The History of the Bradford Bulls stretches back from their former incarnation as Bradford F.C. in 1863 to 2017.
1863–1879
The Bradford Football Club was formed in 1863 by a group mostly made up of ex-Bramham College students. In their early years, the club played a mixture of association football rules and what would become rugby union laws. Bradford's home ground was Great Horton Road, then home of Bradford Cricket Club.
Bradford's earliest recorded match against another club was home and away games against Leeds Clarence in 1866–7, such inter-club matches continued to be rare in Bradford's early years with only nine inter-club games in 1871-2 and ten a season later.
Due to damage to the cricket square, Bradford had to leave Great Horton Road and would play at a variety of grounds; first a field on Laisteridge Lane in 1870 and then, at the start of 1871, Peel Park. Once again Bradford moved to North Park Road in Manningham in the summer of 1871 and then to a ground in Girlington in 1872 where they stayed for the next two years. Bradford then moved to a field near the Stansfield Arms in Apperley Bridge where they stayed until the move to Park Avenue.
Under the captaincy of H.W.T. Garnett, Bradford went through the whole 1874–5 season, not only undefeated, but without having even a single point scored against them. A Yorkshire Rugby Union was formed in 1874 and they introduced a Yorkshire Cup competition in 1876.
Park Avenue years 1880–1895
Bradford Football Club and Bradford Cricket Club agreed to form the Bradford Cricket, Athletic and Football Club and moved together to Park Avenue in 1880. Bradford played their first rugby match there on 25 September 1880 against Bradford Rangers.
Bradford achieved their first major success by winning the Yorkshire Cup in 1884.
After the 1890–91 season, Bradford along with other Yorkshire Senior clubs Batley, Brighouse, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Hunslet, Leeds, Liversedge, Manningham and Wakefield decided that they wanted their own county league starting in 1891 along the lines of a similar competition that had been played in Lancashire. The clubs wanted full control of the league but the Yorkshire Rugby Football Union would not sanction the competition as it meant giving up control of rugby football to the senior clubs.
In 1895, along with cross-town neighbours Manningham F.C., Bradford was among 22 clubs to secede from the Rugby Football Union after a historic meeting at the George Hotel in Huddersfield, in response to a dispute over "broken time" payments to players. These 22 clubs formed the Northern Rugby Union. Bradford were reluctant to join but had large debts and faced the loss of lucrative fixtures against local rivals.
Bradford experimented with an association football section in 1895 but this struggled to compete with the popularity of rugby and the section was closed down in 1899. The first game of association football played at Park Avenue had been an exhibition match between Blackburn Rovers and a Blackburn District XI in 1882. Between 1895 and 1899, Bradford also entered the West Yorkshire and Yorkshire leagues, the FA Amateur Cup and the FA Cup.
Northern Union and the Great Betrayal 1896–1907
Bradford were initially successful in the new world of professional rugby and reached the 1898 Challenge Cup Final, before losing 7–0 to Batley at Leeds. Bradford also won the Yorkshire Senior Competition in 1899–1900 and again in 1900–01. In 1903–04, Bradford finished level on points with Salford at the top of the league and then won the resulting play-off, 5–0.
Neighbouring club Manningham ran into financial difficulties and, despite a summer archery contest that generated enough money to ensure their survival, its members were persuaded to change to association football. The club was invited to join the Football League in 1903, in an attempt to introduce football to the rugby-dominated region, and the newly renamed Bradford City AFC was voted into full membership of the Second Division without playing a game, having a team or being able to guarantee a ground.
Bradford won the first division championship in 1904. In 1905–06, Bradford's rugby team beat Salford 5–0 to win the Challenge Cup and were runners-up in the Championship. The following season winning the Yorkshire Cup 8–5 against Hull Kingston Rovers.
