Manningham was an English

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

football club based in

Manningham, Bradford Manningham is an historically industrial workers area as well as a council ward of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The population of the 2011 Census for the Manningham Ward was 19,983. History Manningham holds a wealth of industrial h ...

, the first champions of the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisa ...

(then known as the Northern Rugby Football Union) in its first season. After seven seasons of rugby league, the club switched codes to

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

in 1903, becoming Bradford City Association Football Club.

History

In 1880, Manningham FC was formed after the Manningham Albion Club was disbanded. The club originally played at a field in Whetley Hill, known as Carlisle Road. Manningham FC played

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

under the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby (WR) in 1886. It promo ...

. In 1886, the club moved to

Valley Parade Valley Parade, known as the University of Bradford Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is an all-seater football stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Built in 1886, it was the home of Manningham Rugby Football Club until 1903, when the ...

, a ground that was hacked out of a hillside over a few months. After the 1890-91 season, Manningham along with other Yorkshire Senior clubs Batley, Bradford, Brighouse, Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Hunslet, Leeds, Liversedge 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. Manningham became a founding member of the breakaway Northern Rugby Football Union (later renamed the Rugby Football League) in 1895. In the new competition's first season, Manningham finished on top of the ladder, becoming history's first rugby league champions. In the 1896-7 season the Northern Union's championship was split into two separate county competitions with Manningham competing in the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

division. The club performed strongly again and almost won the Yorkshire Senior Competition but in the end fell short on the table by just one win. However, the club fell upon hard times after being relegated, and in 1903 only the successful staging of an archery tournament kept the club going. On 30 January 1903, Scotsman James Whyte, a sub-editor of the ''Bradford Observer'' met

Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...

representative John Brunt at

, the home of Manningham Football Club, to discuss establishing a

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

club within the city. A series of meetings was held, and on 29 May 1903, at the 23rd annual meeting of Manningham FC, the committee decided to leave the rugby league code and switch to

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

, becoming

Bradford City A.F.C. Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

Honours

Rugby Football League Championship The Rugby Football League Championship First Division was the top division of rugby league in England between 1895 and 1996, when it was replaced by the Super League. History 1895–1904: Foundations The first season of rugby league (189 ...

: 1 ** 1895-96 * Yorkshire League: 1 **1895-96

Notable former players

* Alfred "Alf" Barraclough *

James Bridie James Bridie (3 January 1888 in Glasgow – 29 January 1951 in Edinburgh) was the pseudonym of a Scottish playwright, screenwriter and physician whose real name was Osborne Henry Mavor.Daniel Leary (1982) ''Dictionary of Literary Biography: ...

* Fred Clegg Yorkshire (RU) , Yorkshire (RL) * Edgar Holmes * George Lorimer
H. PicklesJ. Sunderland
* Robert Scott F. Lorriman, and A. Barker of Manningham played in The Rest's 5–7 defeat to

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

in the 1901–02 Yorkshire Senior Competition Champions versus The Rest match at

Headingley Stadium Headingley Stadium is a stadium complex in Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, comprising two separate grounds; Headingley Cricket Ground and Headingley Rugby Stadium, linked by a two-sided stand housing common facilities. The ground ...

on Saturday 19 April 1902.Dalby, Ken (1955). ''The Headingley Story - 1890-1955 - Volume One - Rugby''. The Leeds Cricket, Football & Athletic Co. Ltd ASIN: B0018JNGVM

References

{{NRFL Rugby league teams in West Yorkshire Defunct rugby league teams in England Defunct English rugby union teams Bradford City A.F.C. Rugby clubs established in 1876 Rugby clubs disestablished in 1903 1876 establishments in England Founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union Manningham, Bradford

History

Honours

Notable former players

See also

References