Michael Keith Gregory (20 May 1964 – 19 November 2007) was an English 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 11 ...

footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, and coached in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

from 1982 to 1994, and won 20 caps for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. He was the head coach of

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Northern Rugby Football Union followin ...

Playing career

Gregory was born in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England. He had a distinguished playing career, captaining both

and

. He made his début for Warrington on Sunday 5 September 1982, and he played his last match for Warrington on Saturday 12 February 1994, making 222 1st team starts and 24 substitute appearances and scoring 45 tries and a total points of 176. Gregory played and scored a try in Warrington's 14-36 defeat by Wigan in the 1990 Challenge Cup Final. He captained a Great Britain tour to New Zealand. Gregory was selected to go on the 1988 Great Britain tour of Australasia, and scored a try as the Lions upset Australia in the third Ashes test in Sydney. He won 20 caps for Great Britain, and played once for the Rest of the World against Australia, in 1988. Gregory's

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

at Warrington took place in 1994. He is a Warrington Wolves Hall of Fame inductee and Heritage No. 822.

Coaching career

Gregory started his coaching career as assistant to Shaun McRae at St. Helens. He spent three successful seasons at St. Helens between 1996–98, before taking the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

job at the Swinton Lions. He later joined the Wigan Warriors, taking charge of the Senior Academy in 2001. He led the youngsters to first place in the 2002 Academy Championship, before being promoted to assistant coach for the 2003's

Super League VIII Tetley's Super League VIII was the official name for the year 2003's Super League championship season, the 109th season of top-level professional rugby league held in Britain, and the eighth championship run by Super League. The season culminat ...

. Gregory had international coaching experience with

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

in the 1995 World Cup. He also guided the England Academy team to a historic series victory against the Australian Schoolboys in 2002. He was assistant coach of the Lancashire Origin squad for 2003 and was also appointed as

of Scotland for the 2003 European Nations' Cup. Following the departure of the Wigan Warriors' head coach

Stuart Raper Stuart may refer to: Names *Stuart (name), a given name and surname (and list of people with the name) Automobile * Stuart (automobile) Places Australia Generally *Stuart Highway, connecting South Australia and the Northern Territory Northe ...

in July 2003, Gregory was appointed

until the end of 2003's

. After Raper's announcement, Gregory had announced his intention to run for the job permanently. It was the first time since Colin Clarke in 1985 that a Wigan-born man has coached Wigan. Gregory spent three months as caretaker coach, remaining unbeaten for 11 matches and guiding the Wigan Warriors to the

2003 Super League Grand Final The 2003 Super League Grand Final was the 6th official Grand Final conclusive and premiership-deciding match of Super League VIII. Held on Saturday 18 October 2003 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between Bradford Bulls and Wigan ...

– becoming the first side from outside the top two to make it all the way – before being awarded the job full-time on a 2-year contract. The grand final was lost to the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

Illness

In 2004, it became known that Gregory had been suffering from

progressive muscular atrophy Progressive muscular atrophy (PMA), also called Duchenne–Aran disease and Duchenne–Aran muscular atrophy, is a disorder characterised by the degeneration of lower motor neurons, resulting in generalised, progressive loss of muscle function. P ...

, a form of

motor neuron disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

affecting his

nerves A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons) in the peripheral nervous system. A nerve transmits electrical impulses. It is the basic unit of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the e ...

and muscles which he had possibly contracted as early as 2001. The illness blocks signals from the brain getting to muscles, causing weight-loss and affecting speech. He went to the United States for a week in May 2004 for treatment. Initially it was thought that he had become unwell from an insect bite whilst abroad.

Ian Millward Ian "Basil"/"Minibus" Millward (born 22 August 1960) is an Australian rugby league coach, occasional pundit and former player. Millward is now the assistant coach of St George Illawarra in the NRL Millward is the former head coach of Wigan, S ...

was appointed as head coach of the Wigan Warriors while Gregory was still recovering from his illness.

Disagreement with Wigan

In September 2004 there were reports that his illness would prevent him from returning to his job at Wigan. Maurice Lindsay said that Wigan would continue to employ and pay Gregory while he was on sick leave and wait for advice from medical advisers. Gregory felt that during 2004 he would be able to return but that the club blocked his return to work. He took Wigan and the club's owner

Dave Whelan David Whelan (born 24 November 1936) is an English businessman and former footballer. During his football career, he played for Blackburn Rovers and Crewe Alexandra. Whelan is the former owner of club Wigan Athletic, having also been the chai ...

to court, claiming Wigan should have done more to help him carry on. The case was settled out of court with Wigan agreeing to pay Gregory £17,500. After the settlement, Gregory said:

Death and legacy

On 19 November 2007, having used a wheelchair for the previous year, Gregory died aged 43. In 2008, the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

(RFL) introduced the Spirit of Rugby League Award to recognise individuals who have made a significant positive contribution to rugby league, with the inaugural award being presented posthumously to Gregory. In subsequent seasons, the award was renamed in his honour to the Mike Gregory Spirit of Rugby League Award.

References

External links

Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk (statistics currently missing due to not having appeared for both Great Britain, and England)
*(archived by web.archive.org
Mike Gregory website
accessed 1 September 2014. *(archived by web.archive.org
Obituary in ''The Times''
28 November 2007; accessed 1 September 2014. *(archived by web.archive.org
Hall of Fame at wire2wolves.com
accessed 1 September 2014.
Warrington's World Cup heroes – Mike Gregory
*(archived by web.archive.org

me.com; accessed 1 September 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Mike 1964 births 2007 deaths Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players Deaths from motor neuron disease Neurological disease deaths in England English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team captains Great Britain national rugby league team players Place of death missing Rugby league locks Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from Wigan Swinton Lions coaches Warrington Wolves captains Warrington Wolves players Wigan Warriors coaches