SIMON FOSTER is the son of the great Welsh Rugby League player Trevor Foster, who played a great role in the history of the city of Bradford, its Rugby League club, Welsh rugby of both codes and Great Britain.
IT is hard to believe that it will be 20 years this month since the passing of Trevor Foster MBE in April 2005.
Trevor was an adopted son of Bradford and became a legend in the city after having travelled North from Newport in 1938 to join Bradford Northern.
He went on to enjoy a successful career in Rugby League, playing in three consecutive Wembley Challenge Cup Finals, captaining his beloved Wales in Union and League and touring Australia and New Zealand with the famous Great Britain Indomitables in 1946.
They are to this day the only Lions Rugby League team to win an Ashes Test Series down under and remain unbeaten.
Older supporters at Odsal, when asked about Trevor`s most outstanding achievement at the club, always say that it was his leading role in the reformation of Northern in 1963–64 after the club folded, and not the six tries he scored in a match against Wakefield Trinity on the famous ground in 1948, when a seventh was disallowed.
He played top class Rugby League until he was aged 44, never once being sent off or even cautioned by a referee across 450 appearances in the game.
He even played Christ on the Cross in the 1950s at an Easter Christian Pageant in the stadium, shaking in the cold and praying for mercy whilst he was tied up on the wooden structure high on the South Terrace, when a huge thunderstorm broke out with frightening cracks of lightning and large hailstones.
Arguably Trevor’s proudest day in Rugby League was being inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame, when the great Billy Boston welcomed him to Cardiff. Although he always said it was equalled when he led the Bulls out against Leeds Rhinos at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff at the 2003 Challenge Cup Final.
However, the overriding memory of those who knew of Trevor the ‘Gentle Giant’ was the passion he had for his beloved Bradford and its people and the work he did (mostly in a voluntary capacity) to support young people and good causes around the city, for which he was awarded the MBE.
Many people will remember his huge involvement at the then Bradford City Police Boys Club in Girlington, where the likes of Northern greats Brian Noble and Keith Mumby came under his inspiring mentorship and his enthusiasm for sport.
He always said that sport developed a healthy mind and body and helped to keep the youngsters on the right path, giving them every opportunity to become successful in adult life.
As an education welfare officer for many years, having retired from football, he enjoyed visiting local secondary schools, where his calm and positive influence encouraged many youngsters away from a potential life of crime.
He also did a lot for those less well-off families in need of urgent support as an active member of the St Vincent De Paul Society at his local church.
He was an active member of the Bradford Royal Infirmary fund-raising charity, which enabled the purchase of much needed specialist equipment at the hospital.
The day he passed away, aged ninety, he was busy visiting and chatting to patients on the wards across the hospital. He touched so many lives across the city.
Trevor was a man about town, who never owned a motor car; he had a big heart and a generous, friendly nature. His memory, particularly at this time of Bradford’s financial challenges and uncertainty, will maybe bring some hope to the people of this great city.
He would be pleased to know that the Bradford Bulls are in good hands, now being coached by his old protégé Brian Noble.
