Manningham was an English

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 ...

football club based in

Manningham, Bradford Manningham is a 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 his ...

, the first champions of the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

(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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

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 or rugby league. Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...

under the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, 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 ...

. In 1886, the club moved to

Valley Parade Valley Parade, currently known as University of Bradford Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is an all-seater association football, football stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium was built in 1886 as the home of Manningham F.C. ...

, 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 ( ) 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 ...

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 A football association, also known as a football federation, soccer federation, or soccer association, is a governing body for association football. Many of them are members of the sport's regional bodies such as UEFA and CONMEBOL and the world gov ...

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 association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, becoming Bradford City A.F.C.

Honours

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

: 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 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 ...

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, and England. Linked by a two-sided stand housing common facilities, it comprises two separate grounds: Headingley Cricket Ground (home of Yorkshire County Cricket Clu ...

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 rugby union teams in England Bradford City A.F.C. Rugby clubs established in 1876 Rugby clubs disestablished in 1903 1876 establishments in England 1903 disestablishments in England Founder members of the Northern Rugby Football Union Manningham, Bradford

History

Honours

Notable former players

See also

References