Frank Foster (25 April 1940 – 20 December 2019) born in Maryport was an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

ed in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for

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and

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

, and at club level for

Workington Town Workington Town is a semi-professional rugby league club based in Workington, West Cumbria, England. The club plays home games at Derwent Park and competes in the RFL League One, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, Briti ...

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

, Barrow and

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

, as a and coached at club level for Barrow and

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

Playing career

Workington Town

Foster started his professional career with

, who signed him in 1958. He played for the club until 1965, when he was signed by

for a fee of £6,500.

Hull Kingston Rovers

Frank Foster played at in

' 25–12 victory over

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Post Office Road and currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Featherstone ...

in the 1966 Yorkshire Cup Final at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

on Saturday 15 October 1966, and played as an

interchange Interchange may refer to: Transport * Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways * Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies * Interchange station, a rai ...

replacing John Hickson) in the 8–7 victory over Hull F.C. in the 1967 Yorkshire Cup Final at Headingley on Saturday 14 October 1967.

Later career

In 1968, Foster was sold to

for a fee of £5,000, with Geoff Wriglesworth and

Terry Clawson Terence "Terry" A. Clawson (9 April 1940 – 2 September 2013) was an English Rugby League World Cup, World Cup winning professional rugby league footballer who played from the 1950s through to the 1980s. He played at representative level for Gr ...

transferring from Bradford to Hull KR as part of the deal. A year later, Foster was signed by Barrow for a transfer fee of £6,000. He finished his playing career with

Representative honours

Frank Foster won a

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for

while at Hull Kingston Rovers in 1967, against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Frank Foster represented

on 8 occasions.

Coaching career

1973 saw Barrow appoint their former player, Foster as coach. He built a side which won the Second Division championship in 1975/76, and reached a John Player Trophy Final in 1981, only to lose 5–12 to

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

Phil Hogan Philip Hogan (born 4 July 1960) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as European Commissioner for Trade between 2019 and 2020, and previously European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development between 2014 and 2019. He p ...

was transferred to

in 1978 for a then world record fee of £33,000. Barrow fluctuated between divisions and Foster was eventually replaced by Tommy Dawes in April 1983. The same year Foster was appointed coach at Whitehaven where he remained in charge until the summer of 1985.

References

External links

Frank Foster at eraofthebiff.comHistory of Barrow Rugby

Photograph 'Glen Beaumont Signing' at rlhp.co.uk
*(archived by web.archive.org
Back on the Wembley trail
* (archived by web.archive.org
Hull Kingston Rovers ~ Captains
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Frank 1940 births 2019 deaths Barrow Raiders coaches Barrow Raiders players Bradford Bulls players Cumberland rugby league team players English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players Hull Kingston Rovers players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Maryport Whitehaven R.L.F.C. coaches Workington Town players 20th-century English sportsmen