Wade Dooley (born 2 October 1957) is a former

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 ...

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 ...

international who played lock forward. He played for his country 55 times and was known as the "

Blackpool Tower Blackpool Tower is a tourist attraction in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which was opened to the public on 14 May 1894. When it opened, Blackpool Tower was the tallest man made structure in the British Empire. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower in ...

", as a result of being 6 feet 8 inches tall and a

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

with

Lancashire Constabulary Lancashire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial county of Lancashire in North West England. The force's headquarters are at Hutton, near the city of Preston. , the force has 3,088 police officers ...

in Blackpool. Dooley was born in

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 ...

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

and played

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 ...

as a teenager, taking up rugby union aged 19. He played most of his career for Preston Grasshoppers, where he was nurtured by former England international and coach Dick Greenwood. He also had a brief spell with Fylde and with New Brighton F.C. Dooley made his international debut on 5 January 1985 against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. He later established a second row partnership with fellow police officer Paul Ackford. In 1987 he broke the cheekbone of Welsh player Phil Davies with a punch during a rough game in Cardiff. Dooley went on the

1989 British Lions tour to Australia In 1989, the British Lions toured Australia for the first time since 1971. Unlike previous tours to Australia, the Lions did not play any matches in New Zealand, this being the first Australia-only tour since 1899. The side was captained by Fi ...

, playing in the final two test matches. He was also part of the England team that won back-to-back grand slams in 1991 and 1992. Dooley also went on the

1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand 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 ...

, but left the tour to return home for the funeral of his father. He was replaced on the tour by the Leicester lock Martin Johnson, and decided to retire. Since retirement, Dooley and his wife, Sharon, have run a tea room called ''Dizzy Ducks'' at

Wrea Green Wrea Green is a village in the Fylde (borough), Fylde borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about 2 miles west of Kirkham, Lancashire, Kirkham. Along with the village of Ribby, it forms the civil parish Ribby-with-Wrea. Wrea Green has approxim ...

External links

Planet-Rugby stat archive and bio

Sporting Heroes

Sporting Heroes 2

Sporting Heroes 3

Sporting Heroes 4

Sunday Times article 21 March 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dooley, Wade 1957 births Living people British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England British police officers England international rugby union players Fylde Rugby Club players Lancashire County RFU players New Brighton F.C. players North of England Rugby Union team Preston Grasshoppers R.F.C. players Rugby union players from Warrington Rugby union locks