League Grand Final The 2010 Super League Grand Final was the 13th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding game of Super League XV. Held on Saturday 2 October 2010, at Manchester's Old Trafford stadium, the match was contested by English clubs ...

victory over St Helens at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after We ...

. Coley played as a forward in the 2011 Challenge Cup Final victory over the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Head ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Shortly before the final, Coley announced he would be retiring from rugby league at the end of the 2011 season.

Representative career

Coley's first representative honours came in 2001 when he represented

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

. In 2004, he was selected for England during their victorious European Nations Cup campaign, scoring a hat trick of tries on his England début against Russia. In 2006, he received his first call-up for

when he was selected for the

2006 Tri Nations 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. He appeared as a substitute in a warm-up game against

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, but did not feature in any Test matches during the tournament. In June 2007, Coley won his first and only cap for Great Britain in a 42–14 win against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Post-playing career

Coley is a qualified

quantity surveyor A quantity surveyor (QS) is a construction industry professional with expert knowledge on construction costs and contracts. Qualified professional quantity surveyors are known as Chartered Surveyors (Members and Fellows of RICS) in the UK and Cer ...

, and became Operations Director of a company in the construction industry.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Wigan Warriors profileStatistics at wigan.rlfans.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coley, Andy 1978 births Living people England national rugby league team players English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players Lancashire rugby league team players Rugby league players from Warrington Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Salford Red Devils players Swinton Lions players Wigan Warriors players