BRADFORD City’s lease on their historic Valley Parade home is due for renewal in a few years.
Whilst a move away from Valley Parade seems improbable, the end of the lease period will inevitably attract speculation that City could leave their spiritual home behind for pastures new.
If the unthinkable did happen, City would hardly be the first club to face the emotional upheaval of leaving behind a beloved ground that is a second home for thousands of fans.
Since Scunthorpe United left the Old Showground in 1988 nearly forty Football League clubs have moved, with Everton’s Goodison Park next to face the wrecking ball.
As the countdown clocks tick down over the course of a season, the sadness and trepidation felt by fans as they prepare to say goodbye can rub up uncomfortably with the imperative of marketing departments to maximise the many and varied money-making and branding opportunities tried and tested over the last thirty-five years, culminating in the nostalgia-soaked final match.
From laser shows and free monkey nuts to stolen seats and Covid lockouts, such occasions represent an emotionally charged mix of sentimentality and anarchy, tradition and territory, commemoration and commercialisation - especially when things don’t always follow the club script.
A headline in a national newspaper asked “Have West Ham died?” As the lights went out on the Boleyn Ground in May 2016, there was no end of ridicule on Twitter and beyond following a televised closing ceremony for the stadium that featured “Farewell Boleyn”- branded black cabs parading ex-players around the pitch, the Cockney Rejects performing “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” and an appearance from a Bobby Moore lookalike.
But they are certainly not the only club to have made an extravaganza of saying goodbye to their historic home.
‘Home’ is the key word here. When Bradford City play at Valley Parade, they are playing ‘at home’. It is a sense of belonging, of identity, of routines that can stretch back through decades and generations of families.
Bradford City without Valley Parade is as unthinkable as the club ditching their famous claret and amber colours, it is deeply embedded in the fabric of the club and its supporters. The tragic fire of 11 May 1985 deepened that already strong bond.
The departure of clubs from their spiritual homes is the focus of this Saturday’s Sporting Lunchtime Lecture at The Record Cafe on North Parade.
The speaker, Dr Ffion Thomas, is the deputy editor of the renowned When Saturday Comes magazine. The talk commences at 12 noon, entry is free - simply purchase a pint or a cuppa!
Dr Thomas investigates how stadium moves impacts on supporters’ match day routines, the self-image of clubs and how former grounds are remembered and commemorated.
Ffion is a co-instigator of the University of Sheffield’s Sporting Statues Project, highlighting statues of sportspeople in the UK and worldwide. Her PhD, at the University of Central Lancashire’s International Football Institute in Preston, focussed on the motivations, significance and impact of English football clubs moving stadium since 1988 and in particular the visual culture associated with such moves.
* Monthly Sporting Lunchtime lectures, which take place at the Record Cafe, emerged from a 2003 exhibition at Bradford Industrial Museum: 100 Years of Claret and Amber, the Centenary of Bradford City AFC.
More than 10,000 people went to the exhibition, which featured more than 400 loaned objects. There was a groundswell of support for keeping together the exhibits, leading to a museum which ran for nearly five years, hosting lunchtime events with a range of speakers.
By 2018 North Parade had become popular with City fans, pre and post matches. The North Parade scene was initiated in 2011 by the Sparrow bar and the vision of Les Hall and Marko Husak, both City fans. A mini exhibition in the Sparrow looked back at Baines Collectors Cards, the precursor of the global football card craze, which was started at Baines’ shop on North Parade.
Other events followed, including a re-launch of Hey’s beer, by City fan Kathryn Hey, a descendant of the Bradford brewing family who were chairmen and directors of Bradford City AFC in the interwar period.
North Parade has become “one of the greatest football streets in the world on match days” and offered the backdrop when Keith Wildman and David Pendleton sat in the Record Cafe bar one night in 2017. It was the first step towards establishing the sporting lunchtime lectures.
It was decided to select Saturdays when Bradford City were at home and commence at midday. A 45-minute talk, followed by questions, would finish just in time before the pre-match rush. David Pendleton opened the series, with a bed sheet hung from neighbouring store Boyes as a makeshift screen. As the talks became more established David Pendleton began interviewing speakers afterwards for a Bradford History Podcast series.
There was a packed audience at the Record Cafe for February’s lecture: Hey’s Ladies - Yorkshire’s Forgotten Football Champions. Steve Bolton, whose grandmother played for the legendary Dick Kerr’s Ladies who dominated women’s football a century ago, and Kathryn Hey talked about challenges faced by women footballers in the 1920s.
* Dr Ffion Thomas’ talk on ‘The Visual Culture of Football: Heritage and Nostalgia in Ground Moves’ is at the Record Cafe on Saturday at 12 noon. Visit therecordcafe.co.uk/sporting-lunchtime-lectures-2023-24
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