Melville Lance Cooke is a former 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 who represented his country twenty three times between 1959 and 1964.

Playing career

Cooke was a member of the Hornby club in the Canterbury Rugby League

Canterbury Rugby League

Canterbury Rugby League is the regional body that administers rugby league in Canterbury, New Zealand. CRL manages local competitions from senior level down to age group competitions. Canterbury Rugby League also manages the Canterbury rugby league team which represents the region in New Zealand...

 competition. He was the player-coach when Hornby made the national tournament finals in 1962 and 1964 and when they won the Thacker Shield

Thacker Shield

The Thacker Shield is a rugby league football trophy awarded on an annual basis to the winner of a match between the champion clubs of the Canterbury Rugby League and West Coast Rugby League.-History:...

 in 1964.

A Canterbury and South Island

South Island rugby league team

The South Island rugby league team represents the Southern Zone in the Albert Baskerville Trophy. The Zone represented the Southland, Otago, West Coast, Canterbury and Tasman districts. They are nicknamed the Scorpions...

 representative, in 1962 Cooke was captain of the first Canterbury team to win the Northern Union Cup

Rugby League Cup

The Rugby League Cup is a New Zealand rugby league trophy that is currently contested between districts on a challenge basis. The trophy was originally known as the Northern Union Cup...

 from Auckland at the Addington Showgrounds

Rugby League Park

Rugby League Park is a rugby league stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand. Formerly called the Addington Showgrounds, the ground is owned by the Canterbury Rugby League.-History:...

.

Cooke played in 23 games for New Zealand, including at the 1960 World Cup

1960 Rugby League World Cup

The 1960 Rugby League World Cup was the third staging of the tournament and the first Rugby league World Cup to be held in Great Britain. The same format as used in 1957 was used, with a group stage leading to a final table....

. He played in eighteen consecutive tests between 1960 and 1964. Cooke was the captain for the last three seasons before accepting a player-coach position in Canberra in 1965.

Coaching career

Cooke took up a player-coach position with Monaro in 1965. While there he captained the side against the 1966 British Lions

Great Britain national rugby league team

The Great Britain national rugby league team represents the United Kingdom in rugby league football. Administered by the Rugby Football League , the team is nicknamed "The Lions" or "Great Britain Lions"....

 and was selected for New South Wales Country.

In 1969 Cooke returned to Hornby as coach. He was a Canterbury selector and coach in 1971 and again coached Hornby in 1978.

Legacy

Cooke was named one of New Zealand Rugby League

New Zealand Rugby League

The New Zealand Rugby League is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in New Zealand. The NZRL was founded on the 25 April 1910 in preparation for a tour of Great Britain that same year....

's "Legends of League" in 1995.

In 2009 Cooke was named in the NZRL's team of the century.