Geoff Bugden

Geoff Bugden
Personal information
Born 6 September 1960 (1960-09-06) (age 51)
Newtown, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height 185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 101 kg (15 st 13 lb)
Position Prop
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1979–81 Newtown Jets 46 7 0 0 21
1982–89 Parramatta Eels 99 6 0 0 21
Total 145 13 0 0 42
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1983 New South Wales 2 0 0 0 0
Source: Rugby League Project and Yesterday's Hero

Geoff Bugden (born 6 September 1960[1]) is a former professional rugby league player. Bugden played for the Newtown Jets and the Parramatta Eels in the Australian New South Wales Rugby League competition. He primarily played in the front-row.

He was the first ever forward to win the NSW Rugby Leagues best and fairest player award, the Rothmans Medal, in 1980.[2]

As a reserve for the Newtown Jets, Bugden played in the 1981 Grand Final against the Parramatta Eels, a match that Newtown lost. The next year, 1982, Bugden returned to the Sydney Cricket Ground playing for Parramatta in their Grand Final win over Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

A serious injury to his chest in 1983 forced Bugden to announce his 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, in which he played against his brother Mark[3] and earned himself five-minutes in the sin-bin for tackling Steve Mortimer without the ball.[4]

Bugden was selected to represent New South Wales for games I and III of the 1983 State of Origin series.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Gary Lester (editor) (1983). The Sun Book of Rugby League - 1983. Sydney, New South Wales: John Fairfax Marketing. pp. page 68. ISBN 0909558833. 
  2. ^ Adams, Tony. "Legend Q&A". Rugby League Week (Sydney, NSW: PBLMedia) (8 July 2009): pgs 30–31. 
  3. ^ "Fans turn Parra blue and gold". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia: Fairfax Digital). 2009-10-02. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/fans-turn-parra-blue-and-gold-20091003-ggpe.html. Retrieved 2010-04-11. 
  4. ^ "Eels v Bulldogs Classic". Rleague.com. 2007-09-13. http://www.rleague.com/db/article.php?id=29162. Retrieved 2007-11-14. 

External links