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 (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. In that capacity he made his most notable contributions to rugby league, officiating in 194
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
matches (including the
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...
,
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
and
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
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 which was both shot and broadcast live.
The video, having already been shown live, is replayed in order for viewers to see again and analyze what had j ...
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 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.
The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and thei ...
'
Peter Sterling to the
sin bin, 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 reserv ...
.
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