Morecambe

The Manningham Mills Strike, which began one cold December day 108 years ago, had quite an impact on our predecessors Manningham Rugby Club. Financially the club was hit by a reduction in attendances and socially as many of club officials and players actively supported the strike.
The era saw a general rise in trade unionism, but locally, it had been slow to take hold, partially because during the boom years of the 1870s mill owners had been paternalistic, but with trade slowing, they were no longer willing to subsidise the local church, brass band, mechanics institute or cricket team. Also, the majority of textile workers tended to be women engaged in what was termed as unskilled work. In 1885 65,000 females were employed in Bradford’s mills, compared to 30,000 men.
However, when on 9 December 1890 wage cuts of 25% were announced at Manningham Mills, it sparked a dispute that was to change the face of industrial relations in Bradford and beyond. The cuts came in response to American trade tariffs. The reductions were to be implemented at Christmas. Five thousand workers walked out in protest. In a letter to the Bradford Observer mill owner Samuel Cunliffe Lister said the cuts were fair. He claimed that whatever the level of wages: ‘The women spend their money on dress and the men in drink’. A response in the Observer said: ‘In Mr Lister’s eyes, probably the spending of an extra shilling a week on dress and drink represent the acme of short-sighted and foolish self-indulgence, and the purchase of big estates seems the perfection of far-sighted thrift and philanthropy’. The average wage at the mill was 70p a week, Lister himself was estimated to be worth around £6m and had spent £750,000 on two landed estates in North Yorkshire.
Forty policemen would be on duty to keep strikers and workers apart during shift changes. Despite the police presence strike breakers were assaulted on a regular basis, sometimes a fair distance from the mill itself. Windows were broken in several homes where strike breakers were lodging. Eventually, one hundred and fifty beds were set up in the mill so the workers didn’t have to run the gauntlet of the pickets. However, given that 5,000 workers were on strike, a couple of hundred people working was nothing more than a token gesture.
A food depot helped to feed and clothe striking families. Local butchers donated meat and Dr Smith of Lumb Lane waived his fees when treating strikers who fell ill. A strike fund attracted donations from all over the north. A fund raising rugby match between Manningham & District and the Yorkshire Nomads was played at Valley Parade on 19 January. Appearing where the Manningham’s trio Firth, Hardaker and Redman. Over 1,000 spectators boosted the fund by £24. The Fattorini family, Manningham residents and well-known jewellers, also made a donation of £2 2s to the fund. Tony Fattorini had been involved with the junior Manningham Rangers club and joined the Valley Parade committee during 1891, the start of a long and fruitful relationship with Manningham and later Bradford City.
By April 1891 the authorities were trying to prevent rallies and public meetings taking place in the city centre. A weekly meeting was held every Thursday at the Star Music Hall, but they were halted when the Chief Constable threatened to withdraw the licence from the Star unless the striker pledged not to hold city centre meetings on Sundays. Those meetings attracted huge crowds and the police claimed that fire exits had been blocked at St Georges Hall and blasphemous language had been used at an open air meeting in Forster Square. The Chief Constable’s actions escalated the dispute into a battle for free speech.
In defiance of the ban 20,000 gathered in the city centre on 13 April. When the police broke up the meeting fighting left the Chief Constable injured and only the intervention of troops from Bradford Moor barracks disbursed the crowds. The following night mounted police cleared the square outside the Town Hall, but the police were beaten back and once again the troops were called in. The Chief Constable read the riot act outside the New Inn at the bottom of Thornton Road. One hundred and six men of the Durham Light Infantry fixed bayonets and charged the crowd. The police backed them up with repeated baton charges.
Almost overlooked during the dramatic confrontations was the fact that the strikers were slowly being starved into submission. The harsh winter had played its part in sapping morale and over 200 strikers had emigrated to the USA. After nineteen weeks the spinning hands gathered at the Valley Parade Skating Rink and voted to return to work. The strike crumbled, but in its wake the Independent Labour Party was formed, an organisation that evolved into today’s Labour Party.
The bitterness of the strike lasted for years. Among the ranks of the police who baton charged the strikers were three of Bradford’s international players acting as special constables. Also in the police line was Joe Hawcridge, one of the founders of the Manningham club, one can only guess at his feelings as he waited to face a mob that would have contained many of his former friends and neighbours?

