Obituary
Damian joined the club in 1976 and featured in the Club’s very first Colts team managed by Dave Inwood. Damian was one of a number of young men from St Benedict’s who joined the club at that time and who were to go on to form the bedrock of the successful 1st XV of the 1980’s which achieved National League status for the first time in the Club’s history. Damian continued to play rugby throughout his time at the club captaining a number of sides and more recently turning out for the Evergreens on a regular basis.
One of Damian’s proudest achievements at the Club was his involvement in establishing mini rugby. Along with a band of other club members he brought the patter of ‘smaller feet’ to Berkeley Fields on a Sunday morning, coaching and managing the first mini rugby teams to don Ealing colours. We all know how these initial steps have developed into today’s successful minis and youth sides which now form such an integral part of our Club.
Off the field Damian served on the Club’s Executive Committee as Minis & Youth Chairman and twice as Chairman of the Club. Add in his work in creating our first Club web pages and acting as Webmaster, plus his elevation to Vice Presidency and Honorary Life Membership and you get the picture about Damian. He was tireless in his support and love for our Club and achieved so much that we will be forever in his debt.
Damian Bugeja passed away on Wednesday 12th May.
A Funeral Mass for Damian is planned for Thursday 20th May at Ealing Abbey at 11am.
Eulogy
Good afternoon everyone.
Last Friday Kate asked me to pop round to Damian’s Mum and Dad’s house so that we could chat through what we might say about Damian. For over two hours we giggled and laughed about his life. So, I think we’ve found our theme for the next few minutes, don’t you?
And so I’ll kick off with a little ditty from his mum and dad……When Damian was five they moved from Ladbroke Grove, to Ealing in search of a school for the lad. They found one, and he was very happy there for a few years, that is until they realised that St. Augustine’s was in fact a school for Girls! No damage done, perhaps, but he did always hold a certain fondness for the Stade Francais Playing strip ( Pink, if you didn’t know!)
And so, he moved here to St Benedicts’s, his school until the age of 18. The scouts and camping weekends became firm favourites and quickly those around him came to know and love his, shall we say, ‘mischievous’ approach to life - the PRANKSTER was already on the first rung of the ladder! Hugely enthusiastic for his outdoor activities he held no truck with those who didn’t want to play, so, one weekend when on a camping trip and a few of his fellow campers decided they wanted to go home, he took them out on a night exercise, found the nearest phone box in the middle of nowhere, called the police to alert them to the fact that there were some abandoned children in a phone box and then he scarpered. The police responded quickly, and sure enough there they found them, wedged in , sheltering from the cold . Nothing was going to interrupt the enjoyment of Damian’s camping weekend. The police did actually run the kids home. Can you imagine the ramifications of call like that today?
Damian’s father told me that he once tried to blow up his bedroom! Why am I not surprised! This all came from his enthusiasm for Chemistry, a subject he was guided in by a teacher who meant much to him at Bene’s, Richard Baker.
From Scouts to the The Combined Cadet Force, more camping, more exploits - most of which I’m afraid I just can’t tell you about, but see the Club President afterwards! Long bicycling weekends with Father Stan, lots of school rugby, and soon this young man’s love of the outdoors was ingrained into him. An officer in The CCF, he had serious thoughts of a career in the Army, so much so that at University he joined the Officer Training Corps - I bet you didn’t know that!
His Scout Leader and friend, Dave Inwood - a man known to many of you here today - was to encourage him to join Ealing Rugby , and in 1976 so began his 34 years with our club…..his club. Many of you here today will have played with him as a Colt. I wonder if you played with him in his first game for Ealing against the Yorkshire side of Griffield ?
He was named Colt of the year in the 77/78 season.
He became a regular 1st XV player the following year and was recognised as ‘the player of the season in 80/81’. To pick out games of note….well we just don’t have the time, but, two I must mention. In a cup game against St. Mary’s, he ran the length of the field to score a try and win the game in the dying seconds. The prize was a quarter final against the mighty Saracens. And then, another Cup Final in 1984. John Critchfield, known to all Ealing players, recalls that Damian came back into the side at short notice against Hendon….. a team at the time of let’s just say “uncompromising individuals of questionable parentage”. Ealing won and in John’s words “Damian was quite brilliant that day”.
He went on to Captain the Extra 1st’s for many years and along the way took the scalps of The Scottish 3’s and the Met Police’s 2’s…both very high profile clubs in those days.
I asked Critch to sum Damian up as a player…”inspirational. He just had that knack of getting the best out of the players around him. He was a bit special.”
