Whatever happened to Bramley?

[fieldofclothofgold]

McLaren field was adjacent to the Barley Mow ground which was behind the pub .

For years they were trying to buy the field from a lady Nrs McLaren.  When she died she left it to the club with the covenant that it must only be sold and used for recreation.  A bit later Bramley got into financial difficulties and was bought out and taken over by a group of Leeds businessmen who were also in legal profession.  They guaranteed the club for a set period of time .then sold the ground they were sitting on a bit of real estate housing .Development.  as for the covenant legal men can get around that . 

[meast]

On 29/09/2023 at 13:48, daz39 said:

Mclaren field, that was a tidy little ground back in the day, great bar under the main stand too i recall.

Always enjoyed going there, they had a decent side in the early 90's along with us, shame they disappeared

Maurice Bamford's Bramley market!

[Hopping Mad]

On 29/09/2023 at 22:26, 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.

Bramley must have been very proud of McLaren Field because a pic of its main stand featured on the club's programme covers for several seasons after the ground opened.

[Hopping Mad]

On 29/09/2023 at 21:12, Barley Mow said:

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.

The stand was a decent size (albeit a museum piece) - probably capable of seating two or three hundred. Reflected, I suppose, Headingley at one time being amongst northern England's leading rugby union clubs.

[Hopping Mad]

22 minutes ago, meast said:

Maurice Bamford's Bramley market!

Didn't Bamford try to change the team's name to Bramley Marketmen?

[Wolford6]

Peter Fox turned the Northern round when he signed a shedload of top players. He got Johnny Wolford, Derrick Parker and Jack Austin from Bramley. All quality players. Still my favourite era.

Jack Austin was a strong running and no-nonsense winger. He always played against Leeds as though he really hated them ... obviously, that sort of behaviour didn't go down at all well with the Northern faithful. He was once interviewed in midweek on Radio Leeds. His expected school-of-hard-knocks voice never appeared ... he sounded like a senior civil servant.

Derrick Parker was powerfully built ... a strong running and good tackling centre. After a few really good years, he seemed to disappear from the sport. He was once out injured for about three or four weeks.  He came back with a beard like Captain Haddock in Tintin.

Johnny was a worldbeater (not kidding) at stand off. Always looked overweight, not a speed merchant but he mesmerised opposition defences with dummies, sidesteps and offloads. He walked through defences and usually gave a pass before he got clobbered. He often walked off the Odsal mudbath with a pretty clean shirt.

He was picked on the bench in the Yorkshire Cup Final against York because he'd spent all week welding on an oil rig. Came on at halftime and turned the game round.

I hope he's still about.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Wolford6

[Agbrigg]

1 hour ago, Hopping Mad said:

Bramley must have been very proud of McLaren Field because a pic of its main stand featured on the club's programme covers for several seasons after the ground opened.

And rightly so, it was a massive upgrade from the Barley Mow. Let's not forget this was built in the late 60's and we must remember the type of stands that were at RL grounds back then.

[fieldofclothofgold]

1 hour ago, meast said:

Maurice Bamford's Bramley market!

First game I ever saw was at Barley Mow in mid 50s . We were queuing for kids matinee at the nearby Lido and saw this big crowd of men i. Flat caps and Macks so we followed and paid 6d . The other team was Huddersfield