Roy Bull (12 June 1929 – 29 June 2004) was an Australian

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 11 ...

footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s and spent his whole career - as player, coach & administrator - with the Manly-Warringah club in Sydney. In addition to playing in three

New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sou ...

grand finals, he was a representative for the

New South Wales rugby league team The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Also known as the Blues due to their sky blue jerseys, the team competes in the an ...

and the Australian national side. He has since been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Club career & playing style

Bull attended Manly Boys High together and played his junior football with the Freshwater club. He made his first grade debut as a 17-year-old in Manly's inaugural top-grade season in 1947 after having played in Manly's winning 1946 President's Cup team. The club's junior success played some part in their selection for promotion to the first grade in 1947 with the NSWRFL promising the club first grade status should they win the 3rd grade (President's Cup) competition. Bull was a key member in the great Manly sides of the 1950s and played in all three unsuccessful

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. S ...

attempts during that decade -

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

and

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. The Gregory's reference written only a few years after his playing career had ended noted him as an expert scrummager and outstanding in tight forward play. He was a powerful, remorseless, non-stop player, great in the wet or when slushy fields covered up his lack of pace. He played 182 games for Manly up until his retirement in 1959 a record at that time, scoring 25 tries. He was captain-coach in 1953 and was made a life member of the club in 1962.

Representative career

Roy Bull was Manly's first international representative and played 23 tests and close to 100 total representative games. He made two Australian Kangaroo tours. In 1952-53 he played in four Tests and thirteen minor tour matches and 1956-57 he appeared in all six Tests and fifteen tour matches. He made three tours of New Zealand, appearing in all three Tests of 1953 and 1956. He was in the 1954 World Cup squad and made three appearances. Bull made his representative debut for

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 ...

in the interstate series against

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

in Game 3 of the 4 game series on 23 July 1949. He was then selected to tour New Zealand with the Australian team, making his test debut in Australia's 13-10 win over

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Carlaw Park Carlaw Park was a multi-purpose stadium in Parnell, a central suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It neighboured the Auckland Domain's Northern end. It was primarily used for rugby league and had a peak spectator capacity of around 28,000 in the 1 ...

on 8 October 1949.

Administrator

After the

1977 NSWRFL season The 1977 NSWRFL season was the 70th season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership. Twelve clubs, including six of 1908's foundation teams and another six from around Sydne ...

Bull was elected the Manly-Warringah club's president, succeeding Bill Cameron who had held the position for the previous 19 years. In that role from 1978 to 1987, he continued his close association with the Sea Eagles.

Accolades

He was named as New South Wales Player of the Year in 1955. In 2006 Bull was named in Manly-Warringah's greatest team on the club's 60th anniversary at with teammate

Ken Arthurson Kenneth Richard "Arko" Arthurson AM (born 1 October 1929) is an Australian rugby league football identity. Affectionately known as "The Godfather of Manly", he played, coached and was later an administrator at the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles cl ...

as coach. Also that year he was selected by a panel of experts at prop in an Australian 'Team of the 50s'. In February 2008, Bull was named in a list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and

ARL ARL may refer to: Military * US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship * Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK * United States Army Research Laboratory * ARL 44, a WWII French tank Organizations * Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives comp ...

to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. Also that year Bull was named in New South Wales' rugby league team of the century. The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles Best & Fairest award has been renamed the "Roy Bull Best & Fairest" award in honour of the club's first home grown international player.

Sources

*Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney *Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2005) ''The Encyclopedia of Australian Rugby League Players: Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles'' Gary Allen Pty Ltd *Pollard, Jack (ed) ''Gregory's Guide to Rugby League'' (1965), Grenville Publishing Sydney

References

External links

*http://soaringseaeagles.tripod.com/players/bull.htm Soaring Sea-Eagles Unofficial Manly Player Site {{DEFAULTSORT:Bull, Roy 1929 births 2004 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players City New South Wales rugby league team players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles captains Manly Warringah Sea Eagles coaches Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league players from Orange, New South Wales Rugby league props