Bill Harrigan (born 24 May 1960 in Sydney,

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 ...

) is an Australian former

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 112 ...

football

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

, and former head of refereeing for the

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 ...

. Unusually for a sports official, in his long career he was accorded the same profile as some of the top players he refereed. A policeman off-field before he resigned to concentrate on rugby league, he is widely recognised as one of Australia's greatest sports umpires. He retired with the record for most

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

matches officiated.

Early life

William James "Bill" Harrigan was born in 1960 in the Western Suburbs of Sydney,

. He resided in the

south-west The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

and greater western suburbs of Sydney for all of his childhood. While not particularly interested in academic studies as school student, he nevertheless represented his schools with distinction in every sport that he could. He attended

Fairvale High School Fairvale High School is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive secondary day school, located in Fairfield West, a south-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1969, the school caters for approximately ...

before graduating in 1977. Harrigan joined the

NSW Police Force The New South Wales Police Force (NSW Police Force; previously the New South Wales Police Service and New South Wales Police) is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Divided into Police Area Commands (P ...

in 1979. He served extensively in numerous units, including the

Tactical Response Group Tactical Response Group may refer to: * Tactical Response Group (Western Australia) * State Protection Group, police tactical group in NSW, Australia {{Disambiguation ...

Rugby League career

Harrigan refereed his first game in 1977. In 1986 he refereed his first

New South Wales Rugby League premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

match, between

Cronulla Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydne ...

and Western Suburbs. Harrigan holds the following Australian rugby league refereeing records *393

first grade First grade (also called Grade One, called ''Year 2'' in England or Primary 2 in Scotland) is the first grade in elementary school and the first school year after kindergarten. Children are usually 6–7 years old in this grade. Examples by ...

games, *21

games, *25 Test matches, and *10

Grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

s (1989–1991,1997–2003)

Defamation action

In July 2001 Harrigan successfully sued Australian radio broadcaster Alan Jones for defamatory remarks made by Jones during a 1998 interview, resulting in an award of $90,000.Alan Jones Chronology
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ''Four Corners''. Retrieved 9 August 2011.

Post-retirement

After retiring from rugby league refereeing, Harrigan was a referee in ''

Gladiators A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

''.

References

External links

Image from the collection of the National Museum of Australia – Harrigan sends off Gorden Tallis during the 2000 "State of Origin" series
*https://web.archive.org/web/20090106141703/http://www.billharrigan.com.au/Referee-career-pg2853.html *http://www.mediaman.com.au/profiles/harrigan.html *http://www.claxtonspeakers.com.au/speakers_profile/134 *http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411317/453852 *https://web.archive.org/web/20071014012924/http://gallery.atwone.com/1023.html *http://www.seniorlink.co.nz/llbooks/?cont_id=82 *https://web.archive.org/web/20050617172518/http://www.ovations.com.au/news/november.htm *http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/30/1064819935828.html
Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrigan, Bill 1960 births Australian police officers Living people National Rugby League referees Rugby league players from Sydney Australian rugby league referees Rugby League World Cup referees

Early life

Rugby League career

Defamation action

Post-retirement

References

Further reading

External links