I guess now we move into that part of this tribute for which all of us must thank Damian and recognise his efforts for some outstanding achievements at our club…. and we’ll start with something that ultimately led to a world record for Ealing….a record incidentally we still hold. So, I must mention Charles Miller and the hours spent with Damian delivering leaflets……. why? Their idea for a Minis Section to Ealing Rugby Club. Today we see the fruit of that labour with one of, if not the largest Minis and Youth Sections of any club in England. That initial effort from Charles and Damian and supported by many others along the way has born further fruit as the club finalises it’s plans in the coming weeks for a re-formed Colt structure. Speaking with Charles, he tells me of him and Damian taking the Friday off before their first ever minis tournament, spending hours marking out the pitches only for it to bucket down over night and wash all the lines away. They had to start all over again on the Saturday morning. They laughed about it, but not at the time! Oh and by the way….that world record was for the largest overseas trip of any sporting club in the world. The Guinness World Record Certificate hangs in the club house next to the bar - have a look at it later and remember with whom it all started.
Now, there are many present in this Abbey today who owe their ‘extended’ rugby careers in the game to Damian. He and Bill Miller set to to re-introduce Vets rugby at Ealing. Numbers were hard to come by in those first days and so the call went out to players from Centaurs. They joined the effort and are still with us today. Friendlies became league rugby, and so it remains 9 years later. Now we all know that the Vets enjoy the occasional tour! none more memorable than the biggest ever to Mallorca for the subtle twist that it was a rugby tour with no rugby played! The ‘admin team’ who in fairness to Damian he was only one of, upon landing at the airport, held a team meeting in the nearest bar. Clearly there was much on the agenda, because they simply forgot to call their opposition to confirm the games! No matter, the meeting was re-convened!
And surprise, surprise, over the last few days the Vets have been on another tour, this time Zagreb, and in between pints….I’m sorry games, Bill Miller spoke with me and asked that I speak with Kate to see if she would be comfortable with an end of season game to take place between The Evergreens and The Exiles to honour Damian. She gave that blessing, and so, I am delighted to announce that tomorrow evening a game will take place under floodlights at Vallis Way between the Evergreens and the Exiles.
I want to make this roll-call of the offices Damian held in the club - he was Club Secretary, Chairman of Minis, Chairman of Youth, Club Chairman -Twice - he still is our Chairman, he was a Vice President and one of only five life members, the highest honour the club can bestow. I doubt others will ever have such responsibility and gain such recognition.
Now, squeezed into his life was his work and his friends at Satelcom and lately Logicalis. I asked Duncan Kelly a good friend for many years for a story or two about our PRANKSTER. This is one I can tell you! - you know those horrible orange Wotsit snack foods? Damian pulverized a bag to a fine powder and then placed it Duncan’s air conditioning duct. Driving home Duncan activated the aircon, and was hit by a cloud that turned him and the inside of the car completely orange. Damian then sent a text to Duncan saying simply…. “you’ve been Tangoed” - quite brilliant.
For all his friends and colleagues at work, and Tom Kelly, his Ceo - from his family for the wonderful support you gave him during many years of illness - thank you.
Now here are a few things you may not know about Damian:
He genuinely enjoyed DIY - very strange! though apparently he often tore his hair out when on a job with his brother Nicholas….don’t know why!
He was a plumber.
He was a electrician.
He was a chef - but exotic food only!
He loved quizzes.
He championed the benefits of Strongbow Cider as a health food…yes you heard correctly! indeed he was successful in converting Brendan Kelly and Hugh Hutchison to see Strongbow as one of their ‘five a day’ vitamin supplements! it’s a programme they’re still on today btw!
From University, Damian held a BSc in Industrial Chemistry.
And then there was the time all rugby fathers dream of - to play in the same side as their sons, and HE did so with Justin and James. To the best of our knowledge, to play with 2 sons in the same side had never happened before at Ealing and I doubt that it ever will again.
Increasingly over recent years he needed to spend time at the Royal Free in Hampstead in the safe and wonderful hands of Dr Patch and Dr O’Berne of the liver transplant unit - thank you Doctors for the care you gave…..and Di, his nurse who was always there when he went in to surgery and again when he came out - thank you. And to Richard, at his bedside so often and for so long, getting him back up on his feet again. The image of you Richard chasing him around Hampstead Heath with a wheelchair and a drip stand is deliciously funny - thank you. But he had nurses at home too, Kate of course, and his daughter Emma, to whom he was a devoted father.
