Karl Fairbank

Karl Fairbank is a former Rugby league player for Bradford Northern in the 1990s. He is Now a Coach at Halifax RLFC.

Karl Fairbank epitomised the Bradford club probably more than any other of his contemporaries. To a lot of fans he epitomised the fighting spirit so often associated with the great Bradford packs over the years. Karl gave his all for the club for over 10 years after signing for the Northern from Elland ARLFC.

The Fairbanks were a proud rugby family. Karl's brothers all played, John at Leeds and Oldham and Dick at Halifax and Karl's father, Jack was a legend who played in the first Leeds side to win the Championship in 1961. Karl signed for Bradford in August 1996 and quickly established himself in the Northern pack of the time. Originally a second row forward he later played at Prop where he represented his country.

He played for Gt. Britain 16 times after making his debut against Papua New Guinea in 1987 the year after he made his debut for the club. His honours at Bradford were few for a player of his stature and a couple of Yorkshire Cup winner's medals were scant reward for the efforts that he put in over the years.

When Super League, Summer Rugby and the Bulls were born Karl was coming to the end of his career but he still had a lot left in the tank and achieved one of his ambitions by appearing at Wembley in 1996 before retiring at the end of that season to concentrate on his farm.

He has not been forgotten at Odsal and on many occasions when things haven't been going well on the field the words ' what we need is another Karl Fairbank' have echoed around the vast arena. Of course there could be another Karl Fairbank because his son jack fairbank is a promising player.

The Fairbank Suite in the Touchdown Restaurant was named in Karl's honour but perhaps the ultimate tribute was the decision to 'retire' the number 21 shirt, which Karl wore with such distinction. He was always proud to wear a Bradford shirt and the club were proud of him. He is a legend at the club and rightly so for he gave everything in every game he played.

Taken from the [http://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/bb_stampede_full.asp?stampedeid=28 Bulls Website] In August 2007 he was named Bradford's team of the Century.