That same year, the Northern Union made changes to the game's laws reducing teams from 15 to 13-a-side later and the play-the-ball was introduced after a tackle. Bradford did not adapt well to these new laws and by late December, the club had slid to 24th place out of 27 and lost £500. Gates were several thousand lower than those of the newly formed Bradford City FC. In desperation, the Bradford applied for readmission to the Rugby Football Union which was granted in March 1907 provided that all professional players were excluded from the club.
A meeting was called of the club members on 15 April 1907 to decide the club's future. An initial vote appeared to favour continuing in the Northern Union by a majority of one with association football in third, the second vote had a majority in favour of the RFU's offer following a recount but the chairman, A. H. Briggs, used his influence to swing the committee behind association football. This act, sometimes referred to as "The Great Betrayal", led to Bradford becoming a football club, Bradford Park Avenue A.F.C.
Northern Union supporters formed a new club to take the available place in the Northern Union under the name of Bradford Rugby F.C. on 24 May 1907. As a goodwill gesture, Bradford Park Avenue passed all their old playing kit, balls and posts to the new club. The majority of players from 1906 to 1907 went on to play for the new club, helped in no small part by the Northern Union placing an embargo on other clubs signing players from the old Bradford club. The club extended their name to Bradford Northern R.F.C. in September 1907 to emphasize that Northern Union football was still being played in Bradford. Bradford Northern's first home was Greenfield Athletic Ground. Northern lost to Huddersfield in the first match on 7 September watched by 7,000 spectators.
Bradford Northern 1908–1994
Unhappy with facilities at Greenfield Athletic Ground, Bradford Northern moved to Birch Lane in 1908. At times the club had to hire Valley Parade as the capacity at Birch Lane was insufficient for large matches.
Bradford council offered Bradford 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 lookingOn 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.
1940s 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. 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. Frank Whitcombe becomes the first player to win the Lance Todd trophy on the losing side. It was also the first televised rugby league match as it was broadcast to the Midlands. However 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.
1950s
In 1951–52, 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.
1960s
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. In 1964, the Bradford Northern club reformed through the efforts of such people as Trevor Foster and Joe Phillips and were accepted back into the Rugby League. The reformed club won its first cup in 1965–66 by beating Hunslet 17–8 in the final of the Yorkshire Cup.
1970s In 1972-3 Bradford lost the Challenge Cup final against Featherstone 33–14. In 1973–74 Bradford won the Second Division Championship and were promoted back to the First Division. During this season Keith Mumby made his debut, 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.
1980s In 1981–82 Bradford lost the Yorkshire Cup final 18–7 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. In 1989–90 Bradford beat Featherstone 20–14 in the Yorkshire Cup final. Bradford lost the Regal Trophy against Warrington 12–2 in 1990–91. In 1993–4, the last but two Championship before Super League, Bradford finished as runners-up behind Wigan on points difference.
The Super League era The Super League era – 1996 In April 1995, the Rugby League announced the formation of the Super League. The Super League consisted of 10 clubs from the existing First Division (including Bradford Bulls) plus London Broncos from the Second Division, and new club Paris Saint-Germain.
Name Change and start of the Bulls The club's name was changed from Bradford Northern to Bradford Bulls and a new logo was adopted. Australian Brian Smith was appointed coach and later Chief Executive. Bradford lost the 1996 Challenge Cup final 40–32 to St Helens, Robbie Paul became the first player to score a hat-trick in the final, a performance that won him the Lance Todd Trophy. Robbie also won the Super League Player of the Year.
In September 1996, Brian Smith decided to return to Australia as coach of Parramatta Eels and assistant coach Matthew Elliot took over. Bradford Bulls finished the season as the best supported team in Super League with an average attendance in excess of 10,000.
Champions-1997 Bradford won the 1997 Super League title with a record run of 20 successive victories from the start of the season. The Bulls were also Challenge Cup runners-up for a second season, losing 32–22 to St Helens. James Lowes was the Super League Player of the Season while Matthew Elliot was chosen as Super League Coach of the Season. Bradford was once again the best supported club, with an average of over 15,000.
On the Road – 1998