By Simon Foster
On July 2nd, 2026 we celebrated the 80th anniversary of the famous ‘Indomitables’ 1946 Great Britain tour to Australia and New Zealand in a fantastic event at Odsal Stadium, Bradford.
The 1946 Lions remain the only rugby league touring team in history to be unbeaten in Test matches in Australia. Sailing from Plymouth on the April 3 on a month-long voyage to Freemantle on the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable, the players encountered many hardships on the five-month tour of the Antipodes. Most of the tourists had recently been demobbed from the Armed Forces and had to leave their families behind once again.
The Indomitables have left an enduring legacy in rugby league history, with so many extraordinary achievements on that tour. Many of the players went on to successful careers with top clubs and then served the game tirelessly in a variety of ways, after retiring from playing.
My late father, Trevor Foster MBE, loved to tell us bedtime stories as kids about his favourite lifetime adventure in 1946. He was passionate about his career in rugby league and that tour was the pinnacle.
I had helped to organise previous anniversary reunions at the George Hotel in Huddersfield and then Heritage Quay at the University of Huddersfield, mainly to involve the families of the tourists.
The 80th anniversary would be very special since Bradford Bulls offered to host the event at the famous Odsal Stadium. Together with the brilliant support from the Bulls Community Foundation Heritage team, we were able to celebrate in style in the Trevor Foster Legends Suite, overlooking the playing area where my dad’s ashes had been scattered in 2005. He always referred to Odsal as “a small piece of heaven on earth.”
A “Magnificent Six” Bradford Northern players were selected for the 1946 tour and it would have been seven club representatives had Harry Hornby, the club’s Managing Director at the time, been the tour manager. He applied for the job but missed out to Mr Popplewell of Bramley, who happened to be the tour manager in 1936.
Families of the 194 tourists attending at Odsal included relatives of Eric Batten, Ike Owens, Doug Philllips, Frank Whitcombe, Eddie Waring and, of course, Trevor Foster. Eddie’s son, Tony gave an eloquent speech and explained how much his dad had enjoyed the tour as chief “dogsbody” for all the players needs and how he had made lifelong friendships with them. Eddie was a senior journalist on the tour.
We were joined by Great Britain tourists Alan Smith, an Ashes winner on the 1970 Lions tour when Johnny Whiteley was the coach. He came along with ex-Wakefield Trinity and Bradford Northern great Ian Brooke, who toured in 1966.
RL Lions Association chairman Brian Noble MBE, a Bradford legend, gave an uplifting speech about his pride in the Lions. Brian toured in 1984 as the Great Britain captain and was Great Britain’s coach on the 2006 tour, when we secured what remains our last victory over Australia.
Brian spoke of the Lions Association’s vision to make an impact and to help create some exciting new developments, particularly in show casing the history and heritage of rugby league. He will work alongside Association secretary John Ledger and the devoted Lions committee. John has been the mainstay of the Lions Association for many years and is highly regarded by all the players.
Other guests at the Odsal anniversary included Spen Allison, the long-time BARLA President, and Martyn Sadler, who kindly joint sponsored the event on behalf of League Express.
Roland Davis, a GB Lion himself having been a manager on the 1984 tour, was heralded on the day – Roland is coming up to his 93rd birthday and has spent 86 years in the game from 1939 when watching his first match at Headingley aged six. He holds the remarkable record of attending 78 consecutive Challenge Cup finals and 72 consecutive Championship and Grand Finals! Roland, who worked for the RFL in finance, was also secretary to the Lions Association over a long period and took two non-playing tours of former British Lions to Australia in 1980 and 1985.
Finally – Wow! Quite an amazing surprise happened on the day, when Ashley Drake, a publisher from Cardiff appeared with the brand new Indomitables book, written jointly by Martin Whitcombe and Huw Richards. It has been a labour of love for both men. We were able to officially launch the book – a bible of information about the tour and much more. It really is a unique study and will surely become a collector`s item. I highly recommend rugby league supporters to buy a copy. It is a genuine historical document.To contact the Lions Association, please email secretary John Ledger – john.ledger@rugbyleaguelions.com