Bill Harrigan

Last updated

Bill Harrigan
Personal information
Full nameWilliam James Harrigan
Born (1960-05-24) 24 May 1960 (age 63)[ citation needed ]
Sydney, Australia
Refereeing information
YearsCompetitionApps
19862003 National Rugby League 393

Bill Harrigan (born 24 May 1960 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league football referee, and former head of refereeing for the National Rugby League. Unusually for a sports official, in his long career he was accorded the same profile as some of the top players he refereed. [1] [2] A policeman off-field before he resigned to concentrate on rugby league, [3] he is widely recognised as one of Australia's greatest sports umpires. [3] [4] He retired with the record for most State of Origin matches officiated. [5]

Contents

Early life

William James "Bill" Harrigan was born in 1960 in the Western Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. [4] He resided in the south-west and greater western suburbs of Sydney for all of his childhood. While not particularly interested in academic studies as school student, he nevertheless represented his schools with distinction in every sport that he could. He attended Fairvale High School before graduating in 1977. [3] Harrigan joined the NSW Police Force in 1979. [3] He served extensively in numerous units, including the Tactical Response Group. [6]

Rugby League career

Harrigan refereed his first game in 1977. In 1985 he refereed his first New South Wales Rugby League premiership match, between Cronulla and Western Suburbs. [3]

Harrigan holds the following Australian rugby league refereeing records [4]

Defamation action

In July 2001 Harrigan successfully sued Australian radio broadcaster Alan Jones for defamatory remarks made by Jones during a 1998 interview, resulting in an award of $90,000. [7]

Post-retirement

After retiring from rugby league refereeing, Harrigan was a referee in Gladiators .

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mal Meninga</span> Australian rugby league footballer and coach

Malcolm Norman Meninga is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Australian national team and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long career in both Australia and England, playing mainly as a goal-kicking centre, but also on the wing. After retiring, Meninga has enjoyed success as a coach, and is currently the head coach of Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby league in Australia</span> One of Australia’s most popular sports

Rugby league in Australia has been one of Australia's most popular sports since it started being played there in 1908. It is the dominant winter football code in the states of New South Wales and Queensland. In 2022, it was the most watched sport on Australian television with an aggregate audience of 137.3 million viewers. The premier club competition is the National Rugby League (NRL), which features ten teams from New South Wales, four teams from Queensland, and one team each from Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The premier representative competition is the annual Rugby league State of Origin featuring two sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons is often referred to as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”, it is one of Australia's premier sporting events, attracting huge interest and television audiences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Gould (rugby league)</span> Australian rugby league footballer, coach, administrator, broadcaster and journalist

Phillip Ronald Gould, also nicknamed "Gus", is an Australian rugby league broadcaster, journalist, administrator and formerly a player and coach. He works as the General Manager of Football for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricky Stuart</span> Australian rugby league player and coach

Ricky John Stuart is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Canberra Raiders in the NRL and a former rugby league footballer who played as a halfback in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Raudonikis</span> Australian rugby league footballer and coach (1950–2021)

Thomas Walter Raudonikis was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He played 40 International games and World Cup games as Australia representative halfback and captained his country in two matches of the 1973 Kangaroo tour.

The 1971 South Africa rugby union tour of Australia was a controversial six-week rugby union tour by the Springboks to Australia. Anti-apartheid protests came to being all around the country.The tour is perhaps most infamous for a state of emergency being declared in Queensland.
In total, around 700 people were arrested whilst the Springboks were on tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Peponis</span> Australia international rugby league footballer

George Peponis is a Greek Australian company director and former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. An Australia national and New South Wales state representative hooker, he played in the NSWRFL Premiership for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, with whom he won the 1980 Grand Final. He also captained the Bulldogs and New South Wales, and played in eight Test matches for Australia between 1978 and 1980, captaining the side on five consecutive occasions between 1979 and 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Burge</span> Australia international rugby league footballer & coach

Frank Burge was one of the greatest forwards in the history of rugby league in Australia. Later Burge became one of the game's finest coaches. His club career was with Glebe and the St. George Dragons. He represented New South Wales on twenty-six occasions and played thirteen test matches for the Kangaroos and played for Australia in a further twenty-three tour matches.

