Obituaries

Moving tribute to club legend Richard Bull

Richard “Bully” Bull

On Saturday 28th March 2020 Actonians were due to play Ealing in the memorial game for the “Bully” Cup. An annual game played in memory of club legend Richard Bull who sadly passed away following a tragic accident in December 2016.

Due to Coronavirus and the cancellation of all Rugby, the game unfortunately didn’t go ahead but that didn’t prevent Richard’s friends and family from coming together “virtually” at 2.45pm to celebrate with a pass of a rugby ball and toast the man himself

Attached is the video of all the contributions to Bully https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0E_ZNlTAVY&feature=youtu.be and pulled together by Nick G.

We are hoping when all this madness is over and things are back to normal, the game will go ahead.

Nick Greenhalgh

Old Actonians 34 – 34 Ealing Exiles – Bully Memorial Match – 21st Jan 2017

A combination of frozen pitches and fixture gaps meant that there weren’t any league fixtures played last Saturday. This provided an opportunity to hold a memorial game in memory of Richard (Bully) Bull who tragically died in an accident at his home on Sunday 11^th December.

So on the crisp sunny Saturday afternoon the Ealing Exiles travelled to near neighbours Old Actonians to play a game in honour of our fallen hero. The first Bully Memorial Game.  Richard was a stalwart player for both clubs.  Testament to Richard was that both squads were massive.  Richard’s family and friends travelling down from hundreds of miles away, from Lutterworth, Cheshire and other distant climbs of our kingdom. They came to watch and, in some cases, to take part in this spectacle.  No one was disappointed, the rugby was fast, hard with powerful running and tackling from both sides.  

Old Actonians started well and were on the ascendency, then Ealing started to come back and after a flurry of tries were ahead as the game entered its closing stages. Old Actonians were not to be dismissed though and they dug in deep and kept the pressure on, receiving a penalty try for their hard work and Ealing’s inability to constrain without transgression, then scored another late try and the scores were even at 34 – 34.

Yet another missed kick? Lock playing 10. Note classy gun finger.

The Ealing kicking was incredibly poor, including from in front of the posts, no part of the timber was safe as the ball deflected everywhere but through the scoring area. But this was thankfully so as the most appropriate result on the day was a high scoring draw. 

After the game Richard’s family presented the two captains with the Bully Memorial Cup, the only quandary being where it should reside.  A great day of rugby in honour of a great rugby man!  RIP Richard, gone but never forgotten.

Link to more photos from the day – link.

Old Actonians 34 – 34 Ealing Exiles – Bully Memorial Match – 21st Jan 2017