It’s fair to say, following a liver transplant, some might decide to take things easy, Not our Damian! He took up tennis with Mario, he learnt to scuba dive with Julian, he continued to ski with his brothers Mark and Philip, and he discovered a love of fast motorcycles and trips to Le Mans amongst others, with Ricki, Frank, Phil and Declan……… and fast rides around the English countryside with me. There were places he loved to be - Switzerland with his brothers and his many friends, Somerset with Kevin & Alison, Spain with Gerald & Vicki…and a boat on the Thames with Ricki - Thank you, each of you.
Damian did not wish his life defined by ill health. He didn’t see it as HOW LONG he lived, but most certainly by HOW he lived.
He told a friend, that the trick was never to give up - from the time you give up, that’s it.
HE never gave up - What a fighter!
Thank you.
Dick Craig
Valedictory
A very sad loss to the Club and to humanity. Always willing to listen and talk to any member of the Club and universally well liked. Tremendous courage in the face of serious health issues over many years and always maintained his happy disposition. A really nice guy and it was my pleasure to have known him. RIP.
A truly nice and very, very, funny man. Over the years he always faced his health problems with bravery and ‘just got on with it’ enjoying life to the full - an example to us all. I have some great memories of Damian, at Satelcom and more recently at Logicalis. I’ll miss him but will always remember his smile.
I have known Damian since School, Scouts and then through Ealing Rugby and he remained the same person throughout. The years when Damian captained the 2nd’s were filled with fun, laughter and pushing it to the limit and sometimes beyond. Top bloke, Top Tourist and will be sorely missed.
Vale Damian
I knew Damian long before he joined the Colts, plus of course Mark, Philip and their cousin John. They were scouts in the 20th Ealing Group. Philip had the innocent look, Mark the cross look and Damian was into everything, from climbing up the marquee at camp to providing a gourmet meal on an open fire. He was an asset and great fun.
This was my connection and how I managed to get a lot of St. Benedict’s boys into the colts, and we never looked back. When we used to run round to the gym at Horsenden Lane for fitness training, I will always remember Damian doing at least 20 pull up to Big Jake’s 4. It was due to Damian that his father in law (Winter), who was with Guinness, managed to get some delivered to the Five Counties Hotel in Ireland, when the Colts were on tour.
Damian is not the first ex-colt to seek new playing fields. James Cogswell and Nigel Handley to name but two have gone before him, so he will not be alone when he knocks on the gates! God knows what they will get up to.
I will not be at the Abbey for the service, but will you please remember me to his brothers and the rest of the family.
Damian, I’m glad I got to spend some time with you a while back on my trip to the homeland. The mischief was still in your eyes…and words. RIP
Damian Bugeja, a club-man through and through, he will be missed by all. It was an honour play rugby with him, to serve on the committee with him, to tour with him and my pleasure to have had beers with him.
He was the driving force behind so many things at this club. However, I’ll never forget him for being the inspiration behind the re-launch of Veteran’s rugby at Ealing eight years ago. The ‘Evergreens’ now provide a genuine opportunity for players to delay hanging up their boots for a bit longer and to continue wearing that green and white playing shirt with pride - Just like he did.
I have no doubt that Damian has found that ‘long lost goldmine in the sky!’
Damian simply represented everything that is great about the game of Rugby.
Damian a top bloke who always had a hint of mischief in his eye!…..responsible for making me drink disgusting cocktails as a tour virgin with the Evergreens…………….but more importantly responsible for helping make the club the success it is today. Rest in peace
I was very sorry to hear of the recent passing of Damian. He was a fantastic man to be around, inspirational and always with an eye for fun. His love of the game always shone through, he always gave his all and others were only to happy to follow. He also never lost sight of the spirt of Rugby on or off the field. A true Rugby man. I remember him from my years playing for St Benedicts and whilst I was a team mate of Phil, Damian was somebody I looked up too. It was partly through his encouragement that I returned to vets Rugby and enjoyed four wonderful years playing long after I should have. The trip to Rome will live with me for many years and I am sure the stories will continue to get taller and taller. I offer my sincere condolences to the family. He will be missed but fondly remembered in many circles. God Bless you Damian.
I played Rugby with Damian at Ealing for many years and remember so many great times on and off the field. He will be missed by all who knew him.
It was truly a privilege to have known Damian and a great joy to have played in the successful 2nd team that he played in and led with such distinction. Great memories and a lot of laughs. Such a sad loss.
