Early Days

The Glory Fades

Rock Bottom

Triumph and Tragedy

Premiership and Beyond

The Grounds

The Great 1907 Merger Controversy

1907 was without doubt the most significant and controversial year in the history of Bradford sport. Bradford Park Avenue and Northern were born, City nearly abandoned Valley Parade and controversy engulfed the city.

Only four years after their formation City were flirting with promotion to the top flight. A major stumbling block was the inadequate facilities at Valley Parade. The ground would require a huge revamp if it was to stage First Division football.

Across the city Park Avenue was one of the finest grounds in the country. However, a combination of declining public interest in Rugby and mounting debts, mainly incurred by the development of the ground, lead to a dramatic meeting of Bradford RFC members in April 1907. Three options were put forward:

Should Rugby League continue?

Should the club revert to Rugby Union?

Should the club adopt Association Football?

The first proposal was backed, but only by a single vote. A recount was demanded and this time it was decided that the club should revert to Rugby Union.

Behind the scenes the clubs committee had already decided to abandon rugby and merge with Bradford City. Over several months talks had been held with City’s committee and it had been agreed that Valley Parade would be abandoned and City’s team would move to Park Avenue. However, they would retain the name Bradford City. It would have been a formidable combination and would arguably have established Bradford as a major football power.

As a result Bradford chairman Harry Briggs declared the vote of the Bradford members void and announced that football would be adopted at Park Avenue. The move caused outrage. Briggs even applied for Football League membership for a club entitled Bradford Park Avenue. Almost certainly this was initially a bluff, intended to ramp up the pressure on the City committee and members.

Logically the amalgamation made sense, but logic hardly ever enters the world of sporting loyalties and a ‘Valley Parade Defence Committee’ quickly sprang up. The debate centred on identity and a concern that the Park Avenue club were effecting a take over of the successful City team. With some justification the City members distrusted Harry Briggs motives.

The fiery eloquence of several former Manningham supporters – all of whom bitterly recalled the rivalry between their club and Bradford during the rugby days – overcame the overt support of the City committee.

What was entitled the ‘Valley Parade sentiment’ won the day and City’s members rejected the amalgamation by 1031 votes to 487.

Briggs faced a dilemma – back down and return to professional rugby, or press ahead with the new football team. With the Football League firmly against another Bradford team, Briggs took the audacious step of applying for Southern League membership. It paid off. Within twelve months Park Avenue broke a two-year agreement with the Southern League and successfully applied for Football League membership. The club that initially no one wanted was now in the Second Division.

The abandonment of rugby at Park Avenue caused disgruntled members to form a new club – they named it Bradford Northern.

The ramifications of 1907 remain with us to this day. Had City and Avenue merged Valley Parade would have become an obscure historical oddity – though it could well have been taken over by the infant Bradford Northern. Bradford City at Park Avenue may well have become one of the biggest teams in English football.

From the Valley Parade disaster to the development of Odsal Stadium, the modern history of Bradford could have been so different – they are just part of the legacy of 1907.

'Fatty' Foulkes

A 24 stone goalkeeper who could punch a ball over the halfway line might seem to be a character straight from the comedy series ‘Ripping Yarns’. However, truth can often be stranger than fiction and when in April 1906 City signed William ‘Fatty’ Foulkes it was a real coup. The giant keeper was one of the superstars of his day.

Foulkes had risen to prominence with Sheffield United. He won a League Championship, two FA Cups and became an England international during his time at Bramhall Lane.

For such a huge man Foulkes was extremely agile. However, it was his often bizarre antics that endeared him to football fans way beyond the city of Sheffield.

In October 1898 Liverpool forward George Allen unwisely charged into Foulke. He lost his temper and seized Allen by the leg and dangled him upside down. On another away trip he beat the rest of the team to dining room one morning and by the time they appeared he had eaten all eleven breakfasts!

Despite the comic capers, Foulke was a talented sportsman who also played county cricket for Derbyshire. It attracted a memorable quip that when he took to the crease the opposition appealed for bad light. He remains in the record books as the heaviest ever first class cricketer.

Foulke arrived at Valley Parade after a short spell with Chelsea. He hadn’t been able to settle in the capital and when the chance came to return north came he jumped at it. City had been forced to sell crowd favourite Jimmy Conlin to ease mounting debts, so the arrival of the legendary Foulkes a few weeks later was a real boost to flagging morale.

However, injuries were to plague his time at Valley Parade and after only 24 appearances he was forced to retire in November 1907. He had made 355 appearances over his long career. Foulke settled in Sheffield where he ran a corner shop not far from his beloved Bramhall Lane. Sadly, he died in 1916 aged only 42.