Geoff Bugden (born 6 September 1960) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played for Newtown and the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

in the Australian

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

competition. He won two premierships with the Eels and he primarily played in the front-row.

Playing career

A Newtown junior, by 1979 Bugden had progressed to first grade. He was the first ever prop to win the NSW Rugby League's best and fairest player award, the

Rothmans Medal The Rothmans Medal was the premier individual award in the New South Wales Rugby League and Brisbane Rugby League competitions, and later in the Australian Rugby League, which was given to the player voted by referees as the best and fairest in ...

, in 1980. Bugden was a reserve for the Newtown Jets side that lost the 1981 Grand Final against the

. The next year, 1982, Geoff Bugden changed clubs and returned to the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

playing for Parramatta in their

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

win over

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

. Bugden was selected to represent

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

for games I and III of the 1983 State of Origin series. A serious injury to his chest in 1983 forced Bugden to announce his premature retirement from the game but two years later, he was back for Parramatta only to break his arm. In 1986 Bugden was on the field once more and was part of the Eels' 1986 Grand Final win over the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

, in which he played against his brother

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and earned himself five-minutes in the sin-bin for tackling

Steve Mortimer Stephen Charles Mortimer (born 15 July 1956), also nicknamed "Turvey", is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played as a . Mortimer played a Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs club record 272 first-grade games between 1976–88, winni ...

without the ball. After a long career that was often curtailed by serious injury, Bugden did not start any of the last thirteen games of

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

but intended to stay with the Eels for the 1990 season. However, major ankle surgery in early March made it clear he would not be able to play the first half of that season,‘Parramatta Axe Five Players’; ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'', March 12, 1990, p. 62 and when Parramatta became embroiled in a salary cap dispute over the contracts of Peter Sterling and Mark Laurie, Budgen was sacked by the Eels alongside Paul Taylor, Michael Moseley, Mark Robinson and Jeremy Ticehurst. Bugden was not wanted by any other Winfield Cup club and retired almost immediately.

References

1960 births Living people Australian rugby league players Newtown Jets players Parramatta Eels players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league props Rugby league players from Sydney {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1960s-stub