Brian Radford (birth unknown – ) was a Welsh

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

, and professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. He played club level rugby union (RU) for

Kenfig Hill RFC Kenfig Hill Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the village of Kenfig Hill, South Wales. Kenfig Hill RFC presently play in the Welsh Rugby Union Division one west. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for ...

Aberavon RFC Aberavon RFC ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Aberafan) is a rugby union club located in the Welsh town of Port Talbot, though the club's name refers to the older settlement of Aberavon which lies on the western side of the town. The club was founded in 1876 ...

and

Neath RFC Neath Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Castell-Nedd) is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the WRU Championship. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The team is known as the All Blacks because of the team colours: black with on ...

, and representative level rugby league (RL) for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, and at club level for

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is pr ...

, as a , or , i.e. number 8 or 10, or, 11 or 12, during the era of contested

scrum Scrum may refer to: Sport * Scrum (rugby), a method of restarting play in rugby union and rugby league ** Scrum (rugby union), scrum in rugby union * Scrum, an offensive melee formation in Japanese game Bo-taoshi Media and popular culture * ...

Background

Brian Radford was born in

Kenfig Hill Kenfig Hill ( cy, Mynydd Cynffig) is a village in Bridgend County Borough, South Wales. It is bordered by Pyle to the south-west, Cefn Cribwr to the north-east, North Cornelly to the south and Moel Ton-Mawr mountain to the north. The nearest tr ...

, Wales, and he died in

, Wales.

Playing career

International honours

Brian Radford won a cap for

while Bradford Northern in 1952.

Championship final appearances

Brian Radford played right-, i.e. number 10, in

's 6-13 defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Final during the 1951–52 season at

Leeds Road Leeds Road was a football stadium in Huddersfield, England. It operated from its construction in 1908 until the Kirklees Stadium was opened nearby for the 1994–95 season. It was the home of Huddersfield Town A.F.C. from 1908 to 1994 and wa ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into t ...

on Saturday 10 May 1952.

Challenge Cup Final appearances

Brian Radford played in every round of the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves a ...

but was left out for the final, fellow Welshman Frank Whitcombe played at , with Barry Tyler moving back in to the in

's 12-0 victory over Halifax in the

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – ...

Final during the 1948-49 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on Saturday 7 May 1949.

References

External links

Photograph "Northern Greats" at rlhp.co.uk First Class Players at kenfighillrfc.org.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radford, Brian Aberavon RFC players Bradford Bulls players Kenfig Hill RFC players Neath RFC players Rugby league players from Bridgend County Borough Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows Rugby union players from Kenfig Hill Wales national rugby league team players Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players Year of birth missing Year of death missing