Bradford – Total Rugby League

Our journey around villages, towns and cities that have rugby league running through their veins ends up in Bradford.

TALK about highs and lows…

From world titles, league championships – including the first game – and huge crowds to football transfers, relegations, a relegation to the third tier and even a move from the neighborhood, when it comes to rugby league, Bradford has experienced a lot. .

The complex sporting story of ‘Woolopolis’, the nickname reflecting the textile industry’s influence on the city’s growth, could arguably fill an entire book.

But we will try to distill it into two pages that tell what is essentially the story of three clubs, although there have been a number of versions of each.

We’re talking Bradford FC/RFC/Park Avenue, Manningham/Bradford City and Bradford Northern/Bulls – and let’s start with the former.

Bradford FC was founded in 1863, becoming Bradford RFC three years later and played at a variety of grounds until merging with the newly formed Bradford Cricket, Athletic and Football Club and setting up at the new Park Avenue Sports Complex. Southwest of the city center.

Rugby was first played there in 1880 and as the ground, which also hosted county cricket, grew, so did the crowds, with around 20,000 watching Bradford take on city rivals Manningham in -a Yorkshire Cup tie in 1884, when the former won the competition, beating Hull in the final.

Manningham, north-west of the city centre, had been formed in the 1870s (there are various theories as to exactly which year) and, like Bradford, were nomadic in their beginnings before building their own Valley Parade ground, who opened in 1886, a year after the club reached the final of the Yorkshire Cup (they were beaten by Batley).

In 1895 both clubs were among the 22 founding members of the Northern Union and Manningham in particular quickly made their mark by winning the first Northern Rugby League title, finishing one point above Halifax (Bradford were eleventh ).

However, the club then went into decline and in 1903 switched to football, becoming Bradford City and with the round ball authorities keen to gain a place in the city, they were elected to the Football League before to play a match

Bradford had become one of rugby league’s strongest sides, winning three titles between 1899–1900 and 1903–04 and the Challenge Cup (at the expense of Salford) in 1905–06.

But finances were under pressure and seeing how Bradford City had adapted to football and the attendance power of that game, Bradford himself made the switch in 1907.

And after a season playing in the Southern League as Bradford Park Avenue, they joined City – with whom a merger was mooted but failed – in the Football League for the 1908-09 season.

The move was highly controversial however, becoming known locally as “The Great Betrayal”, and a disgruntled group of supporters who wanted to remain in rugby league soon formed a club, Bradford Northern, to do just that.

It meant finding a new place to play, for 1907-08, Greenfield, a trotting and athletic arena south of the city center that later hosted greyhound and speedway racing.

After one season (which included a match win against the New Zealand tourists), Northern made a relatively short move to another rugby ground, Birch Lane.

Although developed to some extent, the venue remained rudimentary (Valley Parade was hired for big games) and in 1934 the club moved again a few miles away.

This time it was at the much larger Odsal, a former quarry used for the disposal of waste, much of which was used to form the banks of the natural basin which at one time was the largest land in England outside Wembley.

Of course, the stadium will always be known for hosting an official crowd of 102,569 for the 1953-54 Challenge Cup final replay in which Warrington beat Halifax, with some suggesting the actual gate was more like 120,000.

It was a world record for a rugby league match until 107,558 attended the 1999 Australian Grand Final at Sydney’s Olympic (now Accor) Stadium.

Regularly used for international competitions and as a neutral venue for big matches until the 1980s, Odsal also hosted a crowd of 83,190 for the 1959-60 Championship final in which Wigan beat Wakefield Trinity.

Seven seasons before that, as spectators flocked to sporting events of all kinds as the country returned to normalcy following the Second World War (during which Northern had great results) , there were 69,429 in attendance for the club’s Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat by 1952. -53 competition winners Huddersfield.

What a contrast to 1963-64, when amid major financial problems and a dramatic decline in the game’s fortunes, attendances dipped into triple figures, with just 324 against Barrow, and Northern folded midway through the season.

In 1974, Bradford Park Avenue, who had been voted out of the Football League four years earlier, also went into liquidation (the current version of that club was founded in 1988).

After a campaign led by former player Trevor Foster, Northern were relaunched in time for the 1964-65 season and went on to win back-to-back titles in 1979-80 and 1980-81 under Peter Fox.

The arrival of summer rugby in 1996 saw the name change to Bradford Bulls and the way the club operated with the Super League concept, with an advanced promotion policy and Success on the field bringing fans who flock to be part of the fun.

With Australian Matthew Elliot, then former player Brian Noble at the helm, the Bulls won four titles, three Challenge Cups and three World Club Challenges between 1997 and 2006, two years of which were spent playing at Valley Parade while working at home was in progress. .

It may have been upgraded, but Odsal’s sheer size in terms of maintenance and the cost of potential redevelopment have in more recent times been among the many problems for the Bulls, who after going into administration for a third time at the end of 2016 , were liquidated. in early 2017.

Another new version of the club moved into League One for the 2018 season (top-flight status was lost in 2014) and while a Championship place was reclaimed at the first opportunity, rising maintenance costs led to a pitch at Dewsbury Rams between August 2019 and May 2021.

Now back at Odsal, the Bulls are working to regain a place in the Super League under the IMG club classification system.

First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 497 (June 2024)

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