Referee Andrew Cole retires
The end to a great career
Andrew Cole of Australia has decided to retire from refereeing at the age of 45 after an illustrious career.
Apart from top matches such as Super 12 Cole refereed in 31 Test matches, his first in 1997, his last at Lansdowne Road when Ireland played Romania.
Part of the highlights was participation as a referee at two World Cups – the 1999 World Cup hosted by Wales and the 2003 World Cup in his native Australia when he was one of a remarkable quartet of Australian referees appointed to the World Cup – Cole himself, Peter Marshall, Scott Young, Stuart Dickinson..
Andrew John Cole is Brisbane born and bred – born on 1 October 1960, educated at Marist Brothers' College Ashgrove whose old boys include John Eales and Daniel Herbert.
Cole started refereeing at the age of 17 just after leaving school for the University of Queensland and twenty years later refereed his first Test – Samoa vs Tonga in Apia, which Samoa won 62-13. Amongst his achievements have been six Six Nations matches, three Tri-Nations matches and, the highlight of his career, the second Test between New Zealand and the Lions this year.
His three Tri-Nations matches were, inevitably, between South Africa and New Zealand – at Ellis Park which South Africa won, in Christchurch which New Zealand won and at Newlands which South Africa won – all of them tight and dramatic matches. He ends his career on the IRB's Merit A Panel and the top-ranked referee in Australia.
His refereeing has been characterised by a quiet thoughtfulness and efficiency, the epitome of the unobtrusive but effective referee for whom the game was more important than his ego.But then he had as a mentor and inspiration the great Kerry Fitzgerald, also of Brisbane, the referee in the very first World Cup final.
His great refereeing friend from Brisbane has been Scott Young. Together they were known as the terrible Brisbane twins. Young said on Cole: "Coley is great referee but an even better person with a wicked sense of humour. He had a great understanding for what players wanted to achieve and through his own personality very rarely got players off-side. In my mind he is best described as being the 31st player."
André Watson of South Africa, who was at the same World Cups as Cole and refereed the final at each one, said: "Coley was very much a player's referee. There was hardly ever any controversy attached to his refereeing. All South African teams were always happy to have him as the referee."
Jonathan Kaplan, also a top referee and a colleague in SANZAR, said: "Andrew has had a wonderfully full career. To me he always put the interests of the game first and he will leave it with brilliant memories. I am grateful for his friendship."
Steve Walsh, the New Zealand referee, said: "The shame about Andrew Cole’s career isn’t any controversy over his refereeing performances, for he’s been consistently good and operates under the radar, but rather the shame is that more people didn’t get to know him teh way I did, because Coley is one of the best guys to tour with, and is so humble with it. For much of Andrew’s career he operated behind the likes of Wayne Erickson and Peter Marshall, and for that reason perhaps he was an even better team man. In the last few years he has finally received the rewards of some of the biggest matches around the globe. I’m sad to see him go, I’ll miss him, and can’t wait until I’m reffing in Brisbane just to catch up with the good bugger… and the late nights playing cards with him and his wife Anne-Maree."
Peter Marshall, the great Australian referee who now manages refereeing at the top level in Australia, said: "A wonderful referee and a great bloke. Whenever Andrew refereed a game of rugby, you new you were going to get a good spectacle. Andrew had the knack of being able to play advantage from seemingly impossible situations and pull it off. Andrew had a very good feel for the game and his skill as referee will be missed on the International and Australian scenes. In the seasons ahead I am sure you will find Andrew passing on his vast amount of experience and knowledge to young referees of the future, that is the type of person he is.
"Andrew is leaving rugby at the top of his game, after a very distinguished career."
Cole is a dentist by profession and married to Amy, who is also a dentist and been keeping the firm going while he has swanned around the world. They have three children – Michael, David and Megan.
Retiring will mean much for his family and the dental practice. He estimated that he was away from home for about five months of the year on refereeing assignments. Father's absence came to be taken for granted. "In the early days they would hang onto you leg, now they just wave and say, 'See you, Dad', as if you were going off to work and would be back just after five."
He said to this website: "I’m more than satisfied and ready for this although some people will wonder why. Better they say 'why' rather than 'when'. There was no pressure from any quarter, IRB, ARU or family – in fact all were very supportive of any way I wished to go. Nice to finish on 31 Tests, purely co-incidental, but a good number for referees and in keeping with my philosophy." (Referees like to be referred to as No.31 on the field.)