Chester

(This game ended in a goalless draw)
The museum recently hosted a history workshop involving students from the nearby Challenge College. It marks our first step towards a greater goal of an oral history project capturing the changing life in the shadow of Valley Parade over the last century.
On Thursday 27 November GCSE students from Challenge College visited the club to take part in an oral history workshop. For many of the students it was their first visit to Valley Parade, despite living in Manningham and Frizinghall. Ian Ormondroyd’s Football in the Community scheme gave them a ground tour; then we gave them a conducted tour of the museum. The day was rounded off with a discussion of some of the issues raised by their trip.
The day was resounding success and was enjoyed by both the students, museum volunteers and Supporters Trust members. The discussion part of the day was an eye opener for all concerned. The boys were the most animated during the museum tour, but the girls asked the majority of the questions during the discussion.
Alan Carling, chair of the Supporters Trust, presented the school with a copy of David Markham’s book ‘The Bradford City Story’. The book is now in the school library and will no doubt it will be a popular item.
Thanks are due to John Ashton, Alan Carling, Paula Helliwell and Mike Thompson for giving up their time to help make the day a great success. The feedback from the pupils was excellent with 100% saying they enjoyed the day. The event also helped the build firmer foundations between the museum, Supporters Trust and Football in the Community.
All in all, it was a positive first step towards our evolving goal for an oral history project which will look at the experiences - and changing face - of the communities that have lived in the shadow of Valley Parade over the last century. The area around the ground has seen huge changes, especially in the last fifty years. Deindustrialisation and demographic change being the main themes. We’ve seen people form all over the world live alongside Valley Parade – from Estonian’s to Bangladeshi’s, Caribbean’s to Irish. Not forgetting of course the British people who established Manningham as an industrial, working class and even upper class suburb of the city.
It will be a huge, but fascinating project. We will need volunteers to undertake research and interviews. We need to find people who live, or used to live, in the shadow of the ground to capture their memories. If you are interested in becoming part of the project, or know someone who used to live near the ground, please get in touch with myself at davidpendleton1@googlemail.com or call in at the museum before any match.

Changing Priorities; the FA Cup Today and Yesterday

This article by David Pendleton originally appeared in the programme for the league game against Dagenham and Redbridge on Saturday December 6th 2008.

Your team is top of the Premier League, but with the FA Cup on the horizon several top players are rested from vital league matches. Today, it’s unthinkable, but that is exactly what Bradford City did for several seasons in the years leading up to the Great War.
On 1 January 1910 City were sitting proudly on top of the First Division. The Bantams had scored twenty-five goals in just ten matches. New Years Day brought Manchester United to Valley Parade. Star striker Bob Whittingham had been playing for some weeks with a niggling ankle injury, so with the upcoming FA Cup tie in mind he was rested. The 25,000 crowd (incidentally over twice the size of the attendance at Old Trafford) had little to cheer as the two sides played out a tame contest on a mud bound pitch. City went down by two goals and it marked the start of a run of four league games when City failed to score. The sudden loss of form coincided with several injuries to key players.
The first round FA Cup tie against Notts County was switched to Valley Parade after City paid County £1,000. Fifty men were employed to clear snow off the pitch and then protect it with 50 tons of straw. Despite the fact that admission prices had been doubled, excursion trains ran into Bradford from Carlisle, Morecambe and Sheffield. R. Gregson, one of the England selectors, was at the match to run his eye over Bond, Lintott and Whittingham.
A muddy pitch spoiled the match and it wasn’t until County’s Cantrell was sent off that City found form. They scored twice within ten minutes of the dismissal to take control of the tie. Dickie Bond (pictured) did his England prospects no harm by scoring one of City’s four goals.
The second round brought with it heavy snowfall. The pitch was cleared, but this time all the loose slush and sand was removed. It was said to be as flat as a billiard table, albeit almost devoid of grass. With prices at near normal levels 28,000 witnessed the tie with Blackburn Rovers. It was a tight affair, but the Rovers forwards always had the edge. Though Frank O’Rourke scored for City, the home forwards rarely found the space they needed and were well marshalled all afternoon. City lost 2-1 and O’Rourke suffered a knee injury that was to keep him out for three weeks.
City ended the season in seventh place, respectable by any standards, but the fact that they had led the pack at the turn of the year, and had been in such fine form, caused one or two grumbles. However, the policy of resting players from league matches caused little or no comment.
The following season City would once again sacrifice their league position for cup glory. That year was 1911, when City won the FA Cup. The league title was at one point within their grasp, but the cup took precedence. Today we would sacrifice a cup run for promotion from the fourth tier of English football, how times change!

