Sir Graham Michael Lowe is the owner of the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is pre ...

together with fellow New Zealander Andrew Chalmers. He is a New Zealand former

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 ...

football coach and administrator. He previously coached in Australia and England and was the CEO of the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rug ...

. He is also the only non-Australian to coach a State of Origin team.

Playing career

Lowe was an

Otahuhu Leopards The Otahuhu Leopards are a rugby league club based in Otahuhu, Auckland. Founded in 1911, the club has produced 49 New Zealand national rugby league team players. The club competes in the Fox Memorial competition run by Auckland Rugby League. ...

junior and played in their premier side before he retired early due to injury.''1984 Autex Rugby League Annual'', New Zealand Rugby Football League, 1984. p.53

Coaching career

1970s

Lowe had begun coaching the Otahuhu under 18s in 1974 before becoming a first grade coach in 1977 at Otahuhu. The club won the Fox Memorial in his first year as coach. In 1979 he moved to the Brisbane club competition, coaching the

Norths Devils The Northern Suburbs Devils, or North Brisbane Devils, or often simply referred to as Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They p ...

1980s

In 1980 Lowe took the Norths club to the

Brisbane Rugby League The Brisbane Rugby League is a rugby league football competition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in 2001, known as the FOGS premiership under the Quee ...

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

which they won. He coached Norths until the end of the 1982 season, his last game being against the

Arthur Beetson Arthur Henry "Artie" Beetson OAM (21 January 1945 – 1 December 2011

-coached Redcliffe Dolphins at Dolphin Oval. In 1983, Graham Lowe was appointed coach of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. He would relinquish the Kiwis role in 1985 but returned to coach the Kiwis in 1985 and 1986. Under Lowe's coaching the Kiwis won two (including NZ's first win over Australia in twelve years at Lang Park in 1983) and lost 5 games, mostly losing to the powerful Wally Lewis-led

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the con ...

(NZ lost all three tests of the 1986 Trans-Tasman Tests). In 1986, he moved to Britain's

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisa ...

competition, where he was to coach English club

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

. Wigan had been bereft of success for 27 years. However, under Lowe's coaching at club level, Wigan would re-emerge to be a power in the British game. It was while Lowe was coaching that Wigan were able to secure the signatures of

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 ...

players Ellery Hanley and Andy Gregory. Graham Lowe was the

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

's 15–8 victory over

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, w ...

in the

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

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 ...

County Cup Final during the 1986–87 season at Knowsley Road, St. Helens, on Sunday 19 October 1986,

in the 28–16 victory over

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 ...

in the

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airpor ...

County Cup Final during the 1987–88 season at Knowsley Road, St. Helens, on Sunday 11 October 1987, and

in the 22–17 victory over

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

in the 1988

County Cup Final during the 1988–89 season at Knowsley Road, St. Helens on Sunday 23 October 1988. Lowe led Wigan to their first

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

in 27-years during the 1986–87 season, and would go on to guide Wigan to their 1987 World Club Challenge victory over

, the English club's first ever WCC title. He would also lead Wigan to success in both the 1988 and 1989

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves a ...

finals.

1990s

Moving back to Australia, Lowe coached the team he had beaten in the 1987 WCC, Manly-Warringah, between 1990 and 1992. He was successful in bringing the Sea Eagles back to the finals in 1990 and

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

. During 1991, Lowe was appointed coach of the Queensland Maroons State of Origin team, becoming the first and so far only non-Australian to coach in the rugby league showpiece. After being appointed Maroons coach Lowe suffered from health problems when a blood clot in his leg threatened to end not only his coaching career but his life. He recovered in time to lead Queensland to a 2–1 victory over NSW in the 1991 State of Origin series. He was re-appointed for the 1992 series but Qld went down to the Phil Gould-coached Blues two games to one. Graham Lowe also coached the Western Samoan side for the

1995 Rugby League World Cup The 1995 Rugby League World Cup was held during October in the United Kingdom. It was the eleventh staging of the Rugby League World Cup and was marketed as the Halifax Centenary World Cup, reflecting the tournament's sponsorship and the fact ...

. In 1996, Lowe coached the

North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest town in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). Sinc ...

on a one-year contract before stepping aside for

Tim Sheens Tim Sheens (born 30 October 1950) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player. Head Coach of the Australia national team between 2009 and 2015, he has also been the head coach of National Rugby League (NRL) club ...

. In the late 1990s he was a part owner of the Auckland Warriors.

2000s

In 2008 Lowe coached in New Zealand with the Bay of Plenty Stags of the National Provincial Competition.

Administration career

On 25 November 2009, Lowe was appointed the chief executive officer of Manly Sea Eagles. He stood down from this position in April 2011 due to health issues. In the

2016 Auckland local elections The 2016 Auckland local elections took place between September and October 2016 by postal vote. The elections were the third since the merger of seven councils into the Auckland Council, which is composed of the mayor and 20 councillors, and 149 ...

, Lowe contested the Albany ward of the

Auckland Council Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a ...

for Auckland Future. He came fourth, missing out on one of two council positions. In January 2017, the previously liquidated Bradford Bulls was under the control of Lowe. His first move at the club was to remove then-current coach Rohan Smith with replaced by former Manly Sea Eagles coach Geoff Toovey. The announcement of the replacement was followed by the signing of the

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

Rugby Union Sevens sensation Phoenix Hunapo-Nofoa.

Honours

In the

1986 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1986 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

, Lowe was awarded the

Queen's Service Medal The Queen's Service Medal is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or appointed public office. It was established in 1975 and is related to ...

for community service. In the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, Lowe was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

for services to the community. In the

2019 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as ...

, he was promoted to

Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

, for services to youth and education.

References

External links

Graham Lowe at New Zealand's Celebrity Speakers website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Graeme 1946 births Living people Bay of Plenty rugby league team coaches Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit Manly Warringah Sea Eagles coaches New Zealand national rugby league team coaches New Zealand rugby league administrators New Zealand rugby league chairmen and investors New Zealand rugby league coaches New Zealand rugby league commentators New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand Warriors chairmen and investors New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia North Queensland Cowboys coaches Norths Devils coaches Otahuhu Leopards coaches Otahuhu Leopards players Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal Rugby players and officials awarded knighthoods Samoa national rugby league team coaches Wigan Warriors coaches