T&A reporter Bill Marshall rolls back the years to recall the sporting stories hitting the headlines this week 10, 25 and 50 years ago....

50 YEARS AGO

IN A week when a park and ride railway station was predicted for Dawson's Corner before the end of 1966, Bobby Ham had a day to remember for Avenue as Newport County were thrashed 6-1.

He scored four of the goals and hit the bar during the rout, Geoff Gould and Kevin Hector – his 25th of the season – also being on target on an afternoon when Avenue could have reached double figures.

City went down 4-0 at Chester, and were losing by that score when Ken Leek was sent off in the 66th minute.

The brilliance of goalkeeper Peter Bonetti defied Leeds United, who lost 1-0 to Chelsea in the FA Cup, while Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur were involved in a thrilling tie at White Hart Lane, Willie Irvine bagging a hat-trick for the Clarets and Alan Gilzean doing likewise for Spurs, for whom Frank Saul also netted.

However, Huddersfield Town won 2-0 at Plymouth Argyle to book a fifth-round home tie with Sheffield Wednesday, thanks to goals from Steve Smith and Les Massie.

Bradford Northern, inspired by Terry Clawson, Pete Goddard and Dave Stockwell, climbed up to seventh on the back of a 12-5 victory at Hull, thanks to tries by wingers Geoff Smith and Lionel Williamson, while Clawson added three goals, two from the touchline.

But not even a prodigious display by England international scrum half Roger Pickering could prevent Bradford's rugby union team from falling to a 6-0 defeat at Hull & East Riding.

Meanwhile, former Welsh international John D Robins, sports master at Bingley Grammar School from 1952-53, was named as assistant manager of the British Lions' summer tour to New Zealand. He had also played for Bradford and Yorkshire.

Coincidentally, CURIOUS of Bradford had written in to ask for the average attendances so far this winter for the leading three sporting clubs in the city. Always glad to oblige, the Telegraph & Argus replied: Northern 6,934; Avenue 5,255; City 3,468.

25 YEARS AGO

FINDING somewhere to train was a problem for City and Northern due to the snow, so City's players had an aerobics session at Fitness Fantasy on Bolton Road, while Northern presumably made use of Brian Noble's contacts to use indoor police facilities.

It must have done the Bantams some good as canvas covers and a three-day snow clearing operation by volunteers enabled their home match against Birmingham City to go ahead, and they won 2-0, courtesy of a Sean McCarthy brace, to resurrect their play-off ambitions.

In the Rugby League Challenge Cup, there was another Victor Meldrew moment – "I don't believe it" – when, for the seventh time in three seasons in various knockout competitions, Bradford Northern (who admittedly had to overcome Leigh first) were drawn to face Leeds.

Northern's accounts showed that their wage bill (£607,000) had soared by 66 per cent as they announced a post-tax loss of £57,478 for the year ending June 30, 1990, compared to a profit of £142,000 the previous year.

Runcorn, who had at least managed to draw a match recently and had a camera crew following them around in case they finally did win, having not done so for two years, rolled up at Lawkholme Lane for a Silk Cut Challenge Cup tie.

The underdogs competed well early doors but eventually succumbed 36-4, with man of the match Jeff Butterfield scoring two tries and having two assists.

Leeds United travelled to Manchester United for the first leg of their League Cup semi-final, which, unusually, was played on a Saturday afternoon.

The scrappy, ill-tempered affair didn't grab the public by the short and curlies as the attendance was more than 13,000 down on the best crowd of the season at Old Trafford, and Leeds lost 2-1, their man of the match Chris Whyte getting the goal.

Bradford-born Gary Haylock, now manager of Hayes & Yeading United, scored on his debut for Huddersfield Town in their 1-1 draw at promotion-chasing Bolton.

From Gary Haylock to Gary Havelock: He was one of three Bradford Coalite Dukes riders (the others were Andy Smith and Paul Thorpe) who were holding out for more money ahead of the new speedway season, so, with Neil Evitts left out altogether, manager Allan Ham (Bobby's brother) was considering approaching transfer-listed Simon Wigg at Oxford.

Stephen Hendry was 7-0 down to Mike Hallett at the interval in the final of the Benson & Hedges Masters at Wembley but mounted one of the greatest comebacks in snooker history to win 9-8.

10 YEARS AGO

JUST days after Bradford Bulls had won the World Club Challenge against Wests Tigers at Huddersfield, Bulls chairman Chris Caisley resigned, confident that the club were in good hands with his deputy Peter Hood.

Caisley also took a swipe at those who had criticised the club for selecting 34-year-old Marcus Bai and fellow veteran Stanley Gene for the big match as they were among the best players on the night.

Bulls started Super League XI with a 20-14 win at Wakefield, with Paul Deacon making his comeback after three months out with a horrific facial injury.

Danny Belcher, 16, scored two tries for Clayton in their Powergen Challenge Cup tie against Warrington Wizards, but they lost 32-24.

Meanwhile, City manager Colin Todd accused his side of a lack of professionalism for letting a 1-0 lead slip in the last minute against Swindon, Dean Windass having earlier scored his 16th goal of the season.

Avenue won 2-1 at Burscough in a semi-final of the UniBond League President's Cup, 17-year-old Jimmy Beadle, who was on loan from Scarborough, getting the last-gasp winner.

Tyersal are now second from bottom in the West Riding County Amateur League Premier Division, but it was different in 2006 as both their first and second teams won through to semi-finals of the West Riding County FA Challenge Cup and Trophy.

James Gill, announced as Silsden FC's new manager this week, netted a far-post header as they reached the semi-finals of the West Riding County FA Sunday Cup by defeating 2004-05 semi-finalists Elland.