Frank called me Wednesday lunchtime, to let me know the sad news, which totally took the wind out of my sails. I was lucky to have Damian as my room mate while on that infamous Ealing & Benedict’s Barbarians tour (one of my favourite tours ever) in Rome! Damian & I often went together for warm, lazy long day walks around the beautiful city, especially along the much lower level banks of the Tiber river. Grabbing Pizza slices en-route.
I will remember Damian well as an unbelievably stoic rugby man, not just for Ealing, despite everything, NEVER giving in to his pain, or complaining about himself. We had some great fun & laughs together all over Rome including the Black Falcon with you & the boys.
I told the LIARFC Vet Boys last night & they passed on our club condolences. They flew out on Tour at 7am to Sofia, today.
Sadly I will see one & all again for much unhappier times of the funeral in Ealing Abbey.
Damian RIP will not be forgotten, & it is a tribute to him that the Ealing & London Irish clubs are so very close today.
I got to know Damian on the great Lourdes Tour just as we lost Martin Armstrong to the pearly gates. After his Senior playing career he became a stalwart of the Evergreens and was a great club man. Say hi to Martin for us all. We’ll form a new Ealing XV in due course “In the moonlight……..”
Like many who have already left their tributes below I too had the great pleasure of knowing Damian for many years, stretching back to the late 70’s in the Colts right through to playing in that now seemingly legendary Ex 1st XV which Damian so ably skippered and then more recently on the Exec Committee.
Damian was quite simply a great fella. And when he meets our Lord above he’ll be welcomed in with open arms..mainly cos he’s related..how’s that then? Well on the reccie for the 2003 Irish Minis & Youth Tour when checking in at Shannon Airport for our flight home, the Aer Lingus check in desk lady let slip in a rather tongue tied way that his name is really Damian Bejaysus! Oh how we laughed - top memories and stories about a top man - God bless you Damian!
A genuinely nice guy! Too many laughs that are stored with pleasure in my memory. He shared my “sensitive” sense of humour and like me he will never know why Toolan couldn’t leave doughnut munchers alone! Taken from us much too soon.I am confident his memory will be a blessing to all who knew him. Gutted.
Whether captain of the Old Boys, the 2nd team or on tour, I always looked down to Damian. A lovely bloke with a big heart, who always managed to come away with the ball or two, much to the annoyance of the opposition. My condolences to his family, I will miss you mate ! R.I.P.
I was very sad to hear the news about Damian. I first met him when I first joined the Colts team run by Dave Inwood and Stuart Laird in 1977. I remember that he was the first person to buy me a beer at the club. I know that it’s a small thing but it made a big impression on me at the time and was typical of him. He was a lovely bloke who had time for everyone. He was also a terrific rugby player who seemed to know no fear on the rugby pitch or on tour. He was the first ex-Colt to make the first team, where he played with distinction for many years. He was also an inspiring captain and great to play for when he led the second team. I am not surprised, given his input, that the minis have done so well.
It was a privilege to have known Damian and to have played rugby with him. As Piers says, he represented everything that is great about the game of rugby football.
I echo all that’s been said about Damian - a big character and a great man who no one has ever had a bad word to say about him. I never saw him down or grumbling about his condition, so brave.
I was privileged to play rugby with Damian, although he was a far better player than me, so he played for the firsts and then dropped me from the seconds. A wise man, as well as a great bloke. I am really sorry that I cannot attend the funeral mass, but I will raise a glass to him and think of him. My condolences to his family. We shall miss him.
I have had the privilage to have known Damian for a number of years when I joined as a Colt in the early 80s. He was the only one of the brothers that I ever understood!!! You will be missed by all mate.
Like Dave Green I got to know Damian well on that epic trip to Lourdes - and many years on, still so many happy memories! So sad to hear this news - but the 1st XV upstairs has gained a special player and a special person.
Very sad to hear of Damian’s death. We had our differences but were always good friends. Lots of laughs on and off the Rugby Pitch.
I was privileged enough to be part of a group of young boys who arrived at Ealing Rugby club in the summer of 1976. Damian was possible the smallest of the group in stature but certainly not in character. He was an inspiration to us all, playing for the first team for so long and becoming chairman. Damian epitomised the spirit of those Ealing Colts.
Over the last five years we became close friends. Damian demonstrated a dark sense of humour that came with facing his illness. His energy will be missed by all.
A true gentleman who will be sadly missed. Always willing to talk and share a beer.
