Whatever happened to Bramley?

[Wigan Riversider]

Think Wigan drew with them in CC 1984 at Bramley.

A fan said to then coach Alex Murphy "... we're rubbish"

Wigan won replay.

Eventually hammered by Widnes at Wembley.

Didn't the late, great, Maurice Bamford coach Bramley?

[Barley Mow]

20 minutes ago, Hopping Mad said:

Clarence Field did have a stand, with wooden bench seats. I remember watching Bramley play there a few times - and sat in the stand!

It seemed ridiculous the RFL deemed Farsley Celtic FC's Throstle Nest ground unsuitable. That had - still has - two stands, one all-seater.

From memory, it think the stand at Clarence Field was one of those small ones seating 30 or so people that you often get at union clubs - I could be wrong though.

I completely agree about Throstle Nest. Field size is the only potential issue I could see, but that aside it would've been fine.

[Barley Mow]

2 minutes ago, Wigan Riversider said:

Didn't the late, great, Maurice Bamford coach Bramley?

Yes, two spells as coach. One in the early 80's and then for one season in the early 90's I think. The second was the year before or after John Kear in his first coaching role.

[Dave W]

1 hour ago, Hopping Mad said:

A couple of McLaren Field pics, taken before a Division Two game against Whitehaven, on the first day of the 1986-87 season...

Just as I remember, complete with wonky stanchion

[Agbrigg]

Mcclaren field was a massive improvement on the Barley Mow ground. As I remember it was built on half of the pitch. Also behind the sticks half of the old Barley Mow stand was still in use. Other than the new stand in the photo,it was quite a mish mash.

[Barley Mow]

30 minutes ago, Agbrigg said:

Mcclaren field was a massive improvement on the Barley Mow ground. As I remember it was built on half of the pitch. Also behind the sticks half of the old Barley Mow stand was still in use. Other than the new stand in the photo,it was quite a mish mash.

You're right, the site of the Barley Mow ground and McLaren Field overlapped.

Long before my time, but I believe that after years of being turned down purchasing the neighbouring land the club were eventually bequeathed it and combined it with part of the Barley Mow site to build the new ground. The lady who left them the land (Mrs McLaren) stipulated that the new ground was to be named after her family.

[Spidey]

https://bramleybuffs.com/history-aims/

[OnStrike]

15 hours ago, Gooleboy said:

Not necessarily, Oldham and Swinton have kept going, but not without a struggle. Being taken over by Leeds and playing at Headingley was the beginning of the end for Bramley.

Yeah, I didn't mean that being separated from your ground means the end of the club, but it certainly makes a club very vulnerable. Not just in RL but football too. 

 

[Agbrigg]

14 minutes ago, OnStrike said:

Yeah, I didn't mean that being separated from your ground means the end of the club, but it certainly makes a club very vulnerable. Not just in RL but football too. 

 

Well in respect of the City of Leeds Bramley selling their ground and Hunslet also doing the same ,no doubt proved detrimental to both clubs. However were there are losers there are winners . The demise of these two also benefited Leeds. 

[Anita Bath]

Loved games at Bramley…..a real nice set of fans….quality not quantity

[Pie tries]

So are Bramley still in existence as a amateur club? 

[Griff]

4 minutes ago, Pie tries said:

So are Bramley still in existence as a amateur club? 

Sort of. As the Buffaloes.

[Barley Mow]

26 minutes ago, Pie tries said:

So are Bramley still in existence as a amateur club? 

It's a different, amateur, club that was set up by a group of fans once Bramley had left the league (but whilst the original club still technically existed and retained RFL membership).

Edited September 30, 2023 by Barley Mow

[creditwhereitsdews]

Remember Bramley turning Dewsbury over in a cracking 1990 Regal Trophy tie. We were on fire in the first half and leading comfortably and Bramley came back strongly at the end. I was 14 at the time and utterly gutted. Always a tough team to beat. See also: Carlisle.

[paul hicks]

On 29/09/2023 at 12:58, Barley Mow said:

To the best of my memory 20+ years on:

McLaren Field was sold in 1995. I assume either 'too good to refuse' or through financial necessity.

We played at Headingley Rugby Union's Clarence Field (now Rhino's training facility) for a season before sharing at Headingley for two. Both being outside West Leeds didn't help. The fact that Clarence Field was a park and clubhouse with no stands, etc meant crowds fell and when we ended up at Headingley a lot of people decided they might as well watch Leeds instead.

The club resigned from the league after 1999 with the intention of keeping the Bramley name but effectively becoming Rhino's reserves - I'm not sure what competition that was supposed to be in.

When that fell through we tried to re-enter the league, but were told that the grounds we proposed (Throstle Nest, Farsley and Morley RU) were not up to standard - I assume Clarence Field had only been accepted previously for a single season as an emergency stopgap.

We retained full RFL membership for a number of years, without playing in any competition, in the hope that a solution could be found.

The Bramley Buffaloes were formed by some fans in 2001 and applied to enter the pro-hierarchy but were refused and entered National League 3 instead - amateur but with the stated intention that it may eventually be a route for clubs to enter the pro-divisions. They were regularly league leaders in that competition and won the play-offs a couple of times but promotion of NL3 clubs never materialised.

To me there was little attraction to the Buffaloes, although I appreciate recreational RL, my love was in standing on terraces with decentish crowds following a team with a heritage steeped in RL's (semi-)pro culture (rather than on the grass around the perimeter of a field). Without a ground like McLaren Field, the Buffaloes were never going to be that.

Once it became clear that NL3 was not going to be a route back to full RFL membership and competition and that they were going to just be a recreational club playing out of other local community clubs'/RU clubs' rented grounds, the drive behind that club disappeared and they now seem to be reasonably happy as a lower level Yorkshire League club.

there was one wooden stand at Kirkstall held a few hundred.  let's face it the moment they moved over the river they were doomed. they would have been better off going to the Bramley rugby union ground and getting that improved thus staying in bramley.

think the rot set in when they had to sell the social club to finance debts .it was one of the few things that made a profit well it did out of me 3 nights a week 

[paul hicks]

13 hours ago, Agbrigg said:

Well in respect of the City of Leeds Bramley selling their ground and Hunslet also doing the same ,no doubt proved detrimental to both clubs. However were there are losers there are winners . The demise of these two also benefited Leeds. 

given the crowds both hunslet and Bramley were drawing when they closed down not really much of a benefit to Leeds. that and the fact no hunslet fan would have dreamed of going to headingley and the same for many Bramley fans.

at one time way back in the mists of time Leeds had 5 professional rugby teams .

[Snowys Backside]

Remember Bramley well in the 90s. Dean Blankley and Gordon Long, both good players. Turned us over a couple of times
 

Then I am sure I remember Schofield and Mike Ford playing for them at Headingley v Leigh. 
 

Leigh were rubbish at the time, but we pasted them !

We don’t hear much on the forum nowadays of the expansionists. Give me Bramley anytime !

Edited September 30, 2023 by Snowys Backside

[Barley Mow]

5 minutes ago, Snowys Backside said:

Remember Bramley well in the 90s. Dean Blankley and Gordon Long, both good players. Turned us over a couple of times
 

Then I am sure I remember Schofield and Mike Ford playing for them at Headingley v Leigh. 
 

Leigh were rubbish at the time, but we pasted them !

We don’t hear much on the forum nowadays of the expansionists. Give me Bramley anytime !

That would have been the final season (1999). I'm pretty sure they both only played that single season - Ford was player-coach.

[Snowys Backside]

32 minutes ago, Barley Mow said:

That would have been the final season (1999). I'm pretty sure they both only played that single season - Ford was player-coach.

That sounds about right

[Gooleboy]

On 29/09/2023 at 20:52, Hopping Mad said:

A couple of McLaren Field pics, taken before a Division Two game against Whitehaven, on the first day of the 1986-87 season...

Great pictures. They used to produce a decent programme as well. And always a good pre match atmosphere in the Villager.

[Buffaloebilly]

Watched my first Bramley game/rugby league match in April 1967, home win over Blackpool Borough. Followed them ever since. Watched them home and away over the years as both a professional and amateur team. Been a rollercoaster with some dark times when we left the professional game. Loved walking to McLaren Field to see epic game versus Leeds/Cas/Bradford Northern/Hunslet/Huyton and Doncaster!!.....but not quite the same playing at Kirkstall and then Headingley. Amazing small band of supporters who have stuck with them to get them reformed, this is what makes our game special. Have travelled to Hemel/Bridgend/Carlisle/St Alban's/South London and all points in-between to watch them as an amateur team since 2004 and the away support has always been present, albeit small. No idea what the future holds. Seen some top class games and some great players pull on the amber and black. Fighting back with the Amber and Black!

[Gooleboy]

13 hours ago, Buffaloebilly said:

Watched my first Bramley game/rugby league match in April 1967, home win over Blackpool Borough. Followed them ever since. Watched them home and away over the years as both a professional and amateur team. Been a rollercoaster with some dark times when we left the professional game. Loved walking to McLaren Field to see epic game versus Leeds/Cas/Bradford Northern/Hunslet/Huyton and Doncaster!!.....but not quite the same playing at Kirkstall and then Headingley. Amazing small band of supporters who have stuck with them to get them reformed, this is what makes our game special. Have travelled to Hemel/Bridgend/Carlisle/St Alban's/South London and all points in-between to watch them as an amateur team since 2004 and the away support has always been present, albeit small. No idea what the future holds. Seen some top class games and some great players pull on the amber and black. Fighting back with the Amber and Black!

I bet the derbies with Hunslet could be a bit tasty, never mind against Leeds!

[sentoffagain2]

    A lesson to all Rugby League clubs in 1973 Bramley beat Wakefield Cas and St Helens  then defeated Widnes 15-7 at Naughton Park to win The Floodlight Trophy.And just over 20 years later they are dispatched to the lower ranks of Rugby League.Selling the ground was the main reason but one has to wonder was 3 clubs in Leeds too many.And like Blackpool we all let them down by not trying hard enough to give a helping hand when needed.

[Snowys Backside]

12 hours ago, sentoffagain2 said:

    A lesson to all Rugby League clubs in 1973 Bramley beat Wakefield Cas and St Helens  then defeated Widnes 15-7 at Naughton Park to win The Floodlight Trophy.And just over 20 years later they are dispatched to the lower ranks of Rugby League.Selling the ground was the main reason but one has to wonder was 3 clubs in Leeds too many.And like Blackpool we all let them down by not trying hard enough to give a helping hand when needed.

Absolutely spot on.

Instead, some wanted clubs in Katmandu, Istanbul and any other part of the Globe which resulted in home grown players and journeymen  circulating to other clubs for one big pay cheque.

Bramley, Carlisle, Blackpool, Mansfield, Southend, Bridgend, Blackpool, Nottingham and Cardiff COULD have all worked with a little more patience and planning.

Instead, we blew millions by fast tracking clubs into SL with no grass roots infrastructure, just to keep selling Sky Dishes. Bar Catalans, has our support for clubs who had decent grass roots ever been supported ?

[Buffaloebilly]

Completely agree with all the comments made. I am sure there is a place for well managed expansion just as there is/was a place for some of the smaller, less glamourese clubs that have gone to the wall for a variety of reasons.

We at Bramley did try to rejoin the professional ranks and later the NCL but to no avail. We had hoped that being members of the old National League 3 along with the likes of Hemel/Warrington Wizards as was (now Woolston), Coventry etc that we may be allowed back into the professional ranks, however that was not the case and we joined the Yorkshire Men's League.  The club is still functioning as a going concern thanks to the very hard work of all those involved behind the scenes and the committment of the player's. We won league 4a this season so the club continues to be competitive.However the days of watching the likes of John Woolford/Graham Idle/Jack Austin ....my favourite player/Peter Lister etc serm a distant memory...but the players who gave turned out for us since 2004 have also given me a lot of joy and pride in my club.

Here's wishing all smaller clubs whether professional or amateur, good luck and best wishes for whatever the future of the game holds as the worst feeling is to see your club cease to exist and play as happened to us.