Albert Edward Cooke (5 October 1901 – 29 September 1977) was a New Zealand dual-code international

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

er of the 1920s and 1930s, who represented for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in both

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

Early years

Born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

in 1901, Cooke was the son of Albert Edward Cooke, a hairdresser, and his wife Sarah Jane Cooke (née Peterson). Cooke was educated at Hamilton East Primary and

Hamilton Boys' High School Hamilton Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hamilton, New Zealand and is the largest secondary school in the Waikato region. The school was established as Hamilton High School in 1911 but was later split into separate boys' and gi ...

Rugby union career

Cooke joined the Grafton

club in 1919 and graduated to senior club rugby in 1923. In that same year he made his

debut and was a reserve for

against

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. He was then part of the 1924–1925 " Invincibles" side that toured Great Britain. He again played for the All Blacks in 1925 and 1926 but withdrew from the 1928 tour of South Africa for business reasons. He did play twice in 1928 for New Zealand against New South Wales before making his last Test appearances in 1930 against Great Britain. Cooke played for the North Island in 1931 and spent 1932 with

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region i ...

, before switching codes. Cooke also represented

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

and

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

while playing rugby union. He finished his rugby union career with 121 tries in 131 first class matches.

Rugby league career

Cooke joined the

Richmond Rovers The Richmond Rovers Rugby League Club is a rugby league club based in Grey Lynn, New Zealand. The premier team is called the Richmond Bulldogs and compete in Auckland Rugby League's Fox Memorial competition. Early history The club was formed i ...

club in the Auckland Rugby League competition in 1932 and made an immediate impact, racing away for three tries in the inter-island game only weeks later.Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909–2009'', 2009. , p.103. He was selected for

that year against the

Great Britain Lions The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions. For most of the 20th century, the Great Britain team toured overseas, ...

. Cooke also represented

and captained New Zealand in two Test matches against Australia in 1935. Richmond Rovers champions 1935

He coached

in 1936 as well as coaching the Ponsonby United senior side after he retired from playing with

club the previous year. In the 1936 season the Ponsonby side finished with a 7 win, 6 loss record, coming 5th in the Fox Memorial competition. They were knocked out of the Roope Rooster in the first round of the same season but then went on to win the Phelan Shield after defeating Mount Albert, Papakura, Devonport, and Marist (in the final). In 1937 he was said to be going to coach Ponsonby once more but was rumoured to be going to coach the North Shore Rugby senior side as well. Ultimately he in fact came out of retirement and played two matches for

before being injured in their round 1 match with Mount Albert and then giving the game away as a player. He then took on the coaching duties with the North Shore rugby senior side.

Later years

With the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Cooke joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force and played rugby union for that service in the 1940 Auckland club competition. He died in Auckland in 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Bert 1901 births 1977 deaths Dual-code rugby internationals New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union players Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league fullbacks Rugby union centres Auckland rugby union players Auckland rugby league team players Hawke's Bay rugby union players Richmond Bulldogs players Royal New Zealand Air Force personnel New Zealand national rugby league team captains Wellington rugby union players New Zealand military personnel of World War II North Island rugby union players North Island rugby league team players Auckland rugby league team coaches New Zealand rugby league coaches Wairarapa rugby union players Rugby union players from Auckland