The Millennium
Flower Of Scotland – 2000 The Bulls won the 2000 Challenge Cup with a 24–18 against local rivals Leeds Rhinos at the Scottish Rugby Union's Murrayfield Stadium, the first time that the final had been held in Scotland. Henry Paul won the Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match.
Glory Days-2001 Brian Noble was appointed Bradford head coach in 2001 and the club took up residence at Valley Parade, the home of Bradford City, to allow for the redevelopment of Odsal Stadium. Reaching the Challenge Cup final, held at Twickenham, the team suffered a 13–6 defeat to St Helens. On 3 May, in a home match against Warrington, Henry Paul set a new World Record for consecutive goal kicks (35). The Bulls finished the regular season as Minor Premiers and on 13 October at Old Trafford, a new Super League Grand Final record attendance of 60,164 turned up and the Bulls crushed Wigan Warriors 37–6 to claim the title. Michael Withers scored a hat-trick of tries and was awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy as Man of the Match.
World beaters- 2002 The Bulls were crowned World Club Champions on 1 February 2002 after defeating Australian Premiers Newcastle Knights 41–26 in front of a crowd of 21,113 at Huddersfield's McAlpine Stadium. James Lowes was named as Man of the Match and Paul Deacon kicked eight goals from nine attempts plus a drop goal for a total of 17 points in the match, an individual scoring record for this competition. Bradford again lost the Super League Grand Final to St Helens this time losing 19–18 in the last minute of the game.
Tre-BULL Champions -2003 The first match played following the clubs' return to Odsal was against Yorkshire rivals Wakefield Trinity Wildcats on Sunday 9 March 2003 and attracted an attendance of 20,283. Bradford Bulls won the game 22–10. Bradford Bulls became the first club to win the Challenge Cup and Super League Grand Final in the same season in 2003. The team travelled to Cardiff to beat the Leeds Rhinos at the Millennium Stadium 22–20 in front of 71,212 fans, then went on to lift the League Leaders Shield for finishing top of the Super League after 28 rounds, before defeating Leeds Rhinos again, for the fifth time in the season, in the Qualifying Semi Final play-off to reach the Tetley's Rugby Super League Grand Final. The Bulls claimed the Super League title with victory over Wigan Warriors before a record, sell-out crowd of 65,537 at Old Trafford, Manchester.
World Champions – 2004 Bradford Bulls regained the World Club Challenge in 2004 by beating the NRL champions Penrith Panthers 22–4 at the McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield. They also beat Leeds Rhinos in the play-offs to reach the Grand Final, only to meet their arch-rivals two weeks later at Old Trafford in front of a record grand final crowd of 67,000. This time Bradford were beaten by Leeds 16–8. 2004 was also a superb year for the ‘The Volcano’ Lesley Vainikolo as he smashed the Super League try scoring record with a total of 37 tries from 26 appearances. This achievement started in the first round of the regular Super League season as he crossed the try line on five separate occasions against Wigan Warriors to equal the record for the total number of tries in a Super League game.
History Makers – 2005 After a difficult start to the 2005 season, The Bulls went on a 12 match unbeaten run and managed to win the Super League title from third place by beating Leeds Rhinos at Old Trafford.
New Era – 2006 The Bulls started the 2006 season by beating Wests Tigers 30–10 in the World Club Challenge Match at the Galpharm Stadium. This was their third such win in four years. Coach Brian Noble left Bradford to coach relegation threatened Wigan Warriors on 20 April 2006, Steve McNamara took over as head coach. Stuart Fielden followed Noble, moving to Wigan for a record fee of £450,000. McNamara's finest hour so far may have been the 20–18 defeat of St Helens at Odsal in June, which proved to be Fielden's last match for the Bulls. Bradford Bulls did not reach the Grand Final for the 1st time in 6 years, going out to Hull in the Final Eliminator
Read more about this topic: History Of The Bradford Bulls
Famous quotes containing the word millennium:
“The millennium will not come as soon as women vote, but it will not come until they do vote.”
—Anna Howard Shaw (1847–1919)
“At the end of one millennium and nine centuries of Christianity, it remains an unshakable assumption of the law in all Christian countries and of the moral judgment of Christians everywhere that if a man and a woman, entering a room together, close the door behind them, the man will come out sadder and the woman wiser.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)