Clive Anthony Sullivan MBE (9 April 1943 – 8 October 1985) was a Welsh rugby league footballer.
His son, Anthony Sullivan, had a successful career with Hull Kingston Rovers, St. Helens, Wales in both rugby league and union, and Cardiff RFC.
He was posted to Catterick in the North Riding of Yorkshire, and while there was picked for an inter-corps rugby match on account of being Welsh.
However, instinct took over and after scoring a long distance try with no ill effects, he decided to make the most of the army training to further progress his hopes of playing rugby.
Dubbed "Mr. X" by the Hull Daily Mail,[7] he scored three tries on his debut against Bramley on 9 December 1961, and signed as a professional the following day.
[8] Sullivan's first three seasons were restricted by his army duties, three knee operations and a nearly fatal car crash in October 1963, although he returned to play again just three months after the accident.
[citation needed] Despite his knees requiring constant attention and further operations, Sullivan played a total of 352 games for Hull, scoring 250 tries.
[11] Sullivan returned to Hull in 1981 on the coaching staff, but made occasional appearances as a player to cover for injuries.
At the age of 39, he played on the wing in the 1981–82 Challenge Cup Final replay (replacing Dane O'Hara, having played in the first match, but had subsequently been reprimanded by Hull for an off-field issue) in Hull FC's 18–9 victory over Widnes at Elland Road, Leeds on Wednesday 19 May 1982, in front of a crowd of 41,171.
The 1975 Rugby League World Cup saw Sullivan lead Wales in all four matches, scoring a try in the victory over England in the second game for the Welsh team.
[16] In December 2020, Sullivan was named as one of three Welsh rugby league players to be honoured with a new statue in Cardiff Bay, the other two being Billy Boston and Gus Risman.