Roy Bull

Roy Bull
Personal information

Bull in the 1951 Manly side
Full name	Edwin Royden Bull
Born	(1929-06-12)12 June 1929 Orange, New South Wales, Australia
Died	29 June 2004(2004-06-29) (aged 75) Australia
Playing information
Position	Prop
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1947–59	Manly-Warringah	177	25	0	0	75
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1949–56	New South Wales	26	1	0	0	3
1949–57	Australia	23	1	0	0	3
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
1953	Manly-Warringah	18	6	0	12	33
Source: Rugby League Project and Yesterday's Hero

Roy Bull (1929–2004) was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1940s and 1950s who 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 grand finals, he was a representative for the New South Wales rugby league team and the Australian national side. He has since been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.^[1]

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 attempts during that decade - 1951, 1957 and 1959.

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. ^[2]

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 in the interstate series against Queensland 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 at Carlaw Park on 8 October 1949.

Administrator

After the 1977 NSWRFL season Bull was elected the Manly-Warringah club's president, succeeding Bill Cameron who had held the position for the previous 19 years.^[3] 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 2007 Bull was named in Manly-Warringah's greatest team on the club's 60th anniversary at prop with teammate Ken Arthurson as coach. Also that year he was selected by a panel of experts at prop in an Australian 'Team of the 50s'.^[4]

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 to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.^[5] Also that year Bull was named in New South Wales' rugby league team of the century.^[6]

The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles Best & Fairest award has been renamed the "Roy Bull Best & Fairest" award in honour of the clubs 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

↑ Century's Top 100 Players
↑ Pollard, Jack (1965). Gregory's Guide to Rugby League. Australia: Grenville Publishing. p154.
↑ "Manly gets new president". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 December 1977. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
↑ AAP (1 August 2007). "Team of the 50s named". The Daily Telegraph. Australia: News Limited. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
↑ "Centenary of Rugby League - The Players". NRL & ARL. 2008-02-23. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
↑ ARL (2008). "Australian Rugby Football League 2008 Annual Report" (pdf). Australian Rugby Football League Limited. p. 30. Retrieved 2009-07-19.

External links

http://soaringseaeagles.tripod.com/players/bull.htm Soaring Sea-Eagles Unofficial Manly Player Site

Preceded by Wally O'Connell 1950–1952	Coach Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 1953	Succeeded by Ray Norman 1954

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles

Est. 1947 in Sydney, New South Wales

The Club	History (Northern Eagles) Records Players Coaches Rivalry with Melbourne Storm

Culture	Battle of Brookvale Manly–Melbourne NRL rivalry Manly Seabirds

Home ground	Brookvale Oval

Important figures	Roy Bull Ken Arthurson Rex Mossop Frank Stanton Fred Jones Bob Fulton Ron Willey Graham Eadie Max Krilich Terry Randall Paul Vautin Des Hasler Geoff Toovey Steve Menzies Stewart brothers Jamie Lyon

League	NSWRL ARL NRL

Titles	Premierships (8) 1972 1973 1976 1978 1987 1996 2008 2011 World Club Challenges (1) 2009

Seasons (67)	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Other competitions	Current National Youth Competition S. G. Ball Cup Harold Matthews Cup New South Wales Cup Past Amco Cup Jersey Flegg Cup

Affiliations	Manly-Warringah/North Sydney District Rugby League

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles coaches

Harold Johnson (1947)
Ray Stehr (1947–48)
George Mullins (1949)
Wally O'Connell (1950–52)
Roy Bull (1953)
Ray Norman (1954)
Pat Devery (1955–56)
Ken Arthurson (1957–61)
Ron Willey (1962)
Tony Paskins (1963)
Russell Pepperell (1964–65)
Wally O'Connell (1966–67)
George Hunter (1968–69)
Ron Willey (1970–74)
Frank Stanton (1975–79)
Allan Thomson (1980)
Ray Ritchie (1981–82)
Bob Fulton (1983–88)
Alan Thompson (1989)
Graham Lowe (1990–92)
Bob Fulton (1993–99)
Peter Sharp (1999)
Peter Sharp (2003)
Des Hasler (2004–11)
Geoff Toovey (2012–15)
Trent Barrett (2016–present)

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 60th Anniversary Dream Team

1. Graham Eadie 2. Ken Irvine 3. Ray Branighan 4. Bob Fulton 5. Michael O'Connor 6. Wally O'Connell 7. Geoff Toovey 8. Roy Bull 9. Max Krilich 10. John O'Neill 11. Steve Menzies 12. Terry Randall 13. Mal Reilly Bench: Des Hasler Ben Kennedy Cliff Lyons Paul Vautin Coach: Frank Stanton Manager: Ken Arthurson

The New South Wales rugby league team of the century 1908–2007

1. Clive Churchill 2. Ken Irvine 3. Reg Gasnier 4. Graeme Langlands 5. Dally Messenger 6. Bob Fulton 7. Andrew Johns 8. Frank Burge 9. Sandy Pearce 10. Glenn Lazarus 11. Ron Coote 12. Norm Provan 13. John Raper 14. Wally Prigg 15. Dave Brown 16. Steve Rogers 17. Roy Bull

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