Bradford City’s only major honour occurred over 100 years ago, as well as reaching their highest ever league position of 5th in the First Division. They were originally a rugby league club called Manningham FC, and were the first rugby league champions in the world. But at a club meeting in 1903, the club made the correct decision to switch codes, and become a football team. They renamed themselves to Bradford City and swapped their amber and claret hoops for stripes of the same colours. They were immediately accepted into the Football League – along with Chelsea, Bradford are the only club to be accepted into the league without playing any fixtures first. In 1908-09, City narrowly avoided relegation so their manager Peter O’Rourke wanted to reinforce the team, signing several of his Scottish countrymen.

 

In 1911, the club etched their name onto the FA Cup trophy, but it took some doing. Bradford’s route to the final included wins against New Brompton, Norwich City, Grimsby Town, Burnley and Blackburn Rovers, finally facing off against near neighbours Newcastle United in the final. In the days leading up the final, Bradford’s captain Jimmy Spiers wrote a letter to his opposite number, Colin Veitch. Nobody knows what the letter said, but to the letter Veitch responded that Spiers had “expressed in sound terms the true spirit of comradeship, and the proper sediments one would expect to see associated with the sportsman, and the sport.” Newcastle were the cups defending champions, having won the 1910 edition, but unfortunately for them, two of their key players, Peter McWilliam and England centre-forward Albert Shepherd, were injured. This put City in the box seat for the win.

 

Both teams travelled down to Crystal Palace stadium in London for the match, Bradford City accompanied by 11 trainloads of their biggest supporters. Sadly, the trip was hardly worth it – the game ended 0-0and was described as “decidedly dull and uneventful”. Back in those days, there was no such thing as extra time or penalty shoot-outs. If the game was still a draw at full time, the game would have to be replayed, in its entirety, at a later date. And so it was that a second game took place 4 days later, this time at Old Trafford in Manchester. The only goal of the game came from the head of Bradford’s captain, Jimmy Spiers, in the 15th minute. After cancelling each other out for the rest of the game, Bradford City lifted their first, and to date, their last FA Cup.

 

They were, in fact, the first team to lift this version of the cup. The old trophy was replaced by one of a new, larger design, which was suitably fashioned by Bradford-based jeweller Fattorini’s of Bradford. The fact that Bradford City won it was both fitting and coincidental.  Around 100,000 people met the team at the old Exchange Station in Bradford to celebrate the win, which was followed by a reception for the team at the Midland Hotel. Sadly, many members of the victorious Bradford City team went on to die in action during World War I, including the hero of the day, now Sergeant Jimmy Spiers, who was killed, aged 31, in the Battle of Passchendaele after winning the Military Medal for bravery in the Second Battle of Arras. Bob Torrance was another to lose his life in the war.

Achievements: FA Cup – Winners x1

Star player: Jimmy Spiers DoB 22 March 1886, Glasgow, Scotland

Working as a clerk, Spiers honed his skills playing junior football on the black ash pitches of Glasgow. He played for Rangers from 1905 to 1908 before briefly joining Clyde and the moving on to Bradford City in 1909. One of 8 Scottish-born players in the 1911 FA Cup final, he captained the side and scored the only goal in the replay, lifting the newly fashioned trophy and displaying it on the clubs victory parade back in Bradford. In 1912, he joined Leeds City until the outbreak of World War I, when he returned to Glasgow. As he was married and had two young kids, Spiers was exempt from conscription, but he volunteered to join The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. He was promoted to sergeant and received the Military Medal for bravery, but was sadly killed at 31 during the Battle of Passcheendaele. In 2003, the Spiers family auctioned off his FA Cup winners medal and Military Medal, which were purchased by Bradford City fan and later chairman Mark Lawn. The FA Cup medal was bought for £26,210, a record for an FA Cup medal. They were placed on display at Manchester’s Imperial War Museum North as part of an exhibition linking sport and war.