Bob Cooper (rugby league)

Bob Cooper is a former professional rugby league footballer in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition. Cooper primarily played in the back row for Western Suburbs Magpies, North Sydney Bears and the New South Wales State of Origin team.

Bob Cooper
Personal information
Full nameRobert Cooper
Born (1955-08-31) 31 August 1955
Playing information
Height196 cm (6 ft 5 in)
PositionSecond-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1977–82 Wests Magpies 76 14 0 0 42
1984 North Sydney Bears 4 0 0 0 0
Total 80 14 0 0 42
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1980 New South Wales 1 0 0 0 0
Source: [1][2]

Cooper was selected to represent New South Wales for the inaugural Origin game in 1980.[3]

In 1982, Cooper was given the equal-longest suspension in rugby league history after he ran in to join a brawl and left three Illawarra Steelers flattened during a match at Wollongong Showground. Chairman of the NSWRFL's judiciary, Jim Comans, when handing down a fifteen-month suspension to Cooper, said, "Acts such as these must be obliterated from the game, and I'll begin by obliterating you." [4]

Cooper attempted to keep fit during his suspension by playing Australian rules football with St George in the Sydney Football League in 1983 and won the reserve competition's best and fairest award.[5]

After only four games with North Sydney in 1984 he dislocated his shoulder and retired from football.

Cooper was named in the second-row when the Western Suburbs Magpies named their Team of the Eighties.[6]

References
  1. Rugby League Project
  2. Yesterday's Hero
  3. "State Of Origin - Game 1, 1980". Rugby League Tables. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
  4. "No such thing as a free punch". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 August 2006. Retrieved 27 November 2007.
  5. Mack, John (4 December 1983). "Cooper kicks off with a new outlook". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 47. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  6. "VEST, KEATO, COGGER ALL HONOURED". weststigers.com.au. Archived from the original on 27 February 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2011.


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