Jack Hampstead (1920-1992) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s, and coached in the 1950s. A New South Wales state representative lock forward, he played in Sydney's NSWRFL Premiership for the Balmain club. Hampstead later became coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown club. His grandson is National Rugby League former referee Sean Hampstead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Holman</span> Australia international rugby league footballer, coach and referee

Keith Victor Holman, MBE was an Australian Rugby League footballer, a national and state representative Halfback whose club career was played with Western Suburbs from 1949 to 1961.

Horace Miller (1882-1967) was an Australian rugby league footballer in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership. He played as a wing with the Eastern Suburbs club in 1908 and 1909, the first years of the new code.

The 1990 New South Wales Rugby League season was the eighty-third season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the premiership season, which culminated in a grand final between the previous season's premiers, the Canberra Raiders and the Penrith Panthers, who were making their grand final debut.

The 1980 State of Origin game was the first game between the Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues rugby league teams to be played under "state of origin" selection rules. It was the third match of 1980's annual interstate series between the Blues and the Maroons, and was only allowed to go ahead because the first two matches were already won by New South Wales under established 'state of residency' rules. It was played on 8 July 1980 under the newly configured rules by which a player would represent his "state of origin", i.e. the state in which he was born or in which he started playing registered first grade rugby league football.

The 1935 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the twenty-eighth season of Sydney’s top-grade rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. The season culminated in Eastern Suburbs’ victory over South Sydney in the final.

Frank Cheadle was an Australian pioneering rugby league footballer and AIF soldier who fell in World War I. A New South Wales interstate and Australian international representative centre, he was reputedly the first Sydney rugby union player to sign with the new breakaway league in its earliest formative days in late 1907. He played for New South Wales in the very first rugby match run by the newly created 'New South Wales Rugby Football League' which had just split away from the established New South Wales Rugby Football Union.

The 1999 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season was the 33rd in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's 1999 Telstra Premiership and despite losing in the preliminary final against St. George-Illawarra, the season was one of the most successful in the club's history after finishing with just their second minor premiership without dropping below equal first throughout the entire season. The club enjoyed record crowds as well as breaking the club record for most points and tries in a season. The club also equaled their biggest ever victory with a 46-0 thrashing of Western Suburbs as well as breaking their highest points tally in a match with the 56–18 defeat of North Sydney. David Peachey finished the season with 19 tries, which was also a record for the club. The club was coached by John Lang and captained by Andrew Ettingshausen while their major shirt sponsor was Pepsi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shayne Hayne</span> Australian former rugby league referee (born 1967)

Kevin John "Shayne" Hayne is an Australian former rugby league referee. He officiated in the National Rugby League, City vs Country Origin, State of Origin series, All Stars Matches, the 2008 World Cup and the 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2014 NRL Grand Finals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Trbojevic</span> Australia international rugby league footballer

Jake Trbojevic also known as “Jurbo” is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a lock and prop for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the NRL and Australia at international level.

Phillip Cooley is an Australian former rugby league referee.

The 1908 Interstate rugby league series was the first series of matches between the then newly formed New South Wales and Queensland rugby league football teams. In what was rugby league in Australia's first year, three matches were played in July and all were won by New South Wales. These matches began the tradition of annual series between New South Wales and Queensland that would go on to form the basis of the State of Origin series.

References

  1. "Controversy corner". National Museum of Australia . Retrieved 21 October 2009.
  2. "Bill Harrigan (NRL)". The NSW Sports Federation. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 15 July 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "RefereeBillHarrigan". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 "Mediaman – Harrigan". Mediaman.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2008.
  5. David Middleton. "Records". NSWRL . Australia. Archived from the original on 24 February 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
  6. Ian Heads; David Middleton (2008). A Centenary of Rugby League (1908–2008). Sydney: Pan Macmillan. p. 606. ISBN   978-1-4050-3830-0.
  7. Alan Jones Chronology Archived 4 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Four Corners. Retrieved 9 August 2011.

Further reading