Bright Sodje

English rugby league footballer

Bright Sodje

Personal information

Full name

Bright Sodje

Born

(1966-04-21) 21 April 1966 (age 58)

Height

6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)

Playing information

Rugby league

Position

Wing

Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1990–94	Hull Kingston Rovers	?	37	0	0	148
1994	Wakefield Trinity	0	4	0	0	16
1994–99	Sheffield Eagles	44	83	0	0	332
2000–01	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats	16	4	0	0	16
2001	Hull Kingston Rovers	12	3	0	0	12
2005	Sheffield Eagles	10	3	0	0	12
	Total		134	0	0	536

Rugby union

Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
	Wakefield RFC	0	0	0	0	0

As of 22 May 2021

Bright Ojamohare Sodje (born 21 April 1966) is a retired dual-code rugby player, who played for rugby league clubs; the Wakefield Trinity (Wildcats), Hull Kingston Rovers, and the Sheffield Eagles in England as well as rugby union for Wakefield RFC.

Sodje's brothers, Sam, Efe, Akpo, Steve, and his nephew, Onome, have all played professional football in England.

Bright was a winger with a reputation for scoring tries, and noted for his aeroplane style celebration.

Financial Crisis at Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

In 2000, at the height of a financial crisis at Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, the contracts of all players aged over 24 were terminated during September 2000. The players affected were; Andy Fisher, Bobbie Goulding, Warren Jowitt, Tony Kemp (player-coach), Steve McNamara, Francis Maloney, Martin Masella, Steve Prescott, Bright Sodje, Francis Stephenson and Glen Tomlinson.^[1]

Personal life

In September 2017, Bright was sentenced to 21 months in prison for fraud, having – with his brothers Efe and Stephen – siphoned off money from a charity, the Sodje Sports Foundation.^[2]

His son, Tai, is a professional footballer, and currently plays for the academy team of Manchester City.^[3]

References

^ "Goodway calls for aid package". BBC Sport. 24 April 2001. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
^ "Efe, Bright and Stephen Sodje jailed for fraud last September, court reveals". Sky News. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
^ Bajkowski, Simon (23 March 2021). "'I think I've opened up to different ways of playing': Man City academy striker Tai Sodje is firing his way to goals target". manchestereveningnews.co.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2023.