Rod Bradley (born 29 March 1983) is an English player of

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

, as well an artist and entrepreneur.

Education

Roderick Bradley was born in

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

in 1983. He attended Oakham School between 1994 and 2001 before going to

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

to study art. He graduated in 2004 with a degree in illustration from the school of art and design. He was found to be dyslexic at an early age, causing him trouble academically in school. He became interested in design and spent much of his time drawing in exercise books.

Sporting career

Eventually Rod started to play

. He excelled and became the Great Britain youth champion in less than a year. In the European championships he suffered a seemingly career-ending injury to his knee, leaving his lower leg almost detached from the upper after ligament tears. After months of rehabilitation and surgery he could walk again, but medical advice suggested an end to his sporting career. He received a call up to the Great Britain squad two years later after many attempts to return to action, playing alongside his brother for his country. Currently, Rod is the

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

London Blitz London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

American football club. He captained the team in the 2007

BritBowl The Britbowl is the championship game of the British American Football National League, and formerly the British American Football League (BAFL) in the United Kingdom. It is the most prestigious of the league's three bowl games that constitute ...

and the Blitz came away with the title. Before joining the Blitz, he was selected to become a member of the Great British Lions squad and has competed at county and regional level as a swimmer and rugby player.

Other

Bradley is a freelance artist and design urban clothing for Rudey Arts and new sportswear for PlayerLayer. Rod supports many charities including the Vitiligo Society and is a great supporter of sports in schools.

Gladiators

Since 2008 Rod has been known as the gladiator "Spartan". Bradley was selected to become one of the 12 new Gladiators on Sky 1's revival of the 1990s cult TV series of the same name. As Spartan, his tagline is: His application came about by chance. While working in a hotel, he met Ian Wright, who later got him an audition. Once Rod got the audition he had to go through a variety of tests, including role play. People who had audition were dropping easily, meaning that to be a Gladiator one not only needed to be musculous, but also very athletic. In the first series of Gladiators, Kirsty Gallagher nicknamed Rod as the "Flirt In a Skirt" and Rod was also nicknamed the "Duel King" due to his near perfect record with a pugil stick in the game "Duel".

Sporting goods

In 2009, Bradley launched PlayerLayer, a concern for the manufacture of high-tech sports equipment. The business is headquartered in Grantham with manufacturing in Nottingham.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Roderick 1983 births Living people People educated at Oakham School Alumni of Loughborough University Sportspeople from Grantham English businesspeople Gladiators (2008 British TV series) English players of American football