birth_place article_title name nickname
australia greg hartley
 greg hartley hollywood
greg hartley

greg hartley -lrb- born 19 july 1942 in paddington , new south wales -rrb- is an australian former referee in the new south wales rugby football league competitions of the late 1970s and early 1980s .
hartley has been described as `` perhaps the most colourful and controversial referee in football history '' .
hartley began his rugby league career as a player and had three first-grade games with newtown jets in 1967 before rupturing his spleen in a reserve-grade match in the same year .
in 1969 he became a referee in the easts junior league and was graded in 1971 .
by 1975 he was officiating in the first-grade semi-finals .
he was considered the game 's top referee of the time , officiating in the 1978 , 1979 , 1980 and 1981 grand finals before retiring in 1982 .
he became a football commentator on radio station 2ky , forming a partnership with former manly player , peter peters , which was popularly known as `` the decibel duo '' and `` hollywood and zorba '' .
