Saturday 27 December 2008

Industrial Relations

The Manningham Mills strike that led to the formation of the Labour Party is a well-known tale. However, barely known is Manningham Rugby Club's role in the dispute. Of course, many of the supporters were employed at the Mill, so there was bound to be an economic impact on the Valley Parade club, but the club, and many of its high ranking officials, actively supported the strike.
The story of the strike and Manningham's role is told in the programme notes for the Morecambe game. Read it here first.

Friday 26 December 2008

Chester Programme Notes Added

A Happy Christmas from all at bantamspast. After a short delay, the programme notes for the home game against Chester on December 20th have now been added.

Tuesday 9 December 2008

In The Depths of Winter

The recent cold weather had us searching through our archive for pictures of winters past. This one comes from a collection given to us by the family of defender George Mulholland. It shows a City squad from the late 1950s having a laugh in the snow. Older supporters will recognise the location - behind the main stand looking towards Burlington Terrace.

Sunday 7 December 2008

Two New Images

Before the game yesterday, City director Bill Roper kindly donated two photographs to the museum. They are both from the 1970s and show some of the celebrations following promotion to Division Three (League 1 equivalent) of the Football League. The first one (left) is of a Civic Reception at City Hall. Pictured are: Ces Podd, Hughie Martinez, Tibor Szabo (front), Bill Roper, Roy Stead, Peter Hardcastle, Bernie Wright, Bob Martin, Frank Hillam (Lord Mayor), Bobby Kennedy, Rod Johnson, Trevor Davidson, Jack Tordoff (middle), John Dunne, John Napier, Ron Barrett, Steve Thompson, Dave Fretwell, Gary Watson, Joe Cooke, Don Hutchins, Alex Spark, Peter Downsborough and Terry Dolan (back).
The second was taken at an FA dinner in London at The Royal Lancaster Hotel. Pictured are Bill Roper, Bob Martin, John Garside, Rod Johnson, John Napier, Bernard Ellison, Bryan Edwards, Terry Newman and others.
thanks to David Markham for the names. If you know any of the missing ones, please drop us an email or comment.

Dagenham & Redbridge: Pre-Match Events

A particularly lively bantamspast museum before yesterday's match. More lively than on the pitch, some might have said, but let's not go there.
There was an award ceremony and nosh for the sports charity One in a Million, of which Wayne Jacobs is a trustee. He was there, along with a number of other former players including Mick Wood and Ian Ormondroyd. City Chief Executive David Baldwin also made an appearance.
Paul and Tom (pictured left) were there to film the event and interview those involved in the Bantams Community Project (including bantamspast) about their activities. The club is up for a Football in the Community Award and the DVD which Paul and Tom are producing will form part of the presentation to the judges.
Mark Neale and David Markham were also in the City Gent corner, signing copies of their respective books.

Friday 28 November 2008

Changing Priorities; the FA Cup Today and Yesterday

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!

Welcome Back The Front Room of Fame

This afternoon we have been busy beginning to reconstruct the famous Front Room of Fame! The rug's been put back down, the three-piece is in its old place and the sideboard with the ornaments has polished up a treat.

As well as the introductory page we have pages for war hero Evelyn Lintott and goal-ace Oscar Fox (pictured left). We'll be adding more pages over the coming days.

Wednesday 26 November 2008

City's First Game at Valley Parade, 1903



Found it!

Tram Ride from Forster Square, 1902


Some time in the future it would be wonderful to have this film, along with the one of City's first game, showing in our museum.

Monday 24 November 2008

Team Galleries Section Complete

Don't get excited … we still don't have an image for every season. But now all the team groups we had originally are back on display, hopefully in a more viewer-friendly format.

Sunday 23 November 2008

Glorious 1911!


This weekend has seen the reconstruction and, hopefully, improvement of our Glorious 1911 section which tells the story of our successful FA Cup campaign.

Thursday 20 November 2008

New Team Group Added

We've been a little quicker off the mark this year and managed to obtain a photograph of the current squad before Christmas. It can be found in the Century of Teams galleries alongside the other squads for the 2000s decade.
Thanks to Jon Pollard for providing the image.

North in Focus Talk and Tour - Bradford 1 Gallery

Tonight at 6 pm there will be a conducted tour of the highly successful North in Focus Exhibition, featuring the early work of Bradford photographer C.H. Wood. David and Malcolm Wood, sons of C.H. and established photographic experts in their own right, will also be present.

