{{short description|New Zealand international rugby league footballer (1892-1956)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox rugby league biography |name = Bill Cloke |fullname = Ernest William Cloke |image = Ernest Cloke.png |image_size = |caption = Ernest Cloke's gravestone |position = {{rlp|WG}} |birth_date = {{birth-date|9 April 1892}} |birth_place = New Zealand |death_date = {{death-date and age|18 September 1956|9 April 1892}} |death_place = |height = |weight = |club1 = Otahuhu United |year1start = 1916 |year1end = 17 |appearances1 = 13 |tries1 = 0 |goals1 = 0 |fieldgoals1 = 0 |points1 = 0 |club2 = Newton Rangers |year2start = 1917 |year2end = 23 |appearances2 = 55 |tries2 = 13 |goals2 = 1 |fieldgoals2 = 0 |points2 = 41 |teamA = Auckland |yearAstart = 1920 |yearAend = |appearancesA = 2 |triesA = 4 |goalsA = 1 |fieldgoalsA = 0 |pointsA = 14 |teamB = New Zealand |yearBstart = 1919 |yearBend = |appearancesB = 6 |triesB = 4 |goalsB = 0 |fieldgoalsB = 0 |pointsB = 12 |updated = |source = <ref name="Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/players/William-Cloke/summary.html|title=Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org|publisher=rugbyleagueproject.org|date=31 December 2017|accessdate=1 January 2018}}</ref> |new = yes }}
'''Ernest William "Bill" Cloke''' was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand.<ref name="Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org"/>
==Playing career== Bill Cloke began his career playing for Otahuhu United in 1916 playing 11 matches for their senior side. He played 2 further matches for them in the 1917 season before he transferred to the Newton Rangers after the Otahuhu senior side folded mid season due to a lack of players through illness, injury, and players leaving for the war effort. Cloke played for New Zealand on the 1919 tour of Australia, where no test matches were played.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nzleague.co.nz/players/kiwi_details/119 |title=NZLEAGUE.CO.NZ - Home |access-date=2016-06-30 |archive-date=2016-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806054718/http://www.nzleague.co.nz/players/kiwi_details/119 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
On 24 July 1920 he played for Auckland against the touring Great Britain Lions. They won 24–16, becoming the first New Zealand team to defeat Great Britain on New Zealand soil.<ref name=akl100>Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009'', 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-86969-366-4}}.</ref>
==Selector== Cloke later became a selector for Auckland in the 1940s.<ref>{{cite news | title =League Team/Merger Scheme Not To Be Changed | page = 3 | publisher = Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 112 | date = 1942-05-14 | url =https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19420514.2.13.10 | accessdate = 2022-04-18}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cloke, William}} Category:1892 births Category:1956 deaths Category:20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Category:Auckland rugby league team players Category:New Zealand national rugby league team players Category:New Zealand rugby league players Category:City Newton Dragons players Category:Otahuhu Leopards players Category:Rugby league players from Auckland Category:Rugby league wingers