The Batley Bulldogs are an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

club in

Batley Batley is a market town in the Kirklees district, in West Yorkshire, England, south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield, in the Heavy Woollen District. In 2011, the popu ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, who play in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. Batley were one of the original twenty-two rugby football clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895. They were League Champions in 1924 and have won three

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

History

Early years

Batley Cricket Club decided to have a rugby football side merge with them at their ground under the name ''Batley Cricket Athletic and Football Club''. The two local rugby teams, Batley Mountaineers and Batley Athletic, played a challenge match at the cricket club's Mount Pleasant home on 23 October 1880 to determine which was the town's premier rugby side and worthy of the cricket club. Both sides claimed victory but the cricket club chose Batley Athletic to join them. The new club's first game was at home against Bradford Zingari which they won by 2 goals, 3 touchdowns, 2 dead balls and one touch goal to nil. Jacob Parker scored the first touchdown. The first season finished with Batley having won 15 games and drawn 5 out of 26 matches played. They won the Yorkshire Challenge Cup in 1884/85 season beating Heckmondwike, Pudsey, Halifax, Salterhebble and Bradford before beating Manningham 8 minor points to 2 in the final held at Cardigan Fields in Leeds. After the 1890–91 season, Batley along with other Yorkshire Senior clubs Bradford, 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. Batley were one of the original twenty-two clubs that met at the George Hotel,

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

on 29 August 1895 and formed the Northern Rugby Football Union. Batley's first match under the new union was on 7 September 1895 against Hull F.C. at Mount Pleasant with Batley winning 7–3. Challenge cup 1897

Sixth in the Yorkshire Senior Competition of 1896/97, they battled their way to third spot come the end of the next season. Where knock-out competitions was concerned, they were peerless. In 1897, the 'Gallant Youths' became the first winners of the

beating St. Helens 10–3, in front of a crowd of 13,492 at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

. Batley retained the trophy by beating Bradford Northern on the corresponding weekend the following year at Headingley in front of 27,941 spectators, which was then a record gate for a rugby match. The club were Yorkshire League winners in 1898/99 and in 1900/01 won the Challenge Cup for the third and last time to date; once again Headingley was the venue as Batley defeated

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

6–0. Wharton 'Wattie' Davies set club records for most appearance, goals and points between 1896 and 1912. Batley's next cup triumph came on 23 November 1912 when Hull were defeated 17–3 at Headingley in Batley's one and only

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

County Cup win. Became a Limited Company ''Batley Cricket Athletic and Football Club Ltd'' in 1922 The 'Gallant Youths' reached the semi-final of the Yorkshire Cup and led the league in November 1923. Batley were crowned champions on Saturday 3 May 1924, lifting the Rugby League Championship Trophy for the only time in the club's history, after defeating Wigan 13–7 in the final. The club were also Yorkshire League winners that season. The record attendance was set at 23,989 for the visit of

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

for a third round Challenge Cup match on 14 March 1925.

Post Second World War

1952 saw a Yorkshire Cup final appearance against

on 15 November. 'Fartown' running out 18–8 winners. The club's name was changed from ''Batley Cricket, Athletic & Football Club Ltd'' to its present official name of ''Batley Football Club Ltd'' in 1979. The club celebrated its centenary in 1981 with a win over the league's new London team,

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. In the 1960s the league was restructured into two divisions for two seasons before the single-division format was finally ditched in 1973 (there was also a three-season experiment with two divisions at the beginning of the 20th century). Batley are one of only a few teams never to make it into the top flight, although they came very close in 1993/94. The last match of the season against

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

came down to being a play-off for a spot in the first division, but Batley lost 10–5 in front of a capacity crowd of 4,500 at Mount Pleasant, and the chance was lost. The local council suggested that Dewsbury and Batley ground share at Crown Flatt after refusing a grant towards safety repairs to Mount Pleasant in February 1987. Batley looked set to join the elite in 1995 when they held off

to finish in second place, just two points behind champions

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford, n ...

. The club succeeded in winning the Second Division Championship in the 1994–95 season. However, when the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

was created for the following year, Batley along with Keighley were excluded. The club estimated that the decision cost them around £500,000.

