A Tribute To Bill Gore

Bill Gore died very suddenly in St Thomas’s hospital after a short illness. He was 79 years old.

Bill was a rugby fanatic and loved nothing more than watching games and then analysing them over a beer in the clubhouse. Bill learnt his rugby at Hymers College having watched with great enjoyment the great Hull & East Riding side of the late 1950s and 1960s. Bill stills holds the record for most tries in a game at that school scoring five tries in one game.

Bill played for the Old Hymerians club from the age of 15 and made his first team debut at the age of 17. He played whenever he could but as his studies and work took him all over the country, he played for several other clubs including Aston University, Wanstead, Colchester and Kelvinside in Scotland.

Bill was a true devotee of Hull RUFC having welcomed the merger of Old Hymerians and Hull & ER and he was well known to senior club members including Bruce Wilkie, Mick Scott and Don Robson – all of whom he had played with.

Bill came to many games despite living in Coggishall near Colchester including several when we were in National League One. He supported the club with financial donations over many years and was able to travel all the way to York to watch our Yorkshire Cup triumph.

He recalled with great affection his playing days in Hull and rang me every Sunday to discuss our results after reading the match reports he received every Saturday evening.

Bill played the game for 30 years and coached successfully at Colts level at Colchester for 20 years. His love of the game has passed to some members of his family who will be flying the flag for our great game for years to come.

Richard Gore