Chesterfield

Fixtures against Chesterfield go back to City’s first ever season as a Football League club. The inaugural meeting between the clubs ended with a 6-2 thrashing for City.
Though City were never in any danger of having to apply for re-election during their first season in the Football League. The heavy home defeat caused disquiet on the terraces. The Bradford Daily Argus noted a ‘more than usually large exodus of those who felt inclined for the solace of the Belle Vue’.
The 2,000 boys at the Bradford End of the ground gave Chesterfield a sarcastic loud cheer when they ran out for the second half – those already in the Belle Vue probably made the right decision.
In the return fixture at Saltergate the sides played out a dull 1-1 draw. The latter set the scene for matches between the clubs as a succession of draws and low scoring games were the norm. That is until City won a thrilling match 4-3 at Saltergate in March 1907. Manager Peter O’Rourke was by then building the side that would take the second division title by storm the following season.
The forward line ran riot from the opening game of the 1907/08 season. Chesterfield were routed 8-1 at Valley Parade. Three goals in the first thirty minutes convinced even the most sceptical of City followers that something special was afoot for that season. Allerton born Wally Smith bagged four goals, George Handley a brace, Frank O’Rourke and Jimmy McDonald completed the scoring.
It was no one off, 7-1 against Stoke, 6-2 against Wolves, 5-0 against Leeds and Stockport. The aggregate score against poor old Gainsborough Trinity was 11-1.
City scored ninety goals en route to the Second Division Championship. Wally Smith and Frank O’Rourke rattled up forty-one league goals between them. George Handley weighed in with sixteen and Jimmy McDonald thirteen. It was an astonishing performance and one almost unparalleled in the club’s history.
Of the four attackers Wally Smith is almost forgotten today. Yet he scored 59 goals in 120 appearances. However, he struggled to find the net in the first division and was transferred to Leicester Fosse in January 1909. He later played for Hull City, but had to retire through injury in 1912.
Smith died at his Worksop home aged only thirty-four in 1917. Contemporary reports suggest that he may have been suffering from a serious internal injury throughout his career. He received it when shoulder charging Northampton Town goalkeeper Fred Cook. Whether it was ultimately responsible for his untimely death is unknown. However, with a goal in every other game Wally Smith deserves to be remembered. After all, not many footballers get the chance to shoot their hometown club into the top flight of English football.

