Jason Bell (rugby league)

Jason Bell

Personal information
Born	(1971-08-02) 2 August 1971 (age 53) Fairfield, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	79 kg (12 st 6 lb; 174 lb)
Position	Five-eighth
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1989–92 Parramatta Eels 53 17 0 1 69 1993 North Sydney Bears 1 0 0 0 0 1994–96 South Sydney 58 13 0 1 53 1997–99 Parramatta Eels 53 6 0 0 24 2000 Auckland Warriors 8 0 0 0 0 Total 173 36 0 2 146
Source: [1]

Jason Bell is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s in the National Rugby League. His position of preference was at five-eighth. ^[1]

Parramatta

A Parramatta junior, Bell made his first-grade debut in 1989 at the age of 17. He played 53 games for Parramatta before transferring to North Sydney at the start of the 1993 season. However, he only played one first-grade game for Norths during the 1993 season.

Souths

Bell rejuvenated his career by moving across the harbour to South Sydney. He played 58 games in three years for the Rabbitohs, and was regarded as a senior player by the time he was 24, forming a solid halves combination with Craig Field. ^[2]

Return to the Eels

His strong form at South Sydney gave him the opportunity to return home to Parramatta, and he went on to play another 53 games for the club. In 1997, he won the club's Jack Boyle Tackling School Award, which is awarded to the club's best tackler each season. ^[3] In 1998, Bell played 22 games for Parramatta and was a member of the side which nearly made the grand final but suffered defeat to Canterbury in the preliminary final. With less than ten minutes to left the clock, Parramatta had been winning 18-2, but lost the game 32–20 in extra time. ^{[4] [5]}

By 1999, however, Bell was struggling to make first grade and instead captained the Eels’ reserve-grade team to a win in the NSWRL First Division Grand Final. ^[6]

Final years

Bell was not re-signed by Parramatta for 2000 and instead joined the Newtown club in the NSWRL First Division. Newtown had a feeder relationship with the Auckland Warriors, and mid-season injuries to Stacey Jones and John Simon saw him signed by the Warriors. ^[7] Bell played eight games to finish off the season for the Warriors. ^[8]

At the end of the 2000 season, the Warriors were sold and the new owners opted not to re-sign Bell.

References

1. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". Rugby League Project. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
2. "South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League Player Report – Jason Bell". ssralmanac.com.
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 December 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
4. "Official Player Numbers". Parramatta Eels.
5. "Top 10 preliminary final heartbreaks". National Rugby League.
6. Lower grade teams for rugby league grand finals ^{[ permanent dead link ]}AAP Sports News, 24 September 1999
7. Injuries hurt Warriors ^{[ dead link ]}The Press, 1 June 2000
8. Jason Bell bio rugbyleague.co.nz

Sources

• Alan Whiticker & Glen Hudson (2007). The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players. Wetherill Park, New South Wales: Gary Allen Pty Ltd. ISBN   978-1-877082-93-1.