May 23, 2021: Bob Fulton must have known he was giving me one of his final interviews
As always, Bozo was prickly and businesslike when he was interviewed for Two Tribes.
On one hand, I don’t want to be seen to be in any way profiting from the passing of rugby league Immortal Bob Fulton today. My original intention here was to just ignore Bozo’s death as we don’t concern ourselves with current events anyway.
But when I read that Fulton - who died of cancer today - had been told last year that he had perhaps weeks to live, a narrative began to make itself apparent.
It’s one that I think should go on the public record. This is a free post.
I texted three people in February from whom I never expected to hear back: Bob Fulton, Phil Gould and Nick Politis. For those who are new here, I’m doing a book on the 1997 season called Two Tribes.
I have no relationship with any of the three of them. I see the reasons as pretty basic: they are competitive and driven winners and I’m not. I’m a hippy. I have very little regard for the things they hold dear. So I went through the motions of contacting them and then moved on.
Out of the blue, a fortnight later, Fulton rang me and said ‘I’ll help you with it’. I was to figure out what I wanted to ask and make an appointment to call and interview him. On March 9, I got a text saying “Morning Steve, give me a call, Boze’.
But I had another interview scheduled and said I’d try in an hour. I couldn’t get him. I waited five days and began trying Fulton’s number regularly.
When I eventually got him, there was none of the small talk I’ve become used to with people I’ve known for decades. It was all business.
To be honest, Bob’s quotes do not make up a huge part of my book. I asked him for any recollections about the famous “He could die” story in grand final week of 1997 - when Manly’s doctor Nathan Gibbs warned Newcastle’s Andrew Johns risked his life by playing with a punctured lung - and he said he had none to offer.
Fulton is also the only one of almost 100 interviewees to ask me to email him with his own quotes for him to vet. I came out of the interaction wishing Boze would loosen up a bit. This is a guy I’ve been on tour with multiple times - one of those people you’ve been around enough that you can picture their expressions and mannerisms if you close your eyes.
Back in those days he’d call me - and many others - “son”. There were no such pleasantries in our final interaction.
But what I have realised this morning is that Bob spent two weeks deciding whether to call me back. He was the same Bozo to the end - intimidating - but he must have known he was granting me possibly his final interview.
There’s more warmth in that stark fact - which he knew and I didn’t - than in 90 other “what you up to”s and “why do you live over there”s. His actions spoke for him - and speak much louder now.
I’m touched - and more than a little humbled.
Two Tribes will contain a list of interviewees on the back and an in memoriam page at the front. Bob is sadly the first person who will be on both lists.
COACHES PRESSURE REF
Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday, May 15 1996
By STEVE MASCORD
REFEREE David Manson was last night subjected to intense pressure from rival coaches Phil Gould and Paul Vautin after being appointed control of the first unified State of Origin game in two years.
Manson's interpretation of the 10m rule came under the scrutiny of both coaches yesterday in the lead-up to a match officials are hoping will accelerate the game's post-Super League recovery.
After his side's 6-2 win against St George last Friday, Manly coach Bob Fulton claimed his players were allowed "no lateral game" by Manson and that the match "could have been played in a 10m corridor".
Discussing offside play in premiership games so far this year, NSW coach Gould said: "It's a concern for referees co-ordinator Mick Stone I've spoken to him about it.
"He's just got to keep them 10m apart. At this level, if he doesn't keep the teams apart, the game will . . . turn into a bash-up."
Queensland's Vautin was also critical of Manson's interpretation at Kogarah, saying yesterday: "I felt he was three or four metres short most of the game last Friday."
Manson said from Brisbane last night he had spoken to Stone about the matter and would take heed of the coaches' advice at Suncorp Stadium on Monday. "At one stage last season, I was moving up very quickly and the players were coming with me," he said.
"I've been happy with my form but I'd be a fool not to listen to criticism."
The Blues started serious training yesterday, with hooker Andrew Johns handed goal-kicking duties ahead of Rod Wishart and David Furner.
Gould confirmed for the first time a report in the Herald on April 23 that he had offered to quit the State job, leaving Country's Tom Raudonikis to take over.
He said he had contemplated the move because he feared his presence as a strong ARL advocate could prove disruptive with the return of Super League players.