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Trevor John French Foster MBE (3 December 1914 – 2 April 2005) was a Welsh rugby footballer, and coach. He played rugby union for Newport and rugby league for Bradford Northern.[2] Trevor Foster was a Sergeant Physical Training Instructor in the British Army during World War II.[5]
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| Full name | Trevor John French Foster[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 3 December 1914 Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 2 April 2005 (aged 90) Bradford, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rugby union | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Flanker | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rugby league | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Second-row, Loose forward | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Trevor Foster was born on 3 December 1914 in Newport, Monmouthshire,[6] but is best known for his association with the Bradford Northern rugby league club having joined them as a player in 1938 for £400 from Newport RFC, his home town's rugby union club.
He made a name for himself playing for Newport Schoolboys and Pill Harriers as a teenager, before joining Newport. He was also chosen to play for invitational team Crawshays.[7]
In all he played 428 games for Bradford Northern, usually as a second-row and occasionally a loose forward. During this time he scored 140 tries (an incredible return for a forward) including 24 in the 1947–48 season and 6 in 1 game.(It could have been 7 but the ball was knocked from his hands as he crossed the line.) Trevor was the key forward of an outstanding Bradford Northern side in the post war period which won the Rugby League Challenge Cup in 1947 and 1949 with Trevor scoring in both games. The Northern side at this time had some great Welsh players including mercurial stand-off Willie Davies, wings Des Case and Alan Edwards, and of course Frank Whitcombe at prop.
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Trevor Foster won caps for Wales while at Bradford Northern 1939...1951 16-caps, including 7 as captain, and won caps for Great Britain while at Bradford Northern in 1946 against New Zealand, and in 1948 against Australia (2 matches)
It is certain he would have won more caps had it not been for World War II.
Foster was selected for the 1946 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia, but was injured before being able to play a game.
Trevor Foster played at second-row in Bradford Northern's 6–13 defeat by Wigan in the Championship Final during the 1951–52 season at Leeds Road, Huddersfield on Saturday 10 May 1952.[8]
Trevor Foster played at second-row in Bradford Northern's 3–8 defeat by Wigan in the 1947–48 Challenge Cup Final during the 1947–48 season at Wembley Stadium, London on Saturday 1 May 1948.[9]
Trevor Foster played at second-row and was captain for Northern Command XIII against a Rugby League XIII at Thrum Hall, Halifax on Saturday 21 March 1942.[10]
Remarkably for a forward of the time Trevor was never sent from the field of play or even cautioned during his 17 years of top flight rugby.
After his retirement in 1955 he remained a servant of the Bradford club successively as Coach, Director and Chairman of the Supporters Club and timekeeper for Super League home games.
It was in 1963 when he secured his place in Bradford and Rugby League history when he was the central figure in a campaign to save his beloved Bradford Northern club who had disbanded due to financial problems. He led efforts to reconstitute the club which was then able to rejoin the league the following season. Without his work it is unlikely that the club would exist today.
In the 2001 New Year Honours, Trevor Foster was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) "for services to the community in Bradford, West Yorkshire."[11] In 2004 he was inducted into Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.
Trevor Foster, has been included in Bradford's; 'Millennium Masters', 'Bull Masters', and in August 2007 he was named in the 'Team of the Century'. Only six players have been included in all three lists, they are; Karl Fairbank, Trevor Foster, James Lowes, Keith Mumby, Robbie Paul and Ernest Ward.
Arriva Yorkshire honoured 13 rugby league footballers on Thursday 20 August 2009, at a ceremony at The Jungle, the home of the Castleford Tigers. A fleet of new buses were named after the 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team'. Members of the public nominated the best ever rugby league footballers to have played in West Yorkshire, supported by local rugby league journalists; James Deighton from BBC Leeds, and Tim Butcher, editor of Rugby League World. The 'Arriva Yorkshire Rugby League Dream Team' is; Trevor Foster MBE, Neil Fox MBE, Albert Goldthorpe, Alan Hardisty, Stan Kielty, Lewis Jones, Roger Millward MBE, Malcolm Reilly, Garry Schofield, Keith Senior, David Topliss, Dave Valentine and Adrian Vowles.[12]
Following a heart attack, Foster died on 2 April 2005 in Bradford Royal Infirmary at the age of 90.
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