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Mel Cooke

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Not to be confused with the British organist, conductor, composer and teacher Melville Cook.

Mel Cooke
Personal information
Full nameMelville Lance Cooke
Born(1934-05-30)30 May 1934
Christchurch, New Zealand
Died5 September 2013(2013-09-05) (aged 79)
Christchurch, New Zealand
Playing information
Height178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight86 kg (13 st 8 lb)
PositionScrum-half, Loose forward
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
19??–1964 Hornby
1965–1968 Monaro
Total 0 0 0 0 0
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1953–19?? Canterbury
South Island
1959–64 New Zealand 23 5 0 0 15
NSW Country
Coaching information
Representative
Years Team Gms W D L W%
1963–1964 Hornby
1965–1968 Monaro
1969–1978 Hornby
1971 Canterbury
Source: [1][2]

Melville Lance Cooke[3] (30 May 1934 – 5 September 2013) was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand twenty three times between 1959 and 1964.[1]

Playing career

Cooke was a member of the Hornby club in the Canterbury Rugby League competition. He was the player-coach when Hornby made the national tournament finals in 1962 and 1964 and when they won the Thacker Shield in 1964.[4]

A Canterbury and South Island representative, in 1962 Cooke was captain of the first Canterbury team to win the Northern Union Cup from Auckland at the Addington Showgrounds.[5]

Cooke played in 23 games for New Zealand, including at the 1960 World Cup. He played in eighteen consecutive tests between 1960 and 1964.[4] Cooke was the captain for the last three seasons before accepting a player-coach position in Canberra in 1965.

Coaching career

Cooke took up a player-coach position with Monaro in 1965. While there he captained the side against the 1966 British Lions and was selected for New South Wales Country.[4]

In 1969 Cooke returned to Hornby as coach. He was a Canterbury selector and coach in 1971 and again coached Hornby in 1978.[4]

Legacy

Cooke was named one of New Zealand Rugby League's "Legends of League" in 1995.[6]

In 2009 Cooke was named in the NZRL's team of the century.[7]

Cooke died in September 2013, aged 79.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  2. ^ "Coach Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  3. ^ COOKE, Melville Lance 1959 - 64 - Kiwi #384 Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine nzleague.co.nz
  4. ^ a b c d Significant Results in Canterbury Rugby League 1912-2009
  5. ^ Smith, Tony (30 May 2009). "Nothing better than bettering Auckland". The Press. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  6. ^ Legends of League NZRL
  7. ^ "Graham is best in 100 years". The Sunday Star-Times. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  8. ^ League world mourns Kiwi legend nzherald.co.nz, 15 September 2013
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