Summer rugby era

Batley added 'Bulldogs' to their name for the 1996 season. The newly named Batley Bulldogs finished 1996 at the foot of Division One. Batley won the Trans-Pennine Trophy in 1998 beating

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

in the final held at Mount Pleasant. Batley were also promoted from the Second Division that same season. In 2003, Barry Eaton broke the world record for consecutive goal kicks. The club underwent a major shake up in the coaching staff with the resignation of head coach David Ward due to pressure from some supporters in the form of derisory comments in the local press. The new coaching first team set up involved Gary Thornton as Head Coach, and assistant Paul Harrison. After a tough season in 2005 Batley were into National League One relegation play-offs, facing bitter rivals and neighbours

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

. Victory in the final saw Batley stay up against increasingly well funded sides with

ambitions. 2006 saw Batley start the campaign with little promise after a series of dismal performances in the Northern Rail Cup and the early rounds of National League One. However, coach Gary Thornton turned the side round and Batley made their way into the end of season play-offs. Jay Duffy's late drop goal sealed a 23–22 victory at

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staffor ...

to end the Lancastrians' own hopes of promotion and ultimately earn Thornton the honour of National League coach of the year. Batley failed to replicate this success in the next round, crashing to a 30–0 defeat at

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

to put an abrupt end to their season. After the previous season's mid-table finish 2009 started as a bad season for Batley. Gary Thornton resigned after a 60–22 loss on Easter Monday against Toulouse Olympique He was replaced by Karl Harrison. Batley stayed up after a 30–24 over Featherstone Rovers in which Batley were 14–0 down at one stage, they also beat Leigh, Widnes, Barrow, Whitehaven and Halifax. 2010 started for Batley with 5 wins and 1 draw in the Northern Rail Cup, including a record-breaking 100–4 win over Gateshead Thunder. Batley had a good run of wins in the

however they were defeated 74–12 by Catalans Dragons in the Quarter Final. Batley's Co-operative Championship season commenced well with wins over

22–12,

22–8,

54–6 and

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

35–16 to see the club finish in 7th position. Having finished top of their Northern Rail group section, the club entered the knock-out stages. A strong performance away at

in the semi-final, where Batley were clear underdogs, put them into the final on 18 July 2010, where they beat

with two late tries scored by Alex Brown. It was Batley's first silverware since 1998. 2011 saw Batley finish 3rd in the championship, later to be knocked out of the play-offs by Halifax, whom the Batley coach, Karl Harrison headed to take over for the 2012 season. Batley also took

Huddersfield Giants The Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Huddersfield play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league sy ...

close in their Challenge Cup quarter-final clash at Mount Pleasant. Batley had the lead throughout the game until Dane Manning was shown a red card at around 65 minutes for what many fans of both sides thought unfair. Huddersfield took the one man advantage and managed to outscore the Bulldogs in the last 15 minutes of the game. 2012 saw the arrival of John Kear taking over as head coach of Batley. Batley started 2012 winning the Northern Rail group which saw wins over Championship rivals Featherstone Rovers and

. They also started the Championship season off strong with wins over Leigh, Dewsbury, York City Knights, Keighley and Halifax and a double over

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the Leeds city centre, city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside (ward), Hunslet and Riverside ward of Lee ...

but defeats came to Featherstone Rovers, Sheffield, Keighley at home, and

Swinton Lions The Swinton Lions are a professional rugby league club based in Swinton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the RFL League 1 . The club has won the Rugby Football League Championship, Championship six times and three Challenge Cups ...

. In April 2016 it was announced

Matt Diskin Matt Diskin (born 27 January 1982) an English professional rugby league coach was the head coach of Oldham in the Championship, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at represent ...

was to take over at Batley Bulldogs from 2017 after John Kear announced he would be joining

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue (Wakefield), Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier o ...

as director of rugby in 2017. Batley finished the 2021 Championship season in 4th place on the table and qualified for the playoffs. The club would fall one match short of the

Million Pound Game Million Pound Game (stylized as £1M Game) was an annual rugby league game that decides which Championship teams will be promoted to Super League, and which Super League teams would be relegated for the following season. Instituted in 2015 and ...

after losing 51–12 against Toulouse Olympique. In the 2022 Championship season, Batley reached the

for the first time but were defeated 44–12 by

. In the 2023 RFL Championship season, Batley finished 7th on the table, missing out on the playoffs by for and against. The following season, Batley finished 10th on the table.

Ground

The club play at Mount Pleasant which currently has a capacity of 7,500. It has a seated main stand, a large covered terrace behind one goal where the changing facilities are located, a small covered seated stand running approximately halfway down one touchline, with open terracing behind the other goal and to the side of the main stand.

