Edward Sadler (8 May 1910 – 26 December 1992) was an English dual-code international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

and

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 1930s and 1940s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and whilst serving with the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

for the

Army Rugby Union The Army Rugby Union (ARU) is the governing body for rugby union in the British Army and a constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The ARU was formed on 31 December 1906 and marked the fulfilment of Lieutenant J. E. C. "Birdie" Partr ...

, and representative level rugby league (RL) for

, and at club level for

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 ...

and

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

. He also appeared for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

as a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

guest A guest is person who is given hospitality. Guest or The Guest may refer to: * Guest (surname), people with the surname ''Guest'' * USS ''Guest'' (DD-472), U.S. Navy ''Fletcher''-class destroyer 1942–1946 * Guest appearance, guest actor, guest ...

player.

Career

Rugby union

Born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

, Essex, Sadler started his career playing rugby union in the Army. In 1933, he was selected to play for

, winning two caps.

Switch to rugby league

Later that year, Sadler joined

side

. He made his début, and scored his first try, against

Broughton Rangers Broughton Rangers were one of the twenty-one rugby clubs which met at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, in 1895 to form the Northern Rugby Football Union. They were originally based in Broughton, Salford, but in 1933 moved to Gorton, Manchester ...

in August 1933. He scored six tries in 25 appearances for the club before joining

in 1934. At that time, he was a "skilled bus driver". Edward Sadler 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 Oldham in the 13-63 defeat by Australia during the

1933–34 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain The 1933–34 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was the fifth Kangaroo tour, and took the Australia national rugby league team around the north of England, to London and Paris. The tour also featured the 11th Ashes series which comprised three Te ...

match at

Stade Pershing Stade Pershing () was a multi-purpose stadium in the Bois de Vincennes in Paris, France. It was used mostly for football matches and hosted the final of the Coupe de France on four occasions. It hosted the Inter-Allied Games in 1919 and the fir ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on Sunday 31 December 1933, he also won a

while at Castleford in 1939 against Wales.

County League appearances

Edward Sadler played in

's victory in the Yorkshire League during the 1938–39 season.

Challenge Cup Final appearances

Edward Sadler played in

's 11–8 victory over

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees 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 confl ...

in the 1935 Challenge Cup Final during the 1934–35 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

, London on Saturday 4 May 1935, in front of a crowd of 39,000.

References

External links

Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
->
Search for "Sadler" at rugbyleagueproject.org (as actual reference is misspelt as Saddler, and omits 1933 match against Australia)

Statistics at wigan.rlfans.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadler, Ted 1910 births 1992 deaths Military personnel from Colchester Army rugby union players British Army personnel of World War II Castleford Tigers players Dual-code rugby internationals England international rugby union players England national rugby league team players English rugby league players English rugby union players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Royal Corps of Signals soldiers Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Essex Rugby league second-rows Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Colchester Wigan Warriors wartime guest players 20th-century English sportsmen