John Bucknall is an Australian former

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 1960s and 1970s. He played for

Manly-Warringah 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 ...

in the

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 ...

(NSWRL) competition.

Playing career

Bucknall made his first grade debut for Manly in 1969. In 1970, Manly reached the grand final against South Sydney. Bucknall played at second-row in the grand final and is best remembered for playing in this match. During the first half, Bucknall punched Souths captain

John Sattler John William Sattler (born 28 July 1942) is a former professional and national representative rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a rugged Prop forward who captained his club, South Sydney to four premiership vi ...

in the face during an off the ball incident breaking Sattler's jaw. Sattler then told teammate

Mike Cleary Mike Cleary (May 19, 1858 in County Laois, Ireland – September 5, 1893 in Belfast, New York) was an Irish-American boxer. Cleary was born in County Laois, and emigrated to the United States. He was known as a quick and "scrappy" fight ...

"Hold me up so they don't know I'm hurt". Souths led the grand final at the half time break and it was only then that the Souths players learnt of Sattler's injury. In the second half, Bucknall was targeted by the South Sydney players and Manly went on to lose the grand final 23–12. Bucknall did not play any games for Manly in 1971 but returned to the side in 1972. Bucknall was not selected to play in Manly's maiden grand final victory over

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

. In 1973, Bucknall was selected to play for New South Wales against Queensland. Manly also reached their second grand final in a row after claiming the minor premiership in 1973. Bucknall played from the bench in the 1973 NSWRL grand final against Cronulla-Sutherland as the club won its second premiership defeating Cronulla 10–7 in a bruising final. This would be Bucknall's last game for Manly and he retired as a premiership winning player.

Post playing

In 2014,

spoke to the Daily Telegraph and declared after 44 years that he had finally forgiven Bucknall for breaking his jaw in the 1970 grand final. Sattler said that he had never spoken to Bucknall after the match even though in the years since Bucknall had wanted to apologize and declare a truce. Sattler said "I wanted nothing to do with it, “Do I hate Bucknall? No, I don’t, Have I forgiven him? Yes, I have".

References

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Rugby league props New South Wales rugby league team players Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Living people {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-stub