Luke "The General" Patten (born 9 January 1980) is a 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 and NRL match official. A Junior Kanaroo and Country New South Wales representative he played for the

Illawarra Steelers The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level rugby league competition from 1982 until 1998. On the 13th of December 1980, the ...

St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint- ...

and the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

in Australia and the

Salford City Reds The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. Patten won the

2004 NRL Premiership The 2004 NRL season (also known as the 2004 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra) was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed dur ...

with the Bulldogs. Patten played in the famous 1999 Grand Final between the

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

and the

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...

played in front of a record crowd of 108,000 people at the Homebush Olympic Stadium. In 2001, he joined the

and quickly made the fullback position his own. In 2004 he played in every game of the Canterbury-Bankstown premiership winning season which finished with a 16–13 victory Grand Final win over the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

. A two-time winner of the clubs best and fairest in 2006 & 2007, Patten became the club's heart and soul. A back injury ended his 2008 campaign but he returned in 2009 to help a rejuvenated club reach the preliminary final against the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

. Unfortunately he copped a head knock early in the game in a huge blow to the Bulldogs hopes. At the end of the

2010 NRL season The 2010 NRL season was the 103rd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the thirteenth run by the National Rugby League. The season commenced on 12 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 3 Octobe ...

he signed a 3-year deal to join the

in the English Super League. In his last season for the club (2012) he was voted the clubs best and fairest. Upon returning to Australia in 2013 he joined the NRL match officials as a video referee. In all he officiated in over 400 first class games before leaving the role. In 2015 he was voted as fullback, in the team of the decade (2000-2010) for the

. In 2020 he accepted a role with the NRL Match Review Committee.

Background

Patten was born in

Bulli, New South Wales Bulli ( ) is a northern suburb of Wollongong situated on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. History Bulli is possibly derived from an Aboriginal word signifying "double or two mountains", but other derivations have been suggeste ...

, Australia.

Playing career

An Illawarra junior, Patten acquired the nickname "General" because of his surname's similarity to that of

General Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

. Patten made his first grade debut for Illawarra in round 3 of the

1998 NRL season 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

against

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

WIN Stadium Wollongong Showground, known as WIN Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Wollongong, Australia. The stadium was officially opened in 1911. From 1982 until 1998 it played host to every home match for the Illawa ...

. Patten played in Illawarra's final game as a stand-alone entity when they played against

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs o ...

in round 24 1998 at

. Patten scored two tries in a 25–24 loss. At the end of 1998, Illawarra formed a joint-venture partnership with

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

to become

St. George Illawarra The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

. He played for

at fullback in the

1999 NRL Grand Final The 1999 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 1999 NRL season. It was contested by the competition's two newest clubs: the Melbourne Storm, competing in only its second year (having finished the regular season ...

loss to the

. He moved to the

in 2001. Patten played at fullback for Canterbury in their

2004 NRL grand final The 2004 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2004 NRL season. It was contested by the Sydney Roosters, who had finished the regular season in 1st place, and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, who had finished ...

victory over cross-city rivals, the

. As 2004

NRL 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 ...

premiers, Canterbury faced

Super League IX Tetley's Super League IX was the name of the 2004 Super League championship season due to sponsorship by Tetley's Bitter. This was the 110th season of top-level professional rugby league held in Britain, and the ninth championship decided by Super ...

champions,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in the

2005 World Club Challenge The year 2005 Carnegie World Club Challenge was contested by Super League IX champions Leeds Rhinos and 2004 NRL season premiers, the Bulldogs. The match was played on 4 February at Elland Road, Leeds before 37,208 spectators. Australian Sean Hamp ...

. Patten played at and scored a try in Canterbury's 32–39 loss. Patten was selected for Country in the

City vs Country Origin City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Sydne ...

match on 8 May 2009. In 2009, Patten was 19th man for the New South Wales Blues in Game 3. On 27 July 2010 it was confirmed that Patten would be moving to the

, linking up with English club

for 3 years from the 2011 season. Patten and

Trent Barrett Trent Barrett (born 18 November 1977) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is a former head coach and a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He was previously the head ...

were the joint last remaining former

players to play in the

Career highlights

* ''Junior Club:''

Corrimal Cougars The Corrimal Cougars are an Australian rugby league football team based in Corrimal, New South Wales, Corrimal, a country town of the Illawarra region. The club are a part of Country Rugby League and has competed in the Illawarra Rugby League pre ...

* ''First grade debut:'' Round 3, 1998 - Illawarra v

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

. * ''NSW Game 3, 18th Man - 2009''. * ''100th First Grade Try, 30th July 2010.''.

Awards

* Canterbury ''Player of the Year'' - 2006. * Canterbury ''Player of the Year'' - 2007.

Refereeing career

Patten first showed interest in becoming a referee in 2011. In 2013 he became the first ex-player from the NRL era to officiate in a first grade grand final when he served as

video referee Instant replay or action replay is a video reproduction of something that recently occurred which was both shot and broadcast live. The video, having already been shown live, is replayed in order for viewers to see again and analyze what had j ...

for the

2013 NRL Grand Final The 2013 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2013 NRL season. Played on Sunday, 6 October at Sydney's ANZ Stadium between the minor premiers Sydney Roosters and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. The Roosters won ...

References

External links

Canterbury Bulldogs profile

Luke Patten at ''NRL.com''
1980 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian rugby league referees Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Illawarra Steelers players National Rugby League referees Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Wollongong St. George Illawarra Dragons players {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1980s-stub