FORMER Super League star Leon Pryce has offered out MP Lee Anderson to a charity boxing match after the latter made degrading comments about Pryce’s hometown of Bradford.
Anderson, MP for Ashfield since 2019, was speaking at a fringe event at the recent Conservative Party conference where the scrapping of northern links to HS2 was on the agenda.
After discussing the issue with Anand Menon from King’s College London and the idea that it would make transport between Bradford and Leeds quicker, Anderson retorted to the audience: “Is anybody from Bradford here, would you want to get there quicker?”
The room responded with laughter before Anderson further quipped: “That will be on the front of The Guardian tomorrow, by the way.”
Since then, the backlash against Anderson has been enormous, with former Bradford Bulls and St Helens star Pryce taking to X to make his feelings well known.
After watching the video, Pryce responded: “As a Bradfordian, I’d like to offer Lee Anderson a charity boxing match. All proceeds to a charity of his choice. Let’s make this happen Twitter.”
As a Bradfordian I’d like to offer Lee Anderson a charity boxing match. All proceeds to a charity of his choice. Let’s make this happen twitter https://t.co/vnD3eBbjb6
— Leon Pryce (@leonpryce6) October 4, 2023
The joke was branded by one attendee from Sheffield as “a cheap shot” before Anderson turned to focus on emphasising the need to improve local bus networks: “I just cannot believe in this day and age that some people are so intent on fitting in a high speed railway, the length and breadth of the country, digging everywhere, kicking people out of their houses.
“People can’t get from one village to another on a bus. If everybody could get to that, from one village to another on a bus, I’d have no arguments at all. I’d say fine, go for it. It’s about being fair.”
The whole rugby league fraternity would certainly be behind Pryce!
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