Shame they got knocked out by Wigan or we'd have made it six at Old Trafford.

What year are you talking about??

2003

I love going as a neutral. I'm never sure which team & I will end up wanting to win, it changes through the game & often depends who I am stood with. The draw at Headingley last year was a classic. I remember several years ago stood with a few of the ST off here for the first half, listening to the paranoid Bull fans berating Ganson, then standing with my Leeds mates for the second half; the Rhino fans being equally sure he was biased against them. Mobile phones have certanly made derbies more fun.

As a kid in the very late 70's and early 80's i had to do my schooling at 2 of Bradfords Catholic schools, which were subsequently full of Bradford fans, I was the only Leeds RL fan in the entire of both schools

The Monday mornings after Northern had beaten Leeds were a personal nightmare for me as they would all line up before school started and would all chant "Northern, Northern, Northern" etc etc

But when Leeds won, surprisingley these kids were all elsewhere on that monday morning

Due to these intimidating circumstances as a school kid, i always take great pleasure in defeating Bradford

The chase of catching the Bulls in the 2003/2004 seasons were very exciting times, I admit to shedding a tear at Old Trafford when we finally reached the Holy Grail of winning our first Grand Final and I have never jumped up and down at a game, whilst nearly weeing my pants in the process, as when Sinny went for the 2, but Jordan Tansey took the 4 instead

I long for the day that this fixture can again draw 20,000 plus crowds because RL needs this game and both these teams to be successful

Nice, genuine heartfelt post there, Biff. You can come again!

Ditto (including the Catholic bit), although I think I win for having to endure Bullmania with a load of 16-17 year old male Bulls fans, most of whom weren't even aware of what 'Northern' referred to...

Luckily for me my last year of 6th form corresponded with the 1998 season, including the game at Odsal when Harris destroyed Bradford single handedly, featuring numerous comedy incidents including Edwards giving Matt Calland a public telling off for not passing to him, pantomime villain Graeme Bradley having his jaw broken, and Francis Cummins having a girly fight with Stuart Spruce. Leeds winning meant a lot back then, especially as I was used to Leeds being the more dominant side in 1995.

A good decade under the bridge now and it means a lot less. Partly because I'm older. Partly because I don't live in Bradford (or even Yorkshire) anymore. Partly because I stopped going to games in 2006. And partly because the derby isn't what it once was.

I think once the 2004 season happened and Leeds won the championship for the first time in my lifetime things began to matter a lot less. The three in a row was good but after the first experience of Leeds actually winning something (1999 was more of a flash in the pan), something changed. For the past few years it doesn't even annoy me that much at the time if Leeds lose (even to Bradford) but in the past I would have been unconsolable for the whole weekend, if not longer.

For me, when I was in my teens, the Bulls played a big part of my life. Yes there was school work, playstations, drinking and the like to think about, but nothing compared to spending time watching my team, thinking of different starting 13's, thinking of who's injured, etc, etc (except maybe chasing one or two girls, or maybe several more.........)

I was one of very very few Bulls fans in my high school which was located in Leeds and out of the other so called Bulls fans, I was 1 of an even smaller minority that actually went to Bulls games and was a season ticket holder, which automatically led to banter and a barrage of friendly and good gestured abuse from the so called Rhino's fans................until the day after the derby!

Back then, Leeds were 9 times out of 10 no match for the Bulls, the peak being the 5 times unbeaten in 1 season in 2003. That was the only day you could go into school wearing your Bulls jacket or carrying your bulls bag and expect nobody to bring rugby up.........You didn't have to say anything to them and stoop to their level, you knew and they knew who was the better team, often quite convincingly!

Still to this day, whenever we have the prospect of beating Leeds, I think to myself, which Rhino fans have gone quiet now? Which of the rhino’s that was so quick to jump on board the glory train no longer want to know? If I was to walk around Leeds city centre, how many of the glory fans have stopped wearing their Rhino’s shirts and gone back to the Leeds United shirts and how many of them don't seem to want to talk about the greatest sport on earth when they don't win it!

What does it mean to beat Leeds, it means not being able to be mimicked for supporting your team? It means standing tall and being even more proud of your team, until the Rhino’s fans start to blame it all on the biased ref....................

|I haven't visited here for a while but it made me chuckle that just three posts after this gem Adeybull laments the substandard fekkwittedry.

Yours in Sport,

A "Classless supporter of the scum"

I'm quite magnanimous when it comes to Leeds. I also enjoy other teams beating them. Sitting with the Hull fans at Cardiff was a particular favourite.

So it made me have a wry smile, that is all.

Chill out man, you can be very defensive.

I was also with the Rhinos fans that year, it went very empty when Cooke threw the winning dummy.