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Richard Sutcliffe: Petty back-biting must end for sake of sporting mecca
'WHETHER Bradford sport would be better served by its senior clubs sharing a home and if so where?' is a debate that has raged for longer than anyone still alive can remember.
Valley Parade, for instance, spent the early years of its existence hosting Manningham Rugby Club games before becoming the home of Bradford City in 1903. Similarly, across the city in the suburb of Horton, a venue that first staged cricket in 1836 and rugby 44 years later became the preserve of cricket and football after the formation of Park Avenue – a move that led to a faction of rugby devotees forming their own club, Bradford Northern, at Dudley Hill's Greenfield Stadium.
Even back then, there was talk of City and Park Avenue pooling resources at a ground that was already more developed and in more pleasant surroundings than Valley Parade. Not only that, Park Avenue had a 999-year lease.
However, in a depressing portent of what was to come, the idea was rejected and both clubs would spend much of the next 60 or so years struggling to survive in a city plainly not big enough to support two football teams.
The building of Odsal in the Twenties merely muddied the stadium debate further and the past 80 years have seen various schemes put forward only for the status quo of City and the Bulls (nee Northern) living apart to remain.
Two temporary ground shares – the Bantams had 14 months lodging with their rugby neighbours in the wake of the Valley Parade fire, while the Bulls spent the 2001 and 2002 seasons in Manningham – did little to whet the appetite of either set of supporters to the possibility of making the switch permanent.
All of a sudden, however, a possible ground share is back on the menu after City joint chairman Mark Lawn admitted that the club had been in initial talks over a possible move to the planned new Odsal Sporting Village.
The cost of staying at Valley Parade, which the club sold in 2003, is behind the proposal with the Bantams having to pay 1.2m in overheads before a ball has been kicked just to keep the turnstiles open.
Predictably, the debate between both sets of fans has descended into the petty tribal back-biting, club politics and falsehoods that have characterised the subject for years.
'Odsal is too far away and all City's support comes from the opposite side of the city,' is just one of the arguments put forward in the past 24 hours. As are 'We don't want to bail out a skint football club that have been in administration twice in six years', 'why can't the Bulls move to Valley Parade instead as it is a much better stadium?' and 'two sports can't be played on the same pitch'.
Some City fans have stepped back from the debate, feeling safe in the knowledge that Bradford has such a spectacular track record of not delivering grandiose schemes that they need not worry about having to leave Valley Parade for something that will never be built. Or, as one neatly put it, 'Steam Pigs will fly before Odsal gets rebuilt'.
As the Sutcliffe council tax goes into the coffers of Bradford Met, I can empathise with this thinking but, it seems, this is one development that is more than likely going to happen. And that means Bradford sport could finally have what it should have had many, many years ago – its professional clubs being housed on one site.
City fans wanting this to happen at Valley Parade, where the facilities for everyone but the players put to shame even some Premier League clubs, is understandable. More than any other club, the Bantams will always have that emotional bond with their ground because of the horrific events of 1985.
But, if what is being planned for a much larger site at Odsal –and the development includes a replacement for the outdated Richard Dunn sports centre, all-weather pitches and athletics facilities – comes to fruition then there really can only be one place for Bradford's sporting mecca to be built.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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