History
Bull Masters - Terry Price
John Downes looks back at the career of one of Bradford Northern's greatest players, Welshman Terry Price.
The first time I saw Terry Price play was for Llanelly Grammar School in the Llanelly Schools Seven a side Tournament at Stradey Park. He was the new 'Golden Boy' of Welsh Rugby Union, having been picked for the full Welsh R.U. side while still at school, and a group of us were 'giving him the bird'. Little did I know that only a matter of two years later I would be standing on the terrace at Odsal marvelling at the talents of one of the best kickers of either code since the war.
Terry signed for Northern on 26th July 1967 for a then club record fee of £8000 and such was the reputation of the player that crowds of 700 to 800 turned up just to watch him train. His mere presence on the field captured the fan's imagination to the extent that the crowds on match days soared by some 1,500 to 2,000 per game on average compared to those before his arrival.
In the four seasons spent with Bradford Northern he kicked a total of 384 goals and scored 25 tries for a total of 843 points. He could kick goals from anywhere in the opponent's half of the field and could punt the ball to touch from a penalty consistently over 50 metres or more when needed. Terry's ability as a kicker was obvious for all to see but he was more than just a kicking machine. He was one of those footballers who could appear to be lazy but in reality always had time to display his creative skills because he had a great combination of vision and natural ball skills.
Terry left the club in August 1971 after weeks of secret negotiations, which the Bradford public knew nothing about. He had decided that he wanted to change sports again and agreed to move to America and try his luck at their code of American Football, signing on as a goal kicker for the Buffalo Bills. So after just four years as a Rugby League player with Bradford Northern Terry left the club as he had joined them, in a blaze of headlines in the media about a dramatic change of sport once more.
Tragically Terry was killed in the early 1990's in a road accident whilst helping another motorist whose car had broken down.