Geoff Cooke OBE (born ) is a former

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 ...

player, an

England Rugby The England national rugby union team represents England in men's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on 29 occasions ...

coach and manager of the

1993 British Lions In 1993 the British Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand. This was the last Lions tour in the sport's amateur era. The Lions were managed by Geoff Cooke, coached by Ian McGeechan and Dick Best, and captained by Gavin Hastings. The Lions ...

rugby union tour to

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 ...

Early career

During his playing career he played mainly as a Centre/Fly Half 1962-72 and captained his Club Bradford RFC and his County, Cumbria. Cooke also attended St. John's College, York now

York St John University , mottoeng = They may have life and have it more abundantly , established = , type = Public , administrative_staff = 618 , chancellor = Reeta Chakrabarti , vice_chancellor = Professor Karen Bryan , student ...

where he played both rugby union and cricket. He was coach to Bradford RFC 1973 to 1975, coach to

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

Rugby Football Union 1975-9, then Chairman of Selectors from 1980-85. He was a North of England selector from 1979-1987.

Management

Cooke was appointed Manager of the England Rugby Union Team in October 1987 and led the England Rugby team in 49 international matches between 1987 and 1994 including two tours to Australia/ Fiji and one to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Under his leadership,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

won successive (1991 and 1992) Grand Slams in the 5 Nations Championship, were runners-up in the 1991 World Cup and winners of the 1993 World Cup Sevens. In 1993 he was made Manager of the British Lions rugby union tour to

Recent years

In recent years he has been Chief Executive and Director of Rugby at Bedford Rugby Club guiding them to promotion to the Premiership in 1998 and Chief Executive at Wakefield Rugby Club and Worcester Rugby Club until his retirement from full-time employment in April 2002. Back in the amateur ranks he rejoined his former club, Bradford & Bingley as Director of Rugby, guiding them to promotion to North One in his first season and then taking them straight through in 2003-04 to a second successive promotion to National League Three (North) and also winning the Intermediate Cup at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

. After retiring from active coaching he served as Executive Director of First Division Rugby Limited, the collective organisation of sixteen clubs that competed in

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

of the English Rugby Union Clubs Championship until superseded by the present Championship. Now fully retired he was President and Chairman of the Directors of Bracken Ghyll Golf Club in Addingham, Yorkshire from 2011 to 2013.

Personal life

He is married to Susan with two sons, Andrew (born 1972) and David (born 1976). He was awarded the

O.B.E The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for services to

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 ...

in June 1992. He has two books (Rugby Union - 1981 EP Sport & Skilful Rugby Union - 1991 A & C Black) to his name and is the author of numerous articles on sports coaching.

Sources

*Wakefield Rugby Football Club—1901-2001 A Centenary History. Written and compiled by David Ingall in 2001. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Geoff 1941 births Living people English rugby union players English rugby union coaches England national rugby union team coaches Wakefield RFC Officers of the Order of the British Empire