Boards

Batley Cricket, Athletic & Football Club Presidents 1880 – 1922 John W. Blackburn – 1880/April 1890, Dr William Bayldon – April 1890/April 1893, David Fox Burnley – April 1893/April 1899, James Goodall – April 1899/May 1903, William G. Isherwood – May 1903/June 1905, Harry Brook – June 1905/May 1906, Dan Brearley – May 1906/May 1907, J. Harry Spencer – May 1907/May 1909, Harry E. Whitaker – May 1909/May 1911, William H. Shaw – May 1911/May 1913, Samuel Brearley – May 1913/May 1918, John Frederick Whitaker – May 1918/May 1922 Batley Cricket, Athletic & Football Club Ltd Chairmen 1922 – 1979 John Frederick Whitaker – June 1922/May 1925, Ernest Kirk – May 1925/May 1926, Dr William W. Walker – May 1926/June 1927, John Frederick Whitaker – June 1927/May 1929, Arthur Summers – May 1929/July 1929, Dr Frank W. Smorfitt -August 1929/July 1930, Ernest Kirk – July 1930/May 1938, Rubert Asquith – July 1938/May 1940 No Official Chairman from May 1940/January 1942 John 'Jackie' S. Barritt – January 1942/October 1954, William W. Battye – October 1954/May 1955, John 'Jackie' S. Barritt – June 1955/April 1958, Ewart Earnshaw – April 1958/November 1967 & President – November 1967/June 1979, Leslie Driver – November 1967/June 1979 Batley Football Club Ltd Chairmen 1979 – Peter S. Wilson – June 1979/February 1981, Michael J. Lumb – February 1981/March 1989, Stephen A. Ball – March 1989/May 1995 & President May 1995/January 1996, Ron Earnshaw – May 1995/June 1996 & President September 2007/October 2013, Trevor Hobson – June 1996/November 1997, Kevin M. Nicholas – November 1997/

2025 squad

Players

Players earning international caps while at Batley

* Harry Bedford won caps for ''England (RU)'' while at Batley in 1889 against New Zealand Natives, and in 1890 against Scotland, and Ireland * Joseph "Joe" Berry won caps for ''Scotland'' while at Huddersfield Giants, Doncaster, Rochdale Hornets, and Batley Bulldogs 1998...2003 4-caps + 3-caps (sub) * George Brown won a cap for ''England'' while at Batley in 1945 against Wales * George Davidge won a cap for ''England'' while at Batley in 1924 against Other Nationalities * William "Will" T. Davies won caps for ''Wales (RL)'' while at Batley and Halifax 1909...1912 4-caps, and won a cap for ''Great Britain (RL)'' while at Halifax in 1911 against Australia * Norman Field won a cap for ''Great Britain'' while at Batley in 1963 against Australia * Isaac "Ike" John Fowler won a cap for ''Wales'' whilst at Batley, and won a cap for ''Other Nationalities'' whilst at Batley * Carl Gibson won a cap playing for Great Britain against France in 1985 in his final season at the club. * Nathan Graham won caps for ''Scotland'' while at Bradford, Dewsbury, Featherstone Rovers and Batley 1998...2004 7-caps + 3-caps (sub) * Frederick Hill won a cap for ''England'' while at Batley in 1909 against Wales * Bill Hudson won caps for ''England'' while at Batley in 1946 against Wales and France, in 1947 against France, while at Wigan in 1949 against France, and won caps for ''Great Britain'' while at Wigan in 1949 against Australia * Frederick Lowrie won caps for ''England (RU)'' while at Batley in 1889 against New Zealand Natives, and in 1890 against Wales * David Luckwell won caps for ''Wales'' while at

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

, and Batley 1999...2000 3-caps (sub) * Iain Marsh won caps for ''Scotland'' while at Oldham, Batley and Rochdale Hornets 2004...2007 5-caps + 3-caps (sub) * Martin McLoughlin won caps for Ireland while at Wigan, Oldham and Batley and 2001...2008 * Joseph "Joe" Oliver, won caps for ''England'' while at Batley in 1928 against Wales, while at Hull in 1933 against Australia, in 1936 against Wales and France, and won caps for ''Great Britain'' while at Batley in against 1928 Australia (3 matches), and New Zealand * George Palmer won a cap for England while at Batley in 1951 against Other Nationalities * Lee Paterson won caps for ''Scotland'' while at Batley and Widnes 2007...present 3-caps * Harry Rees * Brinley Williams won caps for ''Wales'' while at Batley in 1921 against England and Australia, and won a cap for ''Other Nationalities'' while at Batley in 1921 against England * Frederick Willis won a cap for ''Wales'' while at Batley in 1921