Bury

With the nights drawing in, leaves falling from the trees and a chill in the air, we are into the football season proper. The sunny days of August and September are behind us, early season optimism is settling down and the spring, with its promotions and relegations, seems a long way off.
At least in this day and age we don’t have to worry too much about the pitches as winter approaches. As recently as the 1980’s the style of play would be altered by inches of mud.
A good illustration of the conditions that had to be endured came during a First Division match between City and Bury in early 1910. The pitch was apparently almost totally devoid of grass and frozen solid. The forwards found it difficult to keep their footing on the treacherous pitch. Chances were few and far between and, with defenders able to quickly close down the naturally cautious forwards, a goalless draw was inevitable. The only real entertainment came when the ball became stuck in a trombone that was inexplicably lying alongside the pitch.
The game was a complete contrast to the goal feast the two sides had served up at Gigg Lane earlier in the season. Bury took the lead, but City soon equalised. Bury went 2-1 up, but back came City with another equaliser. Then Frank O’Rourke turned quickly in the box and fired City into the lead for the first time in the match. The home side made it 3-3, which set up a frantic finish as both sides went all out for the victory.
Fine minutes from time City’s big money signing, striker Bob Whittingham, set off on a zigzagging run towards goal. The ball was glued to his foot as he ghosted past several defenders and then unleashed an unstoppable shot that gave City a 4-3 victory. The press described Whittingham’s winner as one of the finest ever scored by a City player.
The 1909/10 season saw City finish in a respectable seventh position. Given that they had escaped relegation on the final match of the previous season, seventh place in the top division was a fabulous effort. However, there had been some disquiet on the terraces. City had been top of the table on New Years Day 1910, but a spate of injuries disrupted the side throughout the remainder of the campaign.
One extreme example of City’s misfortunes came when they visited bottom of the league Bolton Wanderers. A goalless draw at a relegation haunted club might not seem much to crow about, but City had to play the final fifteen minutes with nine men and two of those were nursing serious injuries. So in effect it was seven against eleven! In those days substitutions weren’t allowed, so teams had to struggle on.
The carnage at Burnden Park included George Robinson playing on with blood gushing down his face after a clash of heads. He did briefly retire to receive stitches at the side of the pitch. No sooner was the last stitch put in place, Robinson was back in the fray. City’s England international Evelyn Lintott was so seriously injured that the game was stopped. Lintott later commented that it was the first time he had known a game to be halted for an injury in his sixteen-year career. Lintott played on and was at the heart of the gallant stand in the closing stages of the game.
The injury was to have serious consequences for Lintott. He was sidelined for over six months and didn’t return until early 1911. By that time the team that was to win the FA Cup had been brought together and Lintott struggled to get back in the side. Prior to his injury he had been one of the first names on the team sheet, indeed he had been captain and his passing was at the heart of everything the side did. Into his shoes stepped Jimmy Speirs – the man who was destined to score the goal that would win the cup for City.
Lintott’s heroics at Bolton arguably cost him a place in the FA Cup winning side of 1911. That was some price to pay, but not as great as the sacrifice both Lintott and Speirs made in the Great War – as both men were killed in action.

Luton Town

The return of home fans to the Bradford End of the ground has undoubtedly improved the atmosphere in the ground. Today it is the TL Dallas Stand, but to many it will remain the ‘Shed’ or ‘Bradford End’.
Though corporate sponsorship is now an essential part of every clubs income, the frequent re-brandings can cause confusion. A national newspaper journalist once rang me requesting directions to the Bradford and Bingley Stadium and asked why we had left Valley Parade.
Of course, traditions have to start somewhere. The Carlsberg Stand is still known universally as the Kop. Almost exactly 100 years ago the Bradford Daily Argus began calling the terrace the ‘Spion Kop’. Until that point it had been known as ‘Nunn Kop’ after its creator, City director John Nunn.
Nunn had commenced work in 1906 when he persuaded several companies to use the plateau at the top of the terrace as a free tip for ashes. Tipping continued for several months at a rate of 40 loads a day. Nunn’s Kop was finally completed in February 1907, when some 16,000 loads of rubbish and ashes had been tipped.
The complete rebuilding of Valley Parade in readiness for top-flight football in the summer of 1908 saw the Nunn Kop receive the latest concrete terracing. Probably because it was now one of the biggest and best terraces in the country, it was given the title ‘Spion Kop’ which it retained for the best part of eighty years.
The name Spion Kop hailed from the South African hill where a large number of northern troops had died during the Boer War. The odd name hails from the Dutch language, Spion is ‘spy’ or ‘look out’ and kop means ‘hill’.
Though the British actually won the battle of Spion Kop, they suffered such heavy casualties that the order was given to withdraw. After so much blood had been spilt, it caused a huge controversy, so much so that the Government of the day nearly fell.
The event was still fresh in the collective memory when it came to naming the many large terraces being built across the north of England and beyond. Whether the name was inspired by respect for the dead, or contempt for the General’s who ordered the retreat, is a moot question.
Today, the word Kop has entered modern language as an automatic reference to football terraces, whilst the battle itself is largely forgotten.

