Roy Bell (born 30 August 1984) 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 as a er for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

between 2004 and 2005.

Background

Bell was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

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 ...

, Australia.

Career

Bell made his first grade debut for South Sydney in round 23 2004 against

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

at the Willows Sports Complex. Bell scored a try in a 22–36 loss. Bell's final game in the top grade came during the

2005 NRL season The 2005 NRL season was the 98th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the eighth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen teams contesting the 2005 Telst ...

against

St. George Illawarra The St. George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 after a joint-ve ...

in round 15 at 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 ...

. Despite scoring 7 tries in only 9 games, Bell departed South Sydney at the age of only 20. He was released from his South Sydney contract and returned to the North Coast of

in 2005 after not adjusting to life in Sydney and becoming homesick. In this time Bell developed a cult following among rugby league fans because of his tiny frame and his skinny (even relative to his body) legs. At 65 kg, Bell was even smaller than Preston Campbell (74 kg), another

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

player famed for his slight frame. His ability to tackle players twice his size was seen as a throwback to the days of Norm Provan and Arthur Summons. After departing from Souths, Bell continued to play

in the local North Coast competition for Casino and Northern United. He then went on to play for South Grafton and won a group 2 premiership with them in 2015.

Controversy

In 2005, Bell was stood down by South Sydney after being convicted of drink driving. South Sydney CEO Shane Richardson spoke to the media saying "Roy is a fine young player but he has made a grave mistake in this instance and we will speak with him and his manager over the weekend about this incident".

References

1984 births Living people Australian rugby league players Indigenous Australian rugby league players Rugby league wingers Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Sydney South Sydney Rabbitohs players {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1980s-stub