I have Damian to blame for a lot of things - He took me out for lunch whilst on tour in Majorca on the infamous non rugby tour, and sounded me out about being Senior Chairman! Need I say more. He was an Ealing man through and through. There are very few like him. We will miss him, but as others have said, he is in a better place. Kick downhill first half mate….
I have just scanned down through the names below, and super memories came flooding back of many fine people I knew in my years at Ealing Rugby Club - and none were finer than Damian Bugeja.
I think Damian was out training on Horsenden Hill with his brothers Phil and Mark the very first September session I went down to training at the old club back in the late eighties.
For 10 years after that, Damian was part of the club furniture. We played and trained together, sang badly, consumed the few pints, slagged each other off watching Ireland v England on the old big screen, generally had the crack, and enjoyed our Saturdays win, lose or draw.
The memory that stands out most for me was the time the two of us were the last to leave the Caernavon Hotel around 7am the morning after the 125th anniversary dinner, still standing and lamenting the lack of staying power of some of the other notables!
Clubs are made up of enthusiastic people, and in Damian, Ealing was fortunate in having one of those people who loved their club and contributed enormously to the richness of club life.
My heartfelt sympathy to Mark, Phil, Nick and all Damian’s extended family and huge network of friends who share my profound sadness at his leaving us much, much too soon.
I’ve just noticed that Damian passed away in May. I’m really saddened to hear that. Damian was one of the chaps I initially met on a Friday night in July ’04 when I was driving around Ealing (Uxbridge Road) trying to locate the rugby club as I had been recommended to play for Ealing. When I finally found the club, it was the old pavilion as the new club rooms were under construction, I pulled up and wandered inside to be greeted by Richard Ward, Damian, Hugh and a few others who were having a beer. As I approached the bar, Richard enquired as to who I was, on explaining he asked me to join the lads for a drink and I duly did, (he even bought me a blackcurrant and water). But that is when I first met Damian. The whole bunch made me feel very welcome and indeed invited me to join them for a curry which I politely declined.
The hospitality afforded me that night from Richard, Hugh and in particular Damian ensured I was never going to join London Scottish (where many of my pals played), I’m sure a few Ealing worthies wished I had! But my rationale was simple - I just felt right at home, all the traditional smatterings associated with a rugby club I got a sense of that night. I always felt I got on particularly well with Hugh, Richard and Damian due to that early encounter as it was their “selling” of the club that got me there and I loved every minute. A terrific man, very good company and a bitter loss to his family, his friends, Ealing Rugby and the wider rugby community.
When I first meet the man back in the original colts team back in 1976, Dave Inwood had brought together a motley crew of individuals from the choice up bringing such as mine, “Animal” Giddings, Jake (Christ he’s tall) Edmonds, Chris Andrews etc at Northolt High to Damian, Dave Hasler, James Cogswell et al from St Benedict’s. We thought they were all just Idiots with wealthy parents. They thought we were just thugs with learning difficulties: It seemed we were both only half right!
But boy were they fun to be around and Damian and his brother’s lead the list of people to stay awake with when on tour. Those early tours to France, working with Damian to see how much beer we could steal from those nice people who gave us a tour of their brewery, through to playing “who could get drunk the quickest” games on the beach in Ireland, (turns out to be very difficult to judge the winner on this one), remain in my mind as some of the funniest times I have ever spent with my clothes on.
I shall remember Damian for being all things to all people at the times you needed him, a great leader and team player on the pitch and exactly the same off.
Fond memories - it was my fault he got sent off against Leighton Buzzard once - sorry. Far too many late Tuesday nights drinking trying to change the world. Have a pint with you someday mate. Jakey
A Vital Spirit, inspirational, and one of the best drinking partners we have ever had. Sorely missed.
Damian was a great man and a fantastic support to the Ealing Jades, coaching the team in the early days and continuously supporting us as the seasons went by. He was always good fun to know and will be sorely missed.
I‘d just like to add my thoughts on the sad news about Damian. Just a really nice bloke with a wicked sense of humour. Really, really sad news especially after all the fight and fortitude he had shown over the last few years.
He was a great Ealing club man. Always good company. I will miss him a great deal.
Damian was a fine man, a stalwart of the club and he will be missed.
Truly a great man indeed, he got me started at the club.
Damian should also go down as one of the greatest tourists ever - I will miss everything about him except his passing!
A wonderful, wonderful man. An enormous character who will be hugely missed.
Just read the Tributes - I can only reiterate both my boys comments when they heard “LEGEND”.
