Philip Clarke (born 16 May 1971) is an English 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 1980s and 1990s. A

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 is ...

and

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 ...

international representative back-rower or , he played his club rugby league in England for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, 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 nor ...

(with whom he won five consecutive

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

Finals from 1991 to 1995), and in Australia for the

Sydney City 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 ...

. Since his retirement he has continued to work in the sport as a manager, executive and commentator.

Background

Clarke was born on 16 May 1971 in

Blackrod Blackrod is a List of towns in England, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, northeast of Wigan and west of Bolton. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, it had a po ...

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 Lancashi ...

, England. For much of his early career he balanced playing rugby with studies at the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

. He is the son of Colin Clarke, the Wigan and

of the 1960s and 1970s, and Wigan coach of the 1980s.

Playing career

Clarke was part of a Wigan side that dominated English rugby league in the late 1980s and 1990s, winning the Championship in six consecutive seasons and the Challenge Cup in seven consecutive seasons during Clarke's time at the club. Clarke played in five Challenge Cup final victories, from 1991 to 1995. He played in three World Club Challenges for Wigan - the

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

victory against the visiting

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith ...

, the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

home defeat by the visiting

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

and the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

victory over the Broncos in Brisbane. Clarke was selected to go on the

1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australasia was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team, nicknamed the 'Lions', of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand which took place between May and July 1992. The tour was the last of ...

. He played in the back-row in Great Britain's win over Australia in Melbourne. He represented

at the

1995 Rugby League World Cup The 1995 Rugby League World Cup was held during October in the United Kingdom. It was the eleventh staging of the Rugby League World Cup and was marketed as the Halifax Centenary World Cup, reflecting the tournament's sponsorship and the fact ...

. He became the first player to win

caps whilst at the

. He played in the 1995 World Cup Final at but

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 ...

won the match and retained the Cup. He moved to

in 1995 but his playing career was cut short when he suffered a broken neck in his only season there. Although he made a full recovery, he was warned by doctors never to play rugby league again.

Post-playing career

Clarke was Wigan's chief executive from 1997 to 1998, when they won the Grand Final of

Super League III JJB Sports Super League III was the official name for the year 1998's Super League championship season, the 104th season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the third season played in summer. The League format changed i ...

. He became a

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

commentator in 1999 alongside

Bill Arthur William Tevlin Arthur (16 April 1918 – 28 February 1982) was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he attended state schools and was on military service from 1941 to 1946. Subsequently he was a journalist, scriptwriter and research of ...

on Academy matches and moved on to work with Eddie Hemmings and Mike "Stevo" Stephenson on

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 ...

broadcasts. In March 2006 he left the position of Great Britain team manager after five years, having become part of the Great Britain set-up in 2001. He said his reasons for leaving were the "lack of leadership and direction" for the Great Britain team, and the lack of improvement in competitiveness against international opponents, adding that "despite what's been said by the RFL and certain parts of the media, we're no closer now than we were 15 years ago." He is a director of The Sports Office, a sports software company. In February 2019 Phil became an Full Member of th
St Helens Rugby League Referees Society

References

External links

Phil Clarke Wigan Playing Career Page
on the Wigan RL Fansite.
Rugby League's Generation Game
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Phil 1971 births Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool England national rugby league team captains England national rugby league team players English rugby league commentators English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players People from Blackrod Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Lancashire Rugby league second-rows Sydney Roosters players Wigan Warriors players