Bournemouth

Once of a day every schoolboy used to pride himself in being able to recite the name of every Football League ground and all ninety-two club nicknames. It was of no consequence if you didn’t know whether Wellington was a famous general, a bomber or an item of footwear. However, if you didn’t know who played at Brunton Park, or know whom the Railwaymen were, your standing among your mates would plummet.
As soon as Manningham rugby club moved to Valley Parade in 1886 they were known as ‘the Paraders’. A nickname that continued when Manningham became Bradford City in 1903.
Though there have been other short-lived nicknames, the adoption of the ‘Bantams’ in 1908 stuck and, apart from occasional reversions to the Paraders, it has been City’s nickname ever since.
The reason why City were nicknamed the Bantams was lost in the mists of time. Some thought it was because a groundsman used to keep chickens under the main stand, others that City’s FA Cup winning team of 1911 contained so many small, but burly, Scotsmen that the name represented the fighting spirit of that team.
I was recently scanning through some old newspapers at the Central Library when I came across a report that gave the reason for the adoption of the Bantams nickname.
Apparently, City used to have a lucky silver horseshoe that they hung in their train carriage when on their travels. It had been with them when they won the Second Division championship in April 1908.
As we well know from recent experience, life for a newly promoted club in the top flight of English football can be tough in the extreme. By November 1908 City were firmly rooted to the bottom of the First Division. The free-scoring forwards of the championship season couldn’t buy a goal and there was a real fear City would be as good as relegated early in the New Year.
To add to their woes the lucky horseshoe had been lost. Up stepped the daughter of City director Tony Fattorini, whose company incidentally made the current FA Cup and Rugby League Challenge Cup. She gave the club a new mascot on the eve of their home match against league leaders Everton. The mascot was real live bantam. Its body was claret with an amber yolk, which matched the new shirt the club had adopted at the start of the season. The little bird even had white legs, the same colour as the player’s shorts.
As the Bradford Daily Argus commented: "Newcastle United have their magpie, Derby a ram, West Brom a throstle, Hull City a tiger and Leeds City a peacock. But now, Bradford City have a real live claret and amber bantam."
From that moment on City were known as the Bantams. It turned out to be a lucky omen. City saved their First Division lives with a dramatic last day victory over Manchester United at Valley Parade. The description of the tense scenes at that match reflect almost exactly those we witnessed on that unforgettable afternoon against Liverpool in May 2000, when David Wetherall’s header saved our Premiership status on that most dramatic of final day escapes.
One hundred years on, long after Miss Fattorini’s little bird has flown to that great hencoop in the sky, we are still the Bantams. Let’s hope the luck it brought a century ago remains with us through, what will hopefully be, a season that sets the club on the long road back to the summit of English football.

Notts County

Put those long lazy summer days behind you. The football season is back. The fixtures are in the diary and that age-old Saturday routine begins once more.
With Premier League teams jetting off to all corners of the globe, to fulfil fixtures that are focussed more on replica shirts sales rather than meaningful preparation, it was good to see City playing Bradford Park Avenue and our claret and amber cousins Motherwell.
The Bradford derbies have a rich history, one that raged across all four divisions of the Football League. Given that friendlies against Halifax, Huddersfield and Leeds are now non-starters, thanks to policing bills and the like, I would like to see the Avenue game expanded into a mini-Bradford Championship. Involving a City XI, Avenue, Eccleshill United and Thackley. We have the Tom Banks Trophy, formerly played for between City and Avenue, in the museum and we would be delighted to make it available as the Bradford Championship trophy.
Of course, the traditional curtain raiser used to be the West Riding Cup. It heralded the coming season with its optimism, fresh faces, newly painted grounds and lush green turf. Inevitably, that bright feeling of innocence was soon tainted as the season got underway. But, in the bright sunshine of late summer, the West Riding Cup seemed to epitomise the rebirth that every new campaign brings.
After near one hundred years of competition it died an almost unnoticed death in 1999. It had become a Cinderella competition. A glorified pre-season kick-about, barely tolerated by the clubs, often featuring disinterested or second string line-ups. A shame really, as the cup itself was huge and beautifully detailed. My theory is that the more obscure the competition, the larger the cup is likely to be. Anyone who has seen the Zenith Data Systems Cup will be with me on this one!
We’ve had a quiet summer in the museum. Our small band of volunteers have been getting on with their lives, so at present very little has changed.

