I think Bill Seddon and Len Haley may qualify. Maybe an older follower (I only saw Seddon play at the backend of his career) could shed light on where he came from when Northern signed him.I think he came from New Zealand. They both played throughout the 50s into the 60s

Yeh i get that you could retire lots of numbers, but its one one of the highest honours a club could ever do for a player in my view.

To have the shirt unritred seemed an insult and disrespectful to me at the time.

Does anyone know why it was brought back?

TBH Karl only played one season in jersey number 21. I associate him more with number 12, which he wore more times than any other.

David Redfearn

435 (+37) Appearances
4 Goals
241 Tries
745 Points.

That's what I was going to be mention too. As much as I liked the gesture of retiring a number for him, it never really made much sense it being 21 when he only wore it for 1 season (which I think was the first year of actual squad numbers rather than just 1-13). Fair enough, retiring the 12 shirt didn't seem a great idea either, especially for the purists, so I think that's why the decision will have been made.

But it was about 15 years before it was used again, so I don't think it's an issue. If it had been a shirt number he'd worn for 15 years, then fair enough never use it again. But retiring a number for 15 years that he only wore for one season, I think was probably a nice enough gesture.

There is a degree of guesswork here but possibly Jon Hamer, Les Gant and Phil Jackson? Jon definitely had a 10 year testimonial and Les Gant came through in the second division team of 1973/74. Phil Jackson played in that second division 1973/74 team and the 1983 semi against Featherstone but did have a spell out of the pro game in that time. I can't find/recall if any of them played professionally anywhere else.

Yes Jon Hamer only played for us.

Terry Holmes from RU. Only played a couple of seasons though.

I can't find anything on these players for some reason. Is there anything about them in that Bradford Northern history book pal?



Lovely thank you! I now have bother Redfearn brothers on the list alongside Fairbank (missing appearances), Foster, McLean, Price and Trotter.



Do you know if there are any stats or information about these players anywhere? I know ifiwerelikemumby has referenced the Bradford Northern History book before but unfortunately I don't have this. Thanks!



Thank you, but unfortunately I can't put him on the list as he was only here for 2 seasons and played less than 100 games. Technically a one-club man though! But to qualify these players need to have either been at one club for 10+ years or played over 100 games for them.

Hi BB2011 - Unfortunately I no longer have anything I can look up that I can help you with. I do remember old Northern programmes in the 1970's did show players appearances and points scored. That would only be partially helpful though (with some career info on Les Gant and Phil Jackson).

It looks to be agreed than Jon Hamer did 10 years. With regard to Gant and Jackson I am reasonably confident they were both on the books for around 10 years. Jackson did play for West Bowling for a time (1979 or 1980) as I played for Dudley Hill against them with him playing. I think Les Gant was a young kid in a 1974 cup tie away to Swinton. He got punched by an old-stager called Barry Philbin and Northern had Graham Joyce sent off for trying to pay Philbin back.

The programmes that used to have a rugby ball shaped picture of Odsal on the cover may be what you need to make some further progress with. There is a programme collectors fair at Odsal on 20 January where you may be able to browse/buy something with useful information in.

Dennis Trotter

12 Seasons - 1970/71 until 1981/82

201 Full Appearances plus 66 as Substitute.
26 Tries
78 Points.

Jon Hamer

214 Appearances plus 29 as Sub.
13 Tries
52 Pts

12 Seasons with the club. 1985/86 until 1996. Think his last appearance may have been the 96 cup final but I'd have to check that.