Michael Keith Gregory (20 May 1964 – 19 November 2007) was an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer and coach. As a player, Gregory played either as a second-row or loose forward, and spent most of his club career at

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

, making over 200 appearances between 1982 and 1994, but also had brief spells with

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

and Australian club the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

. He won 20 caps for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, nine of them as captain, and took part in the

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

and 1990 Lions tours. Gregory began his head coaching career with

Swinton Lions The Swinton Lions are a professional rugby league club based in Swinton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the RFL League 1 . The club has won the Rugby Football League Championship, Championship six times and three Challenge Cups ...

before joining the coaching staff at his hometown club

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors is an English professional rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club competes in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system. Formed in 1872, the club is a founding member of the Ru ...

. He was promoted to head coach at the club in 2003, but was forced to step down due to illness in 2004.

Playing career

Gregory was born on 20 May 1964 in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. He grew up in the Newtown area of Wigan, and attended St John Fisher Catholic High School. He played

for local club Wigan St Patricks before turning professional, signing for

in June 1982. He made his début for Warrington on 5 September 1982, scoring a try in a 43–5 win against

Huyton Huyton ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Part of the Liverpool Urban Area, Liverpool Built-up Area, it borders the Liverpool suburbs of Dovecot, Merseyside, Dovecot, Knotty Ash and Netherley, Liverpool, ...

. A month later, he won his first trophy at the club, playing in the 16–0 win against St Helens in the 1982–83 Lancashire Cup final at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

. Gregory played and scored a try in Warrington's 14–36 defeat by Wigan in the

1990 Challenge Cup Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno D ...

Final. Gregory struggled with injuries during his last few seasons with the club. He played his last match for Warrington on Saturday 12 February 1994, making 222 1st team starts and 24 substitute appearances and scoring 45 tries and a total points of 176. Gregory also won 20 caps for Great Britain between 1987 and 1990. Gregory was selected to go on the

1988 Great Britain Lions tour The 1988 Great Britain Lions tour was the Great Britain national rugby league team's 18th tour of Australasia and took place from May to July 1988. It started with a Test match (rugby league), Test match against Papua New Guinea national rugby le ...

, and scored a try as the Lions upset Australia in the third Ashes test in Sydney. He captained the

1990 Great Britain Lions tour The 1990 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team of Papua New Guinea and New Zealand which took place from May to July 1990. Touring squad An initial 28-man squad was selected for the tour in April 199 ...

to New Zealand. He also played in the Rest of the World side against Australia in 1988. Gregory's

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

at Warrington took place in 1994. He is a Warrington Wolves Hall of Fame inductee and Heritage No. 822.

Coaching career

Gregory started his coaching career as assistant to Shaun McRae at St. Helens. He spent three successful seasons at St. Helens between 1996 and 1998, before taking the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

job at the

in 1999. He later joined the

, taking charge of the Academy team in 2001. He led the youngsters to first place in the 2002 Academy Championship, before being promoted to assistant coach for the 2003's Super League VIII. Gregory had international coaching experience with

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in the 1995 World Cup. He also guided the England Academy team to a historic series victory against the Australian Schoolboys in 2002. He was assistant coach of the Lancashire Origin squad for 2003 and was also appointed as

of Scotland for the 2003 European Nations' Cup. Following the departure of the Wigan Warriors' head coach Stuart Raper in July 2003, Gregory was appointed

until the end of 2003's Super League VIII. After Raper's announcement, Gregory had announced his intention to run for the job permanently. It was the first time since Colin Clarke in 1985 that a Wigan-born man has coached Wigan. Gregory spent three months as caretaker coach, remaining unbeaten for 11 matches and guiding the Wigan Warriors to the 2003 Super League Grand Final – becoming the first side from outside the top two to make it all the way – before being awarded the job full-time on a 2-year contract. The grand final was lost to the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

Illness

In 2004, it became known that Gregory had been suffering from progressive muscular atrophy, a form of

motor neuron disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

affecting his

nerves A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons). Nerves have historically been considered the basic units of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the electrochemical nerve impulses called ...

and

muscle Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...

s which he had possibly contracted as early as 2001. The illness blocks signals from the brain getting to muscles, causing weight-loss and affecting speech. He went to the United States for a week in May 2004 for treatment. Initially it was thought that he had become unwell from an insect bite whilst abroad. Ian Millward was appointed as head coach of the Wigan Warriors while Gregory was still recovering from his illness.

Disagreement with Wigan

In September 2004 there were reports that his illness would prevent him from returning to his job at Wigan. Maurice Lindsay said that Wigan would continue to employ and pay Gregory while he was on sick leave and wait for advice from medical advisers. Gregory felt that during 2004 he would be able to return but that the club blocked his return to work. He took Wigan and the club's owner

Dave Whelan David Whelan (born 24 November 1936) is an English businessman and former Association football, footballer. During his football career, he played for Blackburn Rovers F.C., Blackburn Rovers and Crewe Alexandra F.C., Crewe Alexandra. Whelan is ...

to court, claiming Wigan should have done more to help him carry on. The case was settled out of court with Wigan agreeing to pay Gregory £17,500. After the settlement, Gregory said:

Death and legacy

On 19 November 2007, having used a wheelchair for the previous year, Gregory died aged 43. In 2008, the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

(RFL) introduced the Spirit of Rugby League Award to recognise individuals who have made a significant positive contribution to rugby league, with the inaugural award being presented posthumously to Gregory. In subsequent seasons, the award was renamed in his honour to the Mike Gregory Spirit of Rugby League Award.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Mike Gregory website
accessed 1 September 2014. *(archived by web.archive.org
Obituary in ''The Times''
28 November 2007; accessed 1 September 2014. *(archived by web.archive.org
Hall of Fame at wire2wolves.com
accessed 1 September 2014.
Warrington's World Cup heroes – Mike Gregory
*(archived by web.archive.org

me.com; accessed 1 September 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Mike 1964 births 2007 deaths Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Deaths from motor neuron disease in England English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team captains Great Britain national rugby league team players Place of death missing Rugby league locks Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from Wigan Salford Red Devils players Swinton Lions coaches Warrington Wolves captains Warrington Wolves players Wigan Warriors coaches Lancashire rugby league team players 20th-century English sportsmen