Greg Hartley (born 19 July 1942 in

Paddington, New South Wales Paddington is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Located east of the Sydney central business district, Paddington lies across two Local government in Australia, local government areas. The portion south of Oxford St ...

) is an Australian former

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

in the

New South Wales Rugby Football League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission.It was registered on 21 ...

competitions of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Hartley has been described as "perhaps the most colourful and controversial referee in football history". Hartley began his rugby league career as a player and had three first-grade games with

Newtown Jets The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, New South Wales, Newtown, a suburb of Inner West (Sydney), Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSW Cup competition, having left the top grade after t ...

in 1967 before rupturing his spleen in a reserve-grade match in the same year. He underwent a number of surgeries, spent six months in hospital and retired as a player. In 1969 he became a referee in the Easts junior league and was graded in 1971. By 1975 he was officiating in the first-grade semi-finals. He was considered the game's top referee of the time, officiating in the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

and

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

Grand Finals before retiring in 1982. He became a football commentator on radio station 2GB and later 2KY, forming a partnership with former Manly player, Peter Peters, which was popularly known as ''The Decibel Duo'' and ''Hollywood and Zorba''.

Footnotes

References

* Whiticker, Alan and Hudson, Glen (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players''. Wetherill Park, New South Wales: Gary Allen Pty Ltd, 609. . * Andrews, Malcolm (2006). ''The ABC of Rugby League'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartley, Greg 1942 births Living people Australian rugby league commentators Australian rugby league players Australian rugby league referees Newtown Jets players Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Sydney 20th-century Australian sportsmen