M K Dons

With around 20,000 people visiting the museum this season, it would be fair to say that the move to our new home has been an unqualified success.
We are already planning for next season, opening with an exhibition featuring City programmes from 1903 to date. Also before the first league game of the season we will be hosting a City flag competition. Bring along your flags, large and small. The flags will be draped all over the museum and the most popular will win a modest prize.
The museum will have a presence at Thornton Local History Day on 28 June. The theme this year is sport and leisure, so we will be showing contracts and images from the life of City player and Thornton resident Donald Duckett. He played at Valley Parade between 1914-24, with majority of his 165 appearances being in the top flight of English football.
I would like to thank all the volunteers who have given their time so generously to the museum and café this season. In particular thanks are due to Leeds Metropolitan University, whose sponsorship pays the lease on the museum space.

Grimsby

It all began on a Tuesday evening overlooking the Humber in the fishing port of Grimsby. Fully, 105 years ago on 1 September 1903, the first ever Bradford City team ran out in their claret and amber shirts at the beginning of a journey that goes on to this day.
Despite the opening match being on a Tuesday evening, interest was high, with the Great Northern Railway running a three shilling excursion to Grimsby Docks and Cleethorpes. It left Bradford at 12.10pm, arriving at Grimsby Docks at 3.10pm, over two hours before kick off. Two hundred and fifty fans, including several former Manningham rugby players, travelled on the train.
At 5.30pm City kicked off their first ever game. Around 10,000 fans witnessed the game and they sportingly cheered the visitors when the ‘Manningham’ jerseys came onto the pitch. The infant City side had adopted the colours of their predecessors Manningham Rugby Club. Indeed, throughout the first season City played in Manningham’s claret and amber hooped shirts.
Grimsby had been relegated from the First Division the previous season, so they were hot favourites to beat the Football League’s newest team. However, City did most of the attacking, but chances were repeatedly wasted. Old habits died hard, during a spell of City pressure a cry of ‘nah Manningham’ was heard. It was a keen game, but Grimsby deservedly won 2-0.
Among that first ever line up was George Robinson. He was to remain at Valley Parade for nineteen years, making 377 appearances, including the 1911 FA Cup Final victory. Even after his retirement, he worked in a garage near the ground and was a supporter of the club until his death in 1945.
Prior to the MK Dons game, City Gent duo Mark Neale and Mike Harrison will be giving a presentation on the ‘nearly’ season of 1987/88. Mark has recently discovered several press photographs from that season, which will illustrate the talk. We are hopful that players from the season will be in attendance. The talk begins at 1.30pm.

Barnet

With only two homes games remaining, there’s not much time left to catch our exhibition about women’s football in Bradford. During the summer we are hoping that the exhibition will move to the home of Bradford City Women’s Football Club, Thackley AFC.
The women’s football club first team have one remaining Sunday fixture to play, when they entertain Scunthorpe on 27 April. Kick off is 2pm and admission is free. They also have two home fixtures against Curzon Ashton and Middlesbrough to arrange, keep an eye on the local press or www.bcwfc.co.uk for further details. The women’s football club recently won their section of the Valley Parade memorial tournament, when they defeated Bradford Park Avenue 3-1.
Joe Colbeck and Kyle Nix presented the trophies and even Stuart McCall managed to watch his son in action before making the trip to Rotherham. It was a successful tournament for City with the U14s thrashing Bradford Park Avenue 6-0 in their final. The U12s lost their final in extra time to Bradford’s twin town Hamm of Germany.
Players and officials from several of the clubs were at our home game with Chesterfield, where the Easter weekend was topped off with a home victory. Once again it was a magnificent effort from Carl Dalton and his team at Bradford Council’s Sport and Leisure department and the Prison Officers’ Association. In the museum we have on display the tournaments former trophies, which were retired to the museum last year following their replacement after twenty-one years of use.
Prior to the Grimsby game City fan Manny Dominguez will be giving a presentation on the campaign to bring back standing areas to English football grounds. The talk starts at 1.30pm and as usual admission is free.

