Phillip Cooley (28 September 1951 – 11 December 2023) was an Australian rugby league referee. Cooley began his refereeing career in the Newtown District Junior Rugby League. He was subsequently graded to referee in the

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

(NSWRL) in 1982, gaining his first first-grade match in 1986. Cooley controlled 30 first-grade matches between 1986 and 1989. When others were preferred for that role, Cooley reinvented himself as a

touch judge A touch judge is an official who monitors the touch-line in a rugby union or rugby league game and raises a flag if the ball (or player carrying it) goes into touch. Touch judges also stand behind the posts to confirm that a goal has been scored fol ...

. In that capacity he made his most notable contributions to rugby league, officiating in 194

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

matches (including the

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

grand finals), and eight State of Origin matches. Cooley retired as an on-field official at the end of 2001. He then went on to the role of

video referee Instant replay or action replay is a video reproduction of something that recently occurred, both shot and broadcast live. After being shown live, the video is replayed so viewers can see it again and analyze what just happened. Sports—suc ...

for a further 279 first-grade matches. Cooley retired from officiating in 2012, having achieved over 500 first-grade appointments. In his 2003 book ''Harrigan: The referee in a league of his own'', former leading referee

Bill Harrigan Bill Harrigan (born 24 May 1960 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league football referee, and former head of refereeing for the National Rugby League. Unusually for a sports official, in his long career he was accorded th ...

reflected that Cooley had been dropped after a 1986 first grade game for several poor decisions, including incorrectly sending

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

' Peter Sterling to the

sin bin The penalty box or sin bin (sometimes called the bad box, or simply bin or box) is the area in ice hockey, rugby union, rugby league, roller derby and some other sports where a player sits to serve the time of a given penalty, for an offence not ...

, the only time in Sterling's career. Harrigan noted that Cooley "went on to become one of the best first grade touchies the game has ever had". In 2012 Harrigan, by then director of referees, had occasion to stand down Cooley after he had made a bad call as a video referee. Cooley soon returned to duty and was appointed at the end of 2012 as a video referee for the grand final of the

New South Wales Cup The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserve ...

. Cooley died on 11 December 2023, at the age of 72.

Honours and awards

*2013 – Eric Cox Medal for very significant contribution to the NSWRLRA for at least ten years after receiving Life Membership *2013 – NSWRLRA 300 Club inductee for officiating in at least 300 first grade rugby league matches *1994 – Life Membership of the NSWRLRA *1991 – Award for outstanding contribution to the NSWRLRA

References

External links

Phil Cooley career summary at Rugby League Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooley, Phil 1951 births 2023 deaths People from New South Wales Australian rugby league referees Rugby league referees from Newtown