BRADFORD Northern were in trouble at the start of March 1966.
The floodlights at Odsal were not working, and they were meant to be playing a midweek home match against Hull FC on March 9.
Both sides were looking to finish in the 16-team play-offs, with the game particