John Cootes (born 19 August 1941), nicknamed "the footballing priest", is an Australian former professional

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 ...

footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

. An

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

international representative three-quarter back and adept

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-kicker, he played club football in the

Newcastle Rugby League The Newcastle Rugby League is a local rugby league football competition in Newcastle, Australia. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1910. A Newcastle representative team was also assembled from players in ...

for Western Suburbs during the 1960s and also later worked as a television commentator and presenter. Cootes hailed from Newcastle and was trained during childhood by

Clive Churchill Clive Bernard Churchill AM (21 January 1927 – 9 August 1985) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach in the mid-20th century. An Australian international and New South Wales and Queensland interstate representative ...

and later played for the

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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 its m ...

club in 1966 while on scholarship to study theology at Rome's

Propaganda College Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

. In 1967 he commenced playing in the

for Western Suburbs. Father John Cootes became the first Roman Catholic priest to play international rugby league when he was selected for Australia's tour of New Zealand in 1969. Also that year he was named New South Wales'

Country Rugby League The Country Rugby League of New South Wales (CRL), formed in 1934 and disbanded in 2019, was the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in areas of New South Wales outside the Sydney metropolitan area until it merged with NSW Rug ...

player of the year. He made appearances for Australia as a three-quarter back in 1969 and 1970. He played in the

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 ...

-winning Wests side in 1970. Cootes' last

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

was the

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of the 1970 World Cup which was against

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at the

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ground in

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. A particularly violent match, Australia won 12–7, with Cootes crossing in the first half, becoming the tournament's top

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

-scorer. Having obtained a dispensation to marry, Cootes wed in 1972 in Arizona, USA. Eventually he left the priesthood and opened a chain of furniture stores in New South Wales. After football, Cootes also enjoyed a long and successful media career, becoming a sports commentator for Channel 10. In 1979 he was appointed as

John Singleton John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 April 28, 2019) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...

's replacement as host of Channel 10's ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' programme. He left Channel 10 in 1983 to concentrate on a business venture, but returned to television in 1986. He was named at centre in West Rosellas RLFC's team of the century.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cootes, John 1941 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian Roman Catholic priests Australian rugby league commentators Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players Australian television presenters Country New South Wales rugby league team players New South Wales rugby league team players Newcastle rugby league team players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Newcastle, New South Wales Rugby league wingers Western Suburbs Rosellas players