Wigan is a big game but certainly not a derby match.

I'm from Pudsey too. Well Farsley, Pudsey anyway. Moved to Mirfield to be with the Mrs, which similarly is another area that was a good mix on Leeds and Bradford fans. The Airedale Heffer which was run by John Charles son was great on rugby nights.

James Bentley was at Fev's scholarship system before then moving to Bradford (moved with the coach)

I hope Bentley lives up to his promise, he's not a player I've seen an awful lot of but plenty on here seem to think he'll kill it at Leeds. Seems a good lad, hope it all works out as planned.

Does anyone know where Corey Johnson will play for Bradford by the way? Used mostly at 7 for York, I'm kindof hoping he'll get a run at 9 for Bradford assuming he's physically ready.

I think we can all agree the Leeds v Bradford Derby was to a degree a contrivance by Sky. We've always been rivals but are not each others primary grudge matches. For you it's Hunslet and Cas, whereas for us it's Halifax and Huddersfield. That said, there's a lot of our Derbies that live long in the memory. Brian McDermott having a psycho moment in the cup and punching any Leeds player that came near. Barry Mac fancying a bit of a rest so randomly leathering Fielden. I also loved Karl Pratt (whatever happened to him?) running in front of the away end at Odsal with his hand to his ear, although I bet you'd have cheerfully put your fist down his throat at the time.

I could never get on board with the "I hate Leeds" mentality though. Seemed fake really and I've always grudgingly respected the sleeve and the way the club has been run.

It's really funny how this incident gets exaggerated over the years


My recollection of this event was that Brian Mac punched Terry Newton once, Damian Gibson once and then had an altercation with Martin Massella.
None of Brian Macs punches actually sat anyone on their despite being the only one throwing the hammer, which especially in Damian Gibson's case is laughable as he was only 10 stone wet thru



If that dust up had occurred on the street then I would have backed Terry Newton to be the winner all day long.

McDermott was an ex-Royal Marine and semi pro boxer. Hard as nails mate.

Yes I'm aware of Brian Mac's Military career and also his boxing exploits Jim.
With regards to the afore mentioned incident then his 2 free shots on both Newton and Gibson didn't really have either player rocking on their heels and this incident has been greatly exaggerated over the years.

One of my favourite rugby moments was the 99 semi final when Sheridan ripped the ball from Danny Peacock. Nobody realised what had happened for a good few seconds. Whilst not a traditional rivalry, there were some great matches and battles.

Great times.

Just going to those games back then was amazing, choc full of "incidents" ,hugely competitive, two rabid fanbases desperate to get something over on their local rivals, the office banter when you lost (I had one of the Paul brothers cousins working with me at the time and he loved to rub it in) and of course the massive crowds, build up and general "feel" of the game day, week even!

Its something the game desperately needs to remember how to do on a more consistent basis instead of relying on 1 or two posters up in a town centre to drum up interest.

I've never understood the obsession with Cas as our main rivals. Maybe its because I'm from Pudsey but it was always Northern/Bulls for me. Also probably depends on when you started watching. Pre WW2 it was Hunslet first, second and third. That lasted until the 50s at least, but immediately post-war Bradford would have been the team to beat (or not, like the 1947 cup final). In the 60s the biggest rivals locally by far were Wakefield, until Cas about later in the decade. For most of the 70s there wasn't a consistently strong team in W Yorks until Foxy took over at coach at Bradford who then ripped up the league.

One thing's for sure, SL is far poorer without a strong Bradford. And regardless of where the juniors were originally from, their record at bringing through forwards in particular was tremendous - far better than Leeds over the same period.