Kiwi rugby league legend Dean Bell has revealed he took to the field for a must-win UK Super League match just 48 hours after undergoing a vasectomy. League administrators and promoters pride the code on being one of the most gladiatorial of sports; where its top-level stars regularly defy the pain barrier to chase sporting glory. That includes John Sattler inspiring South Sydney to 1970 ARL grand final victory despite playing the final 70 minutes with a broken jaw and former Kiwis captain Mark Graham refusing to leave the field multiple times in his career despite suffering a myriad of broken bones.
Bell – who played 26 tests for the Kiwis and also captained the national team – has revealed his own pain-defying on-field heroics in the new book, Blue and Amber Voices – Stories from Leeds Rugby League . That saw the then Leeds head coach make a one-off playing return two days after undergoing a vasectomy, in a bid to save his club from relegation from Super League. “The worse thing or the most stupid thing was that I had forgotten I was booked in for a vasectomy a couple of days before the game,” Bell told the book’s author James Oddy.
“So, I ended up having that procedure. “And let’s just say I was a little bit mindful of protecting a certain part of my body going into contact, but I was very lucky I didn’t get any hits in that region.” Looking back, Bell said he now realised his playing in the tail end of the 1996 Super League was a “dumb thing” to .