Lawrence Bulger

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Lawrence Bulger
Birth nameLawrence Quinlivan Bulger
Date of birth(1870-02-05)5 February 1870
Place of birthCounty Clare, Ireland
Date of death17 March 1928(1928-03-17) (aged 58)
Place of deathTwickenham, England
SchoolBlackrock College
UniversityTrinity College Dublin
Rugby union career
Position(s) Wing
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
Dublin University
Richmond hospital
Lansdowne
London Irish		 ()
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1896–1898
1896
British Isles XV
 8
4		 (22)
(3)

Lawrence 'Larry' Quinlivan Bulger (5 February 1870 – 17 March 1928)

British Isles XV in their tour of South Africa. Bulger, who was nicknamed "Fat Cupid",[2] was described as an elusive runner and a devastating tackler, one of Ireland's outstanding players.[2]

Early life

Lawrence Bulger was born in County Clare in 1870.[3] The Bulger family lived in Moore Street, Kilrush, where his father, Daniel Scanlan Bulger, was a woollen merchant and draper and ran a loan office.[4] His mother Anne, née Delany, was from Limerick.[5] Later the Bulgers moved to Dublin, where Daniel was a stockbroker and city councillor. Lawrence and his brother Michael were educated at Blackrock College.[6]

Personal life

Both of Lawrence's older brothers,

AAA athletics champion.[7]
Lawrence Bulger was an Irish 220-yard sprint champion, and through his connection with athletics was a representative at the Sorbonne in Paris when Pierre de Coubertin suggested the creation of a modern Olympic Games.[8] Bulger was taken ill at Twickenham on Saint Patrick's Day, 1928 and died shortly after leaving the ground.[9] He was 58.

Rugby career

Blackrock

Lawrence Bulger was a member of the Blackrock College side which won the first Leinster Schools Cup in 1887.[10]

Ireland

After Bulger left Blackrock, he gained entry to Trinity College Dublin where he studied medicine. While at Trinity he represented Dublin University Football Club and showed a flair for athletics. He served as treasurer and secretary for the Dublin Hospitals Rugby Cup 1890–1897. He led Richmond Hospital to their first victory in the 1896 Cup, scoring the winning try. He organised the first game against the London United Hospitals in 1894.[11] Bulger was first chosen to represent Ireland while still playing for Dublin University, when he was selected to face

Gould Affair. Bulger scored in both games, with a try against Scotland and in the game played at home to England, he became the first Irish player to score a goal from a mark in an international[13] as well as the highest scoring Irishman in the competition to date when another try took his tally for that game to seven points.[14] Bulger's last campaign for Ireland was during the 1898 Home Nations Championship; now playing for Lansdowne.[15] His penalty goal was decisive in the win over England,[16]
but he was part of a losing Ireland team in the last two games of the tournament. The match against Wales, at Limerick on 18 March, was his final game for his country.

After his Irish career came to an end, Bulger continued playing rugby in England. He set up a medical practice in London with his brother Michael, and Michael became a founding member of the exiles team London Irish.[7] Both brothers turned out regularly for the club.

British Isles XV

In 1896, while still a student, Bulger was selected to tour with

Port Elizabeth, and set a tour record of 19 tries across the full 21 matches played.[7][17]

Notes

  1. ^ Lawrence Bulger player profile ESPNScrum.com
  2. ^ a b Godwin (1984), pg 48.
  3. ^ ""Ireland, Births and Baptisms, 1620–1881," Laurence Bulger, 1870". FamilySearch. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  4. ^ Bassett's Directory 1880-1.
  5. ^ 1901 census
  6. ^ "Students of Blackrock College who have been awarded International Caps". Blackrock College. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  7. ^ a b c Cyril M. White. "University Athletics in Ireland 1857–2000". athleticsireland. Archived from the original on 17 March 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  8. ^ Seán Diffley (14 July 2007). "Tailteann Games' place in history going for a song". Retrieved 5 March 2009.
  9. ^ The Times, Tuesday, 20 March 1928; p. 7; Issue 44846; col C.
  10. ^ Seán Diffley (21 January 2002). "Cupid's arrow starts love-in". Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  11. ^ Dr Morgan Crowe (14 October 2019). The Hospital Pass: 140 years of Dublin Hospitals Rugby (YouTube video). Dublin, Ireland: Royal College of Physicians in Ireland.
  12. ^ Godwin (1984), p. 47.
  13. ^ Griffiths (1987), p. 3:9.
  14. ^ Godwin (1984), pg 50.
  15. ^ Lansdowne Football Club Hall of Fame
  16. ^ See team photograph.
  17. ^ Lawrence Bulger player profile Lionsrugby.com

References

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