Referee Career
Vital Statistics
- Born
- Tuesday, 6th September, 1960
- Current Age
- 63 years and 227 days
Awards & Accolades
- Rothmans Medal
- 1980
Known Family Links
- Brother
- Mark Bugden
Biography
Newtown junior, the nephew of former Test half Bob Bugden, spent two seasons playing in the local St George competition. A NSW U'18s rep under coach Jack Gibson in 1977, Geoff Bugden was graded by Newtown in 1978. A surprise winner of the Rothmans Medal in 1980, Bugden suffered a knee injury in a Tooths Cup match against Cronulla the following year and was relegated to the reserve bench for Newtown's grand final loss to P’matta. Bugden joined the Eels in 1982 and played in the club's 21-8 grand final win over Manly. In 1983 he suffered a serious chest injury and at the age of 23, announced his retirement. The decision proved to be premature and Bugden returned two seasons later with his chest heavily strapped, only to break his arm. He returned again, in 1986, and produced a courageous display in P’matta's 4-2 grand final win over C’bury. Injuries affected the remainder of Bugden's career before his eventual retirement in 1989.
- ALAN WHITICKER
Referee Career Statistics
All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.
To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.
Contributions:
Rugby League Tables, AJ Lucantonio, Paul Carter, Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson, Greg Fiveash, Alan Katzmann, Max Turner
Sources:
NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1989-90, Match Video, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1987-88, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1988-89
Your Say
20/05/2018
Good, strong prop who later joined the NSW Police and became a detective. Good Policeman who later went into farming.
14/08/2020
Along with Paul Mares, unfortunate injuries to these two gun props was a big reason why Parra fell away after 1986.
20/05/2023
After retirement from Rugby League had a career as a Policeman, including some time as a Detective.
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