Philip Clarke (born 16 May 1971) is an English former 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 who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A

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 ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

international representative back-rower or , he played his club rugby league in England for

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 ...

(with whom he won five consecutive

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

Finals from 1991 to 1995), and in Australia for the

Sydney City Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

. Since his retirement he has continued to work in the sport as a manager, executive and commentator.

Background

Clarke was born on 16 May 1971 in

Blackrod Blackrod is a town and civil parish situated within the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. Nestled in the historic County of Lancashire, Blackrod is positioned 3.9 miles (6.3 km) northeast of Wigan and 6.6 mi ...

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. For much of his early career he balanced playing rugby with studies at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

. He is the son of Colin Clarke, the Wigan and

of the 1960s and 1970s, and Wigan coach of the 1980s.

Playing career

Clarke was part of a Wigan side that dominated English rugby league in the late 1980s and 1990s, winning the Championship in six consecutive seasons and the Challenge Cup in seven consecutive seasons during Clarke's time at the club. Clarke played in five Challenge Cup final victories, from 1991 to 1995. He played in three World Club Challenges for Wigan - the

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

victory against the visiting

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

, the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

home defeat by the visiting

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

and the

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

victory over the Broncos in Brisbane. Clarke was selected to go on the

1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1992 Great Britain Lions tour was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team, nicknamed the 'Lions', of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand which took place between May and July 1992. The tour was the last of such length un ...

. He played in the back-row in Great Britain's win over Australia in Melbourne. He represented

at the

1995 Rugby League World Cup The 1995 Rugby League World Cup (also known as Halifax Centenary World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh World Cup for mens national rugby league teams. It was held between 7–28 October and hosted by England and Wales and was wo ...

. He became the first player to win

caps whilst at the

. He played in the 1995 World Cup Final at but

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

won the match and retained the Cup. He moved to

in 1995 but his playing career was cut short when he suffered a serious neck injury in a match against

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

in 1996. Although he made a full recovery, he was warned by doctors never to play rugby league again.

Post-playing career

Clarke was Wigan's chief executive from 1997 to 1998, when they won the Grand Final of Super League III. He became a

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

commentator in 1999 alongside Bill Arthur on Academy matches and moved on to work with Eddie Hemmings and Mike "Stevo" Stephenson on

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

broadcasts. In March 2006 he left the position of Great Britain team manager after five years, having become part of the Great Britain set-up in 2001. He said his reasons for leaving were the "lack of leadership and direction" for the Great Britain team, and the lack of improvement in competitiveness against international opponents, adding that "despite what's been said by the RFL and certain parts of the media, we're no closer now than we were 15 years ago." He is a director of The Sports Office, a sports software company. In February 2019 Phil became a Full Member of the St Helens Rugby League Referees Society.

References

External links

Phil Clarke Wigan Playing Career Page
on the Wigan RL Fansite.
Rugby League's Generation Game
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Phil 1971 births Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool England national rugby league team captains England national rugby league team players English rugby league commentators English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players People from Blackrod Rugby league players from Greater Manchester Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Lancashire Rugby league second-rows Sydney Roosters players Wigan Warriors players