The Bradford 1 Gallery is in Centenary Square, behind the big screen.

Wednesday 19 November 2008

Further Updates

Slowly but surely the site is getting nearer to re-completion. Today more team group pics have been added: for the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Also, the 1990s gallery is now working properly. Some appropriate headers have been inserted for the different eras.

Tuesday 18 November 2008

bantamsmemories Launch

This event proved to be a huge success with many new faces visiting our museum for the first time. After a brief introduction by Councillor David Ward and project co-ordinator Paula Helliwell, guests were taken on a tour of the stadium before being given time to chat, browse and have a bite to eat. And BCB were also there, broadcasting from the museum and interviewing participants. Hopefully this will have been the first of many such events at the bantamspast museum.

Thursday 13 November 2008

Launch of bantamsmemories

Happening today - 10.00 a.m., Valley Parade.

Tuesday 11 November 2008

Further Website Updates


Added more pictures to the Rock Bottom section, particularly the 1970's. Also added a City v Southampton page including several images of the game. Happy days!

We Remember Them

On this day we take a few moments to think of those who fought and died in conflicts around the world. Here at bantamspast we particularly remember former players of Bradford City: Jimmy Speirs, Robert Torrance, Evelyn Lintott, Ernest Goodwin, George Draycott, Gerald Kirk, Jimmy Conlin, James Comrie and Harry Potter who perished in the First World War and Alfred Keeling, Sidney Pugh and Ernest Tuckett who died in the Second World War.

Sunday 9 November 2008

Remembrance featured on Radio 5 Live

Radio 5 Live's breakfast show had a reporter at the Tyne Cot Memorial this morning. As has been mentioned before on these pages, City's Robert Torrance has his name on the memorial there in sight of Dochy Farm cemetery where 1911 Cup Final captain and goal scorer Jimmy Speirs is buried. bantamspast quickly fired off an email to bring this to the attention of the nation and only minutes later it was read out. Obviously the audience is small before nine o'clock of a Sunday morning.

Friday 7 November 2008

Website Updates

Still tinkering with the team groups galleries. Also added some images to the Premiership and Beyond section and there is now a Site Map page.

Tuesday 4 November 2008

A Message From The Top

“Bradford City is lucky to have a great range of fans’ organisations, including the Bradford City Supporters’ Trust, Shipley Bantams, the White Abbey Branch, Shelf Bantams, the City Gent fanzine, the bantamspast Museum and the City Gent Supporters’ Club. I appreciate the outstanding efforts put in by these groups and other individuals to help the club – all on a completely voluntary basis.
It makes a big difference to the players to know that so many people are behind them, and committed to the cause.  One way to show the commitment is to join the Supporters’ Trust – it is easy to do, good value, and strengthens the whole club.”
Stuart McCall, October 2008

bantamsmemories: A New Social Event For Older People at Bradford City Football Club

We would like to invite you to the launch of this exciting project where you will be able to experience a full bantamsmemories session, including:
Tour of the museum, meet players, memories session, football ground tour, bantams bingo, lunch, special events
The launch takes place on Thursday 13th November, 10am – 12.30pm, bantamspast Museum (in the Carnegie Enterprise Centre above the club shop)
If you would like to book a place at the launch session please contact Paula
Paula.helliwell@googlemail.com or 07814760198 by Thursday 6th November
THIS PROJECT WAS DEVELOPED WITH THE SUPPORT OF PDP REGENERATION AND RENEWAL

Monday 3 November 2008

Team Group Galleries


Begun to add the team group galleries today. Not sure if this is the best format, particularly for access to the names of players.

Technorati Claim

Technorati ProfilePlease ignore. Just claiming this blog.

More work on website

Today images have been added to the Triumph and Tragedy section, including the soundfile of the Pulse commentary of 1996.

Sunday 2 November 2008

Further Updates

Today more work has been carried out on the basic history pages. Images have been added to the Glory Fades and Rock Bottom sections.

Wednesday 29 October 2008

Updating Our Website

In the coming days and weeks we are intending to update and improve our website - a process which is long overdue. Unfortunately we cannot afford enough space to run our old site and test the new one until it is perfected. We have therefore decided to transfer to our 'under construction' pages. At the moment many of the old sections are missing but gradually they will reappear in the new format. Apologies for any inconvenience until then.

Blog Archive