He made a name for himself playing for Newport Schoolboys and Pill Harriers as a teenager, before joining Newport. He was also chosen to play for invitational team Crawshays.[7]
Bradford Northern career
In all he played 428 games for Bradford Northern, usually as a second-row and occasionally a loose forward. During this time he scored 140 tries (an incredible return for a forward) including 24 in the 1947–48 season and 6 in 1 game.(It could have been 7 but the ball was knocked from his hands as he crossed the line.) Trevor was the key forward of an outstanding Bradford Northern side in the post war period which won the Rugby League Challenge Cup in 1947 and 1949 with Trevor scoring in both games. The Northern side at this time had some great Welsh players including mercurial stand-offWillie Davies, wingsDes Case and Alan Edwards, and of course Frank Whitcombe at prop.
Great Britain and Wales caps
Trevor Foster won caps for Wales while at Bradford Northern 1939...1951 16-caps, including 7 as captain, and won caps for Great Britain while at Bradford Northern in 1946 against New Zealand, and in 1948 against Australia (2 matches)
It is certain he would have won more caps had it not been for World War II.
Foster was selected for the 1946 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia, but was injured before being able to play a game.
Remarkably for a forward of the time Trevor was never sent from the field of play or even cautioned during his 17 years of top flight rugby.
Retirement and coaching
After his retirement in 1955 he remained a servant of the Bradford club successively as Coach, Director and Chairman of the Supporters Club and timekeeper for Super League home games.
It was in 1963 when he secured his place in Bradford and Rugby League history when he was the central figure in a campaign to save his beloved Bradford Northern club who had disbanded due to financial problems. He led efforts to reconstitute the club which was then able to rejoin the league the following season. Without his work it is unlikely that the club would exist today.
Trevor Foster, has been included in Bradford's; 'Millennium Masters', 'Bull Masters', and in August 2007 he was named in the 'Team of the Century'. Only six players have been included in all three lists, they are; Karl Fairbank, Trevor Foster, James Lowes, Keith Mumby, Robbie Paul and Ernest Ward.
^ ab"inside programme, Northern Command v. A Rugby League XIII, 1942". rugbyleagueoralhistory.co.uk. 31 December 2010. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2011. Cite error: The named reference "inside programme, Northern Command v. A Rugby League XIII, 1942" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
^"Trevor Foster". The Telegraph. 20 May 2005. Retrieved 24 January 2014.