Noel Goldthorpe 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...

 footballer of the 1990s. He played most of his career in the halves for the St George Dragons. Goldthorpe also played for the 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...

, Hunter Mariners

Hunter Mariners

The Hunter Mariners were an Australian rugby league club based in the Hunter Valley region's largest city, Newcastle. Hunter was formed in mid 1995 and was later disbanded at the end of 1997. The club was formed because of the Super League war, which was the rivalry between the traditional...

, Adelaide Rams

Adelaide Rams

The Adelaide Rams were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition, which eventually ran parallel to the rival Australian Rugby League competition in 1997...

 and the North Queensland Cowboys

North Queensland Cowboys

The North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...

, whom he captained.

Goldthorpe is notable for breaking the deadlock with a field goal for New South Wales in what was the longest recorded game of rugby league: the final of the 1997 Super League Tri-series

Super League Tri-series

The Super League Tri-series was a rugby league football tournament contested in 1997 between Queensland, New South Wales and New Zealand representative rugby league teams...

 against Queensland. In an ironic twist, however, he lost his starting spot at his club due to the impressive debut of Brett Kimmorley

Brett Kimmorley

Brett "Noddy" Kimmorley was an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs of the NRL. He has previously played for five other clubs and has also represented his country and state on several occasions...

 who had played in his stead while he was on representative duty with New South Wales.

Goldthorpe is currently the captain-coach of the Noosa

Noosa, Queensland

The Shire of Noosa was a Local Government Area located about north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast region of South East Queensland, Australia...

 Pirates in the Sunshine Coast

Sunshine Coast, Queensland

The Sunshine Coast is an urban area in South East Queensland, north of the state capital of Brisbane on the Pacific Ocean coastline. Although it does not have a central business district, by population it ranks as the 10th largest metropolis in Australia and the third largest in...

Rugby League competition.