Wilderspoolmemories Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 I am watching this match at the moment and it's quite sad when you realise how far they have fallen since. They had a great side in those days and I'm enjoying watching their rugby almost 20 years later. Obviously as we found out later that was a team the club really could not afford. But what happened to all the fans? There are thousands waving bulls flags and chanting "bully ,bully" at the match I'm watching. It's sad that the club fell from grace but also that so many stopped watching the bulls. I think if the bulls want to get back into the SL then their fans need to get behind them again! I'm also enjoying watching future Warrington players Andrew Johns and Kurt Gidley playing for Newcastle knights! 2009 Warrington 25 Hudderfield 16 2010 Warrington 30 Leeds 6 2011 League Leaders Shield Winners 2012 Warrington 35 Leeds 18 Challenge cups and league leaders shields everywhere! We need more silver polish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 They were an outstanding team. Very big, strong and powerful all over the pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 7 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said: Bulls were so great in those years but the stadium simply isn't fit for purpose and instead of fixing the roof whilst the sun was shining, they spent it on players. Meanwhile Leeds, with their modern stadium dominate the sport and will do so in the future as a thriving city. Obviously the wider economics plays a part but bulls need to get a smaller but modern stadium, with covered terraces. Something like Warrington. If that can happen, Bulls could get back to regularly pulling in 8,000 or so and re-establish themselves as a playoff / Challenge Cup contender. But the sun was shining because of those players. Without them they wouldn't have got those crowds and for all the talk about Bradford crowds in that spell they were very much the exception in my lifetime. Yes there were factors at play and it was somewhat of a perfect storm with summer rugby, Peter Deakin and the whole Bullmania thing too but the winning team and star players was key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Frisky Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 Its ok, they will play each other again this year, at least twice- hope for a big crowd once lockdown is over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommygilf Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 1 hour ago, Damien said: But the sun was shining because of those players. Without them they wouldn't have got those crowds and for all the talk about Bradford crowds in that spell they were very much the exception in my lifetime. Yes there were factors at play and it was somewhat of a perfect storm with summer rugby, Peter Deakin and the whole Bullmania thing too but the winning team and star players was key. Peter Risdale's "We lived the dream" comes to mind... The balance clearly wasn't struck with Bradford between the present and the future and they've spent 15 years ruing that policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulwalker71 Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 9 hours ago, Tommygilf said: Peter Risdale's "We lived the dream" comes to mind... The balance clearly wasn't struck with Bradford between the present and the future and they've spent 15 years ruing that policy. Well, yeah, there's a whole lot of murky factors at play with all of this, some of which involve the role of the RFL and various other parties. But we probably don't need yet another thread that retreads that particular sorry saga. There's some glorious memories though - which I don't foresee becoming reality again in my lifetime, sadly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 6 minutes ago, Johnoco said: Many, if not most of the players from 96-97 were not exactly famous and many were cast offs. Crowds grew considersably during this time and people didn't necessarily get on board because the players were stars, it was largely about the whole experience. Success then allowed more star players and this has an effect on other players who may join. In this pub I used to go in then, well over half the people used to go to Odsal and enjoyed it. However, only the more dedicated fan will keep going when they get rained on with no protection from the elements and so over a few years it tailed off to just a few. This was probably repeated amongst others. Many people now, including me, are feeling once bitten about it and reluctant to spend cash and time getting involved only for it to go pear shaped again. Not even just that, there's the truth angle (ie what is it?) I was at that Newcastle game too. Quite true and well pointed out. That 1996/97 team were also successful too though, getting to a couple of Challenge Cup finals in a row and winning the Super League in 1997. As I said it was all somewhat of a perfect storm with a lot of factors coming into play at the same time. What is clear is that crowds practically doubled overnight and were far from the traditional norm. They became a real powerhouse and I remember around 2002 when they won the Middlesex 7s it did feel like they were the biggest and best Rugby team of any code in the UK. Its just a pity it couldn't be sustained. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindle xiii Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 Non-Bradford fans getting misty-eyed about Bradford leads to other non-Bradford fans getting all bitter about Bradford. Bradford fans get caught in the middle. Ex-Bradford fan surmises the situation perfectly because he is a legend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldbear Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 Wasn’t much of the problem due to Ken Morrison, who did everything possible to prevent any development deals being done which might impact his business. For whatever reason any new stadium talk always ended up being just that, talk. Oh and I was at that game too. Any opportunity to see the Aussies lose was fine by me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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