Morecambe

Undoubtedly, the real success at Valley Parade this season has been off the field. With the crippling debts finally cleared and the stunning success of the season ticket offer there is, despite the erratic performances on the field, a good feel about the club.
The relocation of the museum above the club shop has been an unqualified triumph. In conjunction with the volunteer run café, the museum is rapidly becoming the place to be in the hours running up to kick off. It’s noticeable that fans have been arriving earlier and earlier as the season has progressed.
With our regular presentations, exhibitions and good value café, there’s plenty to see and do. If you are one of the few City fans who hasn’t visited us yet, come along before the end of the season. We are far from a dusty archive, more a vibrant Bantams community, doing our little bit to help improve Valley Parade.
Next season we are planning a programme exhibition, featuring every design produced over the last 105 years. We already have the majority of the designs produced, but not being experts in the field of programmes, we would gratefully welcome any help offered. Please drop into the museum before any home game and ask for myself. Or email davidpendleton1@googlemail.com
Prior to the Grimsby Town game Manny Dominguez will be giving a presentation on the campaign to bring back standing areas to English football grounds. The talk will commence at 1.30pm and as usual admission is free.

Mansfield Town

City’s FA Cup winning manager Peter O’Rourke shook the young goalkeeper by the hand. “In all the time you play football, you will not let as many goals in again”. In a wartime fixture City had just lost 9-1 at York.
Shipping nine goals was hardly the stuff of dreams for debutant keeper Ken Teasdale, but the warm words of O’Rourke went some way to tempering his disappointment. However, one month later Ken was between the sticks when City lost 10-0 at home to Bradford Park Avenue!
Ken Teasdale, one of the great characters of Bradford sport, recently passed away. Ken was Bradford City’s wartime goalkeeper, but will be best remembered by generations of local league players as a football referee and cricket umpire.
Ken played 71 games for City during World War Two. His debut in the nine-goal thrashing at York on 14 November 1942 warrants some explanation. York were one of the strongest wartime teams due to the close proximity of Catterick army barracks. Teams could field guest players and those who had service bases nearby often fielded several internationals.
City struggled to field a consistent team throughout the war as the majority of the players were scattered all over the world in the armed forces. However, results did improve and Ken retained his place until the end of the conflict when he returned to his job as a postman.
In 1996 Ken was one of Bradford City’s guests of honour when footage of wartime football was screened at Pictureville Cinema. He spoke fondly of his days at Valley Parade and caused much laughter with his story about letting nine goals in on his debut.
Ken was England’s longest serving and oldest football referee before he finally retired at the age of seventy-five. On the cricket field Ken was associated with the Bradford Central League as a wicket keeper, umpire and secretary between 1943-2007.
The thoughts of everyone at Valley Parade are with Ken’s family during this difficult time. Bradford has lost one of its truly remarkable sporting sons.

Dagenham & Redbridge

This afternoon we launched an exhibition on women’s football in Bradford. Fittingly, the players, friends and families of Bradford City Women’s Football Club are our guests at this afternoon’s match.
At halftime there will be a five-a-side match featuring the women’s football club. One of the aims of the museum’s exhibition is to strengthen the relationship with the women’s football club. I’m delighted to report that after several positive meetings, the ties between City and the women’s football club are now the best they have been for a decade.
Bradford City Women's Football Club was formed in 1988 and were founder members of the Yorkshire and Humberside League the following year. Promotion and good cup runs set a high standard in the first season.
The late nineties saw the women’s U16 team play at Wembley as a curtain raiser to City’s play-off triumph. With over 30,000 Bradfordians beneath the Twin Towers, it was a huge publicity boost for the women’s club.
The following year the first team were promoted to the Women’s Premier League. It put them up against many semi-professional teams. For two seasons City held their own against the likes of the Doncaster Belles, Arsenal and Everton.
Another link with the Valley Parade team came with Lorraine Kennedy’s appointment as manager of the women’s team. It was a remarkable double, as her father Bobby Kennedy was City’s manager between 1975-78. Bobby is still fondly remembered as the manager who took City to the FA Cup quarter final in 1976.
The women’s football club has teams playing at U12, 14 and16 levels. The first team plays at Thackley’s Ainsbury Avenue ground on Sunday afternoons. Admission is free of charge, so why not go along and offer your support?

Bury

Bradford City’s finest hour came in 1911 when we became the first winners of the current trophy. On display in the museum is the FA Cup Final ball and Jimmy Speirs winners’ medal.
The club’s ‘crown jewels’ recently travelled with the U-13 team for their tournament in Arizona. Mark Lawn and David Baldwin accompanied City’s youngsters. Apparently, David kept the 1911 ball on his lap all the way across the Atlantic!
The trip was a success on and off the field. City won the competition and the Americans were delighted to be able to see the ball and medal. Even the former England coach Steve McLaren, who was coaching at the tournament, joined the clamour to hold Speirs’ medal.
The forthcoming women’s football exhibition is on track for its 1 March opening. Last week Bradford City WFC chairperson Sally Chaplin and myself had a very positive meeting with David Baldwin. One of the aims of the exhibition is to bring the men’s and women’s clubs closer together, so it is pleasing to see that happening before the exhibition has even opened.
A roof-mounted projector will shortly be installed in the museum. In conjunction with a radio microphone and built in speakers, it will transform our pre-match presentations. The equipment comes courtesy of Leeds Metropolitan University. They are currently refurbishing a block of classrooms and the projector has become surplus to requirements. We would like to thank City fan John Lynch for sourcing the projector.
We have had the Telegraph & Argus that reported the fire disaster in 1985 reframed. The paper had been put in a second hand frame back in 2003 and to be honest it was a bit of a rough job. The new frame contains the entire paper. In effect it is a mini-time capsule and when it needs to be reframed in years to come someone will have a pleasant surprise.

Shrewsbury Town

Looking across towards the Midland Road during the Notts County game, I couldn’t help recalling the last time we met County in the league.
On a cold Tuesday night in March 1996, then chairman Geoffrey Richmond boldly announced the building of the very Midland Road stand I was looking at. It was ironic that its eventual capacity would have comfortably accommodated the sparse attendance that witnessed City’s single goal victory over the Magpies.
Barely eight weeks later over 30,000 Bradfordians travelled to Wembley to see City defeat Notts County in the play-off final. It was the beginning of a dramatic decade that saw promotion to the Premiership, the complete rebuilding of Valley Parade and our European debut. The flip side was unsustainable wages and the eventual financial collapse of the club. Benito Carbone’s £40,000 a week wages are even more astonishing when viewed from our current position.
Apart from the unforgettable memories, one positive we have from our Premiership sojourn is the support levels the club still enjoys. Despite three relegations and two financial collapses in six years, as long as the fans stay loyal to the club, we have every reason to remain positive.
Supporters will have the chance to peek into the museum archive prior to the Bury game on 9th February. Images from 1903-22 will be shown on the big screen.
The presentation will cover the golden age of Bradford City. From the formation of the club in 1903, promotion to the First Division in 1908 and FA Cup win of 1911.

Notts County

On 1 March Bradford City’s bantamspast museum will be launching an exhibition on women’s football in Bradford. It will feature the forgotten history of women’s football with five figure crowds in 1921, a fifty-year FA ban right through to the current Bradford City WFC.
The exhibition will be in three parts. Firstly, the golden age of women’s football in the 1920s. When matches against the Preston based Dick Kerr’s Ladies attracted crowds of up to 10,000 to Valley Parade. Two Bradford teams, Manningham Ladies from Lister’s Mill and Hey’s Ladies from the Bradford brewery, raised hundreds of pounds for charity during their matches against Dick Kerr’s.
The next part will focus on the current Bradford City Women’s Football Club and the re-emergence of the women’s game in the 1980s. The Football Association banned women’s football in 1921. The ban effectively killed the women’s game and it wasn’t lifted until 1971.
The game began a slow rebirth. In the late eighties after the Football in the Community scheme had trained girls from local schools, a Bradford City team was formed. The highlight thus far was two years in the Women’s Premier League. They current play home games on Sunday afternoons at Thackley AFC. We hope that the exhibition will help to forge a close relationship between the women’s football club and Bradford City.
The final part of the exhibition will be about women’s experiences of watching matches at Valley Parade. It’s incredible to think that before the rebuilding of the ground in 1986 there was only one women’s toilet in the whole ground. Indeed, in the 1950s women had to leave the ground to use a toilet in a nearby house! What a contrast to today’s facilities.
We need memories and experiences for the exhibition. Please call in at the museum before any home game and ask for David Pendleton. Alternatively, write c/o Bradford City AFC, Valley Parade, Bradford, BD8 7DY, or email dpen@blueyonder.co.uk