Other notable players

* Wilf Auty * Keegan Hirst * F. T. Adams captain circa-1936 * Andrew Ballot (No. 13) circa-1990s * Mark Barlow * Trevor Barlow * John Bell circa-1973 * Tommy "Dowdy" Brannan * Tommy "Chick" Brannan * Jack Briggs 1954–63 * David Brooke circa-1973 * Alex Brown * Donald "Don" Burnell Yorkshire XIII 1947–48 * Graham Chalkley circa-1973 * Richard Colley * Kevin Crouthers * Wharton "Wattie" Davies 1896...1912 * Robin Dewhurst circa-1973 * Phil Doyle Yorkshire XIII 1969–70 * George Douglas, for ''

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

(RU)'' while at

Jed-Forest RFC Jed-Forest Rugby Football Club are a rugby union team who are based at Riverside Park in Jedburgh. The team was founded in 1885 and currently play in National League 1 (rugby) and the Border League. Jed-Forest Sevens The club organises the Je ...

(RU) 1921 1-cap (signed for Batley 1921–22) * Eric Earnshaw * Barry Eaton * Danny Maun * John Etty, for '' British Empire XIII'' while at Batley 1951 Wales XIII * Jim Etty * Bolu Fagborun * Craig Farrell * Dai Fitzgerald * John Fox ( Testimonial match 1979) * Peter Fox *

Fred Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

"Ted" Fozzard * John Gallagher * Jim Gath * Ian Gelderd * Carl Gibson * Harry Goodall * John B "Jack" Goodall * Jeff Grayshon * Jonathan "Jon" Grayshon *

Ben Gronow Benjamin Gronow (10 March 1887 – 24 November 1967) was a Welsh List of dual-code rugby internationals, dual-code international rugby union, and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s, 1910s and 1920s. At club level Grono ...

* Tommy Haslam 1888 British Isles tourist (RU) * Samuel "Sam" Hargreaves Yorkshire XIII 1946–47 * Tom Hemingway * Ernest "Ernie" Hepworth ( Testimonial match 1978) * David Heron * Paul Hicks * Philip "Phil" Holmes circa-1973 * John Jones circa-1980 * Arthur Keegan * Robert Kelly * Kevin King * Dean Lawford * Stephen "Steve" Lingard circa-1973 * Davide Longo * George H. Main * Francis Maloney * Tommy Martyn * Colin Maskill circa-1973 * Edward Melling circa-1920 * Luke Menzies * James "Jim" Naylor Yorkshire XIII 1972–73 * Gareth Moore * George Northern born circa-1927 and

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

for Batley in 1954 and

from 1955 to 1963 * Joe Oakland * Trevor Oldroyd circa-1973 * Lee Paterson * Jackie Perry * Roy Powell *

Richard Price Richard Price (23 February 1723 – 19 April 1791) was a British moral philosopher, Nonconformist minister and mathematician. He was also a political reformer and pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the F ...

circa-1998 * Sean Richardson * William "Bill" Riches ( Testimonial match 1952) Yorkshire 1946...52 (England v France 1946–47, " reserve to travel") *

Gus Risman Augustus "Gus" John Ferdinand Risman (21 March 1911 – 17 October 1994) was a Welsh professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s through to the 1950s, and coached in the 1940s through to the 1970s. A devastating three-quarter ...

* Joe Robinson circa-1920 * Shad Royston * Mark Scott ( Testimonial match 1994) * David "Dave" Secker circa-1973 * Malcolm Shuttleworth * Herbert 'Dodger' Simms * Roger Simpson * Byron Smith * Gilbert "Gil" Smith born circa-1925 * Andrew "Andy" Speak * Timothy "Tim" Spears * John Stainburn ( Testimonial match 1993) * George Standidge circa-1973 * Doug Stokes circa-1950s * Paul Storey ( Testimonial match 1988) * Gary Thornton * Glen Tomlinson * Trevor 'Tank' Walker Left- * Jim Waltham * Alan Watts circa-1973 * John Westbury (#13) circa-1950s * Clifford "Cliff" Williams circa-1973 * Martin Whelan 1970s–1980s

Past First Team Coaches

Seasons

Super League era

Honours

Major titles Other titles

Notes

References

Locations of League: Batley

External links

Batley Website

B.I.S.S.A. – Batley Independent Supporters Squadbuilder Association

Bulldogs: history and facts

Batley Bulldogs forum on rlfans.com

National League website

Official Batley Bulldogs Fans Forums
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batley Bulldogs Rugby league teams in England Sport in Kirklees Rugby clubs established in 1880 Founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union