Bristol Bears regret to announce the death at the age of 73 of Kevin Bogira. A hugely popular player, he was Bristol’s principal hooker from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, forming a formidable front row unit with props John Doubleday and Austin Sheppard. He was a John Player Cup winner with the club in 1983 and also won the County Championship with Gloucestershire.
Kevin Michael Bogira, whose father was Polish, first played rugby at Lawrence Weston School. After leaving school to become an apprentice diesel engineer, he joined the Empire Athletic Club to maintain his fitness. This club had a close association with Broad Plain RFC Colts, so Kevin played for them, initially as a flanker. He carried on into senior rugby with Broad Plain, before moving on to play for Avonmouth Old Boys where he won an award as the most improved player. At Avonmouth he formed, with props Barrie Watkins and Paul Castell, a mighty front row which was good enough to be selected en bloc for Bristol Combination representative games. In 1977 Kevin was a member of the Avonmouth side which lost after extra time to Bristol Harlequins in the final of the Bristol Combination Cup. An early influence in Kevin’s rugby development was former Bristol and St Mary’s Old Boys hooker John ‘Chalky’ White, himself an outstanding player.
Kevin was invited to play for Bristol in 1977-78, making seven appearances for Bristol United during that season. He made his first team debut in the second game of the following season in a home victory over C A Beglais. The 1978-79 season turned out to be one of Bristol’s best, but in a poor start the club lost four of its first five matches. Kevin was recalled to the first team for the derby fixture against Gloucester at Kingsholm in late September, and after excelling in a thrilling 16-all draw he cemented his place as first choice hooker. In fact, he was so successful in his first full season that the Bristol Supporters chose him as Player of the Year. He was also awarded his first team cap, with his club blazer following just a season later. During his memorable debut season, Kevin scored one of Bristol’s two tries in a tense 8-6 victory in the snow at previously-undefeated Liverpool in January. A month earlier Bristol had endured a nightmare return journey from Llanelli. Four coaches in turn broke down, and the last of these only made it home thanks to Kevin’s diesel engineering skills.
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Kevin was a mainstay throughout Bristol’s successful John Player Cup campaign in 1983, featuring in all five games. When Bristol played their semi-final at Coventry, a photographer was present before the match to take individual pictures of the players of both sides for subsequent use in the official programme for the final. Kevin was wearing a scrum cap, and Bristol skipper Mike Rafter hit on the brilliant idea of relaxing his players before the game by passing said scrum cap around and making each player wear it for the photograph. Thus, photos of the bulk of the squad, backs as well as forwards, appeared next to their pen-pictures in the programme for the final wearing Kevin’s scrum cap. Kevin himself was only able to play in the early stages of the final as he damaged rib cartilages and was replaced by Dave Palmer.
Kevin Bogira made his Gloucestershire debut in 1979 and made a total of 18 appearances for the county. He was on the losing side in the County Championship final against Northumberland at a foggy Kingsholm in 1981, but in 1983, a few months before the John Player Cup triumph, he was in the Gloucestershire side which won the championship by defeating Yorkshire at the Memorial Ground. This was the last county final not to be staged at Twickenham. Kevin was unfortunate in that he was at his peak at the same time as Steve Mills of Gloucester, and the pair vied regularly for the hooking berth at both county and divisional level. This limited Kevin’s representative rugby, but he did play in the South & South West side which defeated Romania at Kingsholm in 1985, and he also played for the South West in the Divisional Championship.
From the 1983-84 season onwards, Kevin competed with Dave Palmer, another quality hooker, for the senior position at Bristol. He led the first team appearances in 1986-87 with 39 games, and he made his final first team appearance at Coventry at the end of the following season. In all he played 317 first team games, scoring 23 tries. Only 24 players in Bristol’s history have made more than 300 first team appearances, and Kevin is 18th highest in this list. After he retired he joined the Bristol committee, acted as team secretary and occasional player for the short-lived Bristol A side and did a stint as team secretary for Bristol United. He made his last Bristol United appearance in 1991-92 and his final Bristol A appearances a season later. He also played briefly for Clifton and represented England Classicals in Bermuda.
Kevin was a very good golfer and enjoyed reconnecting with his former team mates on the golf course. He was also a regular attendee at Former Players’ gatherings. He will be sorely missed and fondly remembered by his many friends in the rugby community, and all at Bristol Bears send their condolences to his family at this terribly sad time.