Bob Cooper is a former professional rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 player in the New South Wales Rugby League

New South Wales Rugby League

The New South Wales Rugby League is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and is a member of the Australian Rugby League. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League until 1984 when forward thinking marketing managers decided...

 (NSWRL) competition. Cooper primarily played in the back row for Western Suburbs Magpies

Western Suburbs Magpies

The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia...

, North Sydney Bears

North Sydney Bears

The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. They currently compete in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 92 years of top-grade competition. The Bears are based on...

 and the New South Wales State of Origin

Rugby League State of Origin

State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...

 team.

Cooper was selected to represent New South Wales for the inaugural Origin game in 1980

1980 Rugby League State of Origin game

The 1980 State of Origin game between the Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues was the inaugural match 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...

.

In 1982, Cooper was given the equal-longest suspension in rugby league history after he ran in to join a brawl and left three Illawarra Steelers

Illawarra Steelers

The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level Rugby League competition from 1982, when they, along with the Canberra Raiders, were admitted into the then New South Wales Rugby Football...

 flattened during a match at Wollongong

Wollongong, New South Wales

Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney...

 Showground. Chairman of the NSWRL's judiciary, Jim Comans, when handing down a fifteen-month suspension to Cooper, said, "Acts such as these must be obliterated from the game, and I'll begin by obliterating you."

Cooper attempted to keep fit during his suspension by playing Australian Rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 but after only four games with North Sydney

North Sydney, New South Wales

North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Sydney is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney...

in 1984 he dislocated his shoulder and retired from football.

Cooper was named in the second-row when the Western Suburbs Magpies named their Team of the Eighties.

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