Remembering five Bradford City games famously beaten by the weather

While Walsall host Leicester in their eye-catching FA Cup fourth-round tie tomorrow lunchtime, their scheduled League Two opponents will once more be left kicking their heels.

The late call-off of the Carlisle game was the third Saturday postponement City have suffered since the start of last month.

Throw in the FA Cup rounds taking out the original Stockport date and now the trip to the Black Country and that’s five weekend fixtures wiped off the list for Mark Hughes’ men.

Hugely frustrating for fans and players alike - but it’s even worse if you’re already there when the plug is pulled.

Here’s five City occasions that were called off either at the 11th hour or after the game kicked off - and was well under way in a couple of cases.

SCUNTHORPE A (February 2021)

There were few benefits to playing behind closed doors during the Covid campaign. But at least on this wretched night in Lincolnshire, supporters were spared the farce of a half-hour white-out.

The pitch was fine to begin with but the snow fell from the opening whistle and quickly came down with a vengeance.

The players are taken off in the heavy snow at Scunthorpe (Image: Twitter)

The players soon faced blizzard conditions covering the pitch and making the contest a joke - particularly as the Bantams wore their silver change kit that blended in with the white landscape.

The white numbers on their backs had completely disappeared by the point when referee David Rock, who had already twice stopped play to have the lines cleared, decided the pantomime should not go on.

OXFORD A (January 2017)

Referee Dean Whitestone had passed the Kassam Stadium pitch fit the day before the Checkatrade Trophy quarter-final with City.

He had another look on the morning of the game and again felt the show could go on.

But there were real misgivings among the players when they stepped out on the very firm surface a couple of hours before kick-off.

Even then, it felt hard underfoot - and the freezing temperature was only going to drop.

But the teams were announced and the usual pre-match warm-up began on a surface getting trickier by the second.

Then, just eight minutes before kick-off, the news came over the tannoy that the game had been postponed.

“We’re peeved it hasn’t been called off earlier,” said boss Stuart McCall. “We were worried at 6.15pm so why wait until gone 7.30?

“It’s not like the sun is going to come out.”

BARNSLEY HOME (October 2015)

Biblical rain washed away City’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy second-round tie at home to Barnsley.

Heavy rain caused the Barnsley game to be called off before kick-off (Image: Thomas Gadd)

The heavens opened 45 minutes before kick-off and the constant deluge came down to such an extent that it felt like sitting under Niagara Falls as a curtain of water fell from the front edge of the main stand.

A drenched crowd of 2,573 were informed during the warm-up that there was no way the game could go ahead.

City boss Phil Parkinson said: “I can’t remember seeing rain like that. It was a freakish deluge with thunder and lightning as well.”

The storm had had been travelling up the country and Parkinson had been warned of what was brewing by chief scout Tim Breacker, who was driving north to watch a game at York.

“Tim said the traffic had been going 10 miles an hour all the way from the Midlands. I thought if that rain comes up here we could be trouble - and it did.”

SWINDON A (January 1988)

This was the night when City went for an early bath in Wiltshire - to force the referee’s hand to abandon the game.

It had been a one-sided contest in front of a 9,000 crowd at the County Ground as Terry Dolan’s visitors never got going.

Future Bantam Jimmy Quinn drilled home a long-range free-kick for the opener. But he was denied his 26th goal of the season when Paul Tomlinson saved a penalty after Brian Mitchell had knocked over Dave Bamber.

City, though, fell further behind through Phil King’s near-post header and fellow defender Colin Calderwood piled on the misery from a set-piece.

Fed-up City fans at the Oxford game that never happened (Image: Bradford City FC)

But the fog was thickening and at 3-0 down, ref David Elleray took the teams off with 18 minutes to go. City seized the unexpected lifeline by taking the plunge!

“After 10 minutes waiting, we all got our kit off and were laying in the bath,” recalled John Hendrie. “Swindon were desperate to get back out there but the ref saw us and made the decision.”

To add insult to injury for the hosts, City came from two down to grab a point in the rearranged fixture thanks to an injury-time equaliser from Mark Leonard.

PLYMOUTH A (February 1978)

City sat bottom of Division Three after seven successive defeats - things could not have been worse.

But they looked to have caught a much-needed break when new signing David McNiven scored on his debut to put them 1-0 up in the snow at Home Park.

And Plymouth were down to ten men after the striker had been punched by full back Mick Horsewill.

Unfortunately, the snow became a blizzard which forced referee Ron Crabb to abandon the game on the hour. He needed medical treatment for the cold.

The snow got so bad that the roads out of Plymouth were blocked off, meaning some stranded travelling fans were housed in an army barracks and took over a day to get home.

City had been relegated by the time the rearranged fixture took place three months later – and got hammered 6-0.