Bradford District stars putting City and Bulls in the shade

If you did say jiu-jitsu, then a pat on the back and a well done from me.

Gracie Barra Bradford picked up that extraordinary haul last month on successive weekends, and they continue to be one of the dominant jiu-jitsu set-ups on the continent.

And they are just one example of the incredible talent we have in the Bradford District, and its surrounding areas, in sports that maybe don’t get the coverage of the big hitters.

Twenty or so years ago, it was a cosy life for sports fans in Bradford, with City spending two campaigns in the Premier League, and Bulls in the middle of a run of four Super League titles in nine seasons.

But those days are long gone now. City were relegated from the top-flight in 2001, and have not been back since, instead spending nine of the last 15 seasons in the fourth tier.

Bulls have not won a major honour since the 2005 Super League Grand Final, and a gradual decline eventually saw them go into administration and then go down in 2014.

It got worse, with liquidation following in 2017, and a humiliating demotion to the third tier for 2018.

Since being promoted at the end of that season, things have steadily improved, but at the moment, Bulls are sadly a solid Championship club and no more, which 2021 proved.

So instead of getting depressed about the decline of the big two, let’s celebrate our lesser lights, who are making waves on the national and international stage.

Aside from Gracie Barra Bradford, the most obvious place to start is Brighouse snowboarder Katie Ormerod.

It is less than 100 days now until the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where the 24-year-old will be one of Britain’s leading hopes to bring home a medal.

It was not to be in Pyeongchang in 2018, where Ormerod’s first Winter Olympics ended in disaster.

A fractured heel on the eve of the Games proved the start of a nightmare for her.

She missed out on competing altogether, had multiple operations over the next year, and didn’t return to action until well into 2019.

But Ormerod proved she is made of tough stuff, becoming the first Briton to win a World Cup snowboard title in March 2020.

Not bad for a woman who, growing up, had to practice on a dry ski slope in Halifax, as opposed to the mountain setting afforded to most of her main rivals.

The Brighouse superstar even had the honour of appearing on flagship BBC quiz show A Question of Sport last June.

Telling the T&A about her experience, she said: “It was amazing to be on A Question of Sport, I loved it.

“It’s a programme I’ve always wanted to go on. It was a lot of fun and I was on the winning team too.

“The whole thing was just a really cool experience.

“Snowboarding’s not in the mainstream like a lot of of British sports.

“So it was really good to hopefully go some way towards putting it on the British map by being on the show.”

While Ormerod targets Olympic glory in China next February, another big sport in the country has a couple of Bradford District superstars too.

Thanks to excellent PR and media work from the likes of Matchroom, pool and snooker have both found a lucrative market in Southeast Asia.

And in the former, we have Keighley duo Chris Melling and Arfan Dad flying the flag.

Melling is a two-time world champion, and has been one of the leading names on the pool circuit around the globe for the last two decades.

But Dad is no slouch himself, winning multiple English titles over the years, as well as his first World Rules Pool Tour title earlier this month.

The pair’s neighbour in the district, Jack Carthy, must surely be Haworth’s all-time greatest sportsman, even at the age of just 25.

He won his ninth trials cycling world title last month, with that adding to his 14 British crowns, five European Championships and four World Cups.

It’s not even just these exceptional talents who have won on the international stage though.

It would be unfair to write this column without hailing all those City of Bradford swimmers who regularly put in strong performances at both county and national events.

How about the healthy crop of young amateur boxers from the Bradford District, as well as two of our leading professionals, Undercliffe’s Hamed Ghaz and Keighley’s Ibrahim Nadim, both of whom remain unbeaten from 21 combined fights?

And then you have former Hanson School pupil, and dyed-in-the-wool Bradfordian, Dean Harrison, who has won the iconic Isle of Man TT and put in stellar performances in this year’s British Superbike Championship.

So you see, there are some incredible sporting things happening for those from the Bradford District and its surrounding areas, you just have to avoid looking in the obvious places.