add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
Bradford Yoga classes, Bradford Yoga studio, Bradford yoga teacher -... yogadirectorycanada.com | Dentists Bradford: Dental Implants Bradford, Cosmetic Dentist Bradford freshsmileclinic.co.uk | Restorative Dentist Leeds Bradford dental implant expert... mydentalspecialist.co.uk |
Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It has been one of the major success stories of the Super League era, with the 2003 season being its best where the club successfully won all of the major rugby league honours, (Challenge Cup, Super League Championship, World Club Championship, and Minor Premier). The team jersey is white with red, black and amber hoops. The club plays its home games at Grattan Stadium (formerly called Odsal Stadium) which is located to the south of the city centre. Bradford's main rivalry at present is with the Leeds Rhinos, although their traditional derby is with Halifax RLFC and they have a lesser rivalry with the Huddersfield Giants.
[edit] HistoryFurther information: History of the Bradford Bulls [edit] Bradford FC: 1863-1907The original Bradford Football Club was formed in 1863 and played rugby football, subsequently joining the Rugby Football Union. Park Avenue was established as the home ground in 1880 and the club achieved its first major success by winning the Yorkshire Cup in 1884. In 1895, along with cross-town neighbours Manningham FC, Bradford was among 22 clubs to secede from the Rugby Football Union after the historic meeting at the George Hotel in Huddersfield in response to a dispute over "broken time" payments to players who were thus part-time professionals. These 22 clubs formed the Northern Rugby Union, which eventually became the Rugby Football League. Bradford enjoyed some success in the Northern Union. In 1903-04, the team finished level on points with Salford at the top of the league and then won the resulting play-off 5-0. In 1905-06, Bradford beat Salford 5-0 to win the Challenge Cup and were runners up in the Championship. In 1906-07, Bradford won the Yorkshire Cup 8-5 against Hull Kingston Rovers. Meanwhile, Manningham had run into financial difficulties and, despite a summer archery contest that generated enough money to ensure their survival, its members were persuaded to swap codes and play association football instead. Manningham was invited to join the Football League in 1903, in an attempt to promote football in a rugby-dominated region, and the newly renamed Bradford City A.F.C. was voted into full membership of the Second Division without having played a game of football, having a complete team or even being able to guarantee a ground. The creation of Bradford City led to demands for association football at Park Avenue too. The ground had already hosted some football matches including one in the 1880s between Blackburn Rovers and Blackburn Olympic F.C.. In 1895, a Bradford side had beaten a team from Moss Side, Manchester, by 4-1 in front of 3,000 spectators. With becoming successful at Bradford City, a meeting was called of the Bradford FC members on April 15 1907 to decide the rugby club's future. An initial vote appeared to favour continuing in the Northern Union, but then opinion shifted towards rugby union and the Chairman, Mr Briggs, used his influence to swing the committee behind the proposed move to association football. This act, sometimes referred to as "The Great Betrayal", led to Bradford FC becoming the Bradford Park Avenue association football club. The minority faction decided to split and form a new Northern Union club, appropriately called Bradford Northern, which applied for and was granted Bradford FC's place in the Northern Union for the 1907-08 season. Bradford Northern's first home ground was the Greenfield Athletic stadium in Dudley Hill, to the south of the city. [edit] Bradford Northern: 1907-1963Northern moved to Birch Lane in 1908. Bradford council offered the club a site for a new stadium between Rooley Lane and Mayo Avenue in 1927. However the RFL said the site was too small and the club kept on looking. Before moving to Odsal, Northern had had two other homes at Greenfield Athletic Ground in Dudley Hill and at Birch Lane which was part of the Bowling Old Lane cricket ground, although at times they also had to hire Valley Parade as the capacity at Birch Lane was insufficient for large matches. On 20 June 1933 Bradford Northern signed a ten-year lease with Bradford council for a former quarry being used as a waste dump at Odsal Top. It was turned into the biggest stadium outside Wembley. The Bradford Northern team played its first match there on 1 September 1934. Success came in the 1940s with a number of cup wins: the Yorkshire cup in 1940-1, 1942-3, 1944-5, 1945-6, 1948-9 and 1949-50; and the Challenge cup 1943-4, 1946-7 and 1948-9. In the championship Bradford found it difficult to win either before the war or after despite being runners up in 1942-3 and 1947-8. On Saturday 3 November 1945, Bradford Northern met Wakefield Trinity in the final of the Yorkshire Cup held at Thrum Hall, Halifax. Wakefield began the match as favourites, they had lost only one of thirteen matches thus far in the season. However, Bradford won 5-2 and lifted the Yorkshire Cup for the fourth time in six seasons. Bradford defeated Leeds 8-4 to win the Challenge Cup at Wembley in 1947. The 1947-8 Challenge Cup final was notable as it was the first rugby league match to be attended by the reigning monarch, King George VI, who presented the trophy. It was also the first televised rugby league match as it was broadcast to the Midlands. Unfortunately Bradford lost 8-3 to Wigan. The 1949 Challenge Cup final was sold out for first time as 95,050 spectators saw Bradford beat Halifax. In 1951-2 Bradford were runners up in the league but beat New Zealand at Odsal in the first floodlit football match of any code in the North of England. In 1953, a crowd of 69,429 watched Bradford play Huddersfield in the Challenge Cup third round. This was Northern’s highest ever attendance. Northern also won the Yorkshire Cup final 7-2 against Hull. Bradford Northern and Leigh were the first rugby league clubs to stage matches on a Sunday in December 1954, although there was opposition from the Sunday Observance lobby. Bradford Northern's support declined rapidly in the 1963 season, attracting a record low crowd of 324 against Barrow. Northern went out of business on 10 December 1963 having played just 13 matches; winning 1 and losing 12, scoring 109 points and conceding 284. [edit] 1964-1995A meeting on the 14th of April 1964 saw 1,500 people turn out to discuss the formation of a new club, and those present promised a £1000 to help get plans for the new organisation underway. Amongst those who led proceedings were former players Joe Phillips and Trevor Foster. On 20 July 1964, Bradford Northern (1964) Ltd came into existence. The club’s new side had been built for around £15,000 and had Jack Wilkinson as coach. On 22 August 1964, Hull Kingston Rovers provided the opposition in the reformed club’s first match and 14,500 spectators turned out to show their support, as Odsal hosted its first 10,000 plus gate for a Bradford Northern match since 1957. The reformed club won its first cup in 1965-66 by beating Hunslet 17-8 in the final of the Yorkshire Cup. In 1972-3 Bradford lost the Challenge Cup final against Featherstone 33-14. In 1973-4 Bradford won the Second Division Championship and were promoted back to the First Division. During this season Keith Mumby made his début, becoming the Bradford's youngest player at only 16 years of age, scoring 12 goals and a try in a match against Doncaster. He went on to make a record 576 appearances for the club. In 1974-75 Bradford won the Regal Trophy 3-2 against Widnes. Peter Fox joined Bradford as coach for the first time in 1977-78. Bradford won the Premiership final 17-8 against Widnes and were also Championship runners-up. In 1978-79 Bradford appeared in another Premiership final this time losing 24-2 to Leeds. A year later Bradford won the Championship and Regal Trophy, Peter Fox winning the award for Coach of the Year. In 1980-81 the club made it back-to-back championships. In 1981-82, Bradford lost the Yorkshire Cup final 10-5 against Castleford and lost again in 1982-83, this time 18-7 against Hull. Keith Mumby won the award for First Division Player of the Year while Brian Noble won the Young Player award. In 1985 Ellery Hanley left Northern to join Wigan for a then record transfer deal, worth £80,000 and a player exchange involving Steve Donlan and Phil Ford. In 1987-8 Bradford won the Yorkshire Cup final replay against Castleford 11-2 after drawing 12-12. Ron Willey coached Bradford Northern for a short stint in 1989/90 and led them to the Premiership final and success in the Yorkshire Cup final when they beat Featherstone 20-14. David Hobbs became coach at Northern in 1990 until he left for Wakefield Trinity in 1994. Bradford lost the Regal Trophy against Warrington 12-2 in 1990-91. Peter Fox returned to Bradford for a second spell as coach in 1991, and in 1993-4 the last Championship before Super League, Bradford finished as runners-up behind Wigan on points difference. Fox left the club in 1995. [edit] Super League: 1996-presentBradford Bulls became very successful in the Super League, they have won the title in 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2005, the Challenge Cup in 2000 and 2003 and the World Club Challenge in 2002, 2004 and 2006. For more details on this topic, see Bradford Bulls Super League History. [edit] Season Summaries[edit] Statistics and recordsMain article: Bradford Bulls statistics [edit] StadiumFor more details on this topic, see Odsal Stadium. Odsal Stadium is a stadium situated in Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The venue is used for rugby league and has been the home ground of Bradford Bulls since 1934. The official name of the stadium is currently "Grattan Stadium" due to corporate sponsorship. Odsal has also hosted many other sports, including association football, speedway, stock car racing, basketball featuring the Harlem Globetrotters, wrestling, show jumping and kabaddi. The stadium boasts one of the largest attendances of all time for rugby league (102,569) when Halifax played Warrington on the 5th of May, 1954. [edit] Former Bradford Bulls PlayersFor more details on this topic, see Former Bradford Bulls Players. [edit] 2010 SquadFor more details on this topic, see Bradford Bulls 2010.
[edit] 2010 Transfers In/OutIn
Out
[edit] 2010 Fixtures and ResultsFor more details on this topic, see Bradford Bulls 2010. [edit] Sponsorship
[edit] Kit Suplier
[edit] CaptainsFrom 1996 -
[edit] Coaching RegisterFor more details on coaches, see Bradford Bulls coaches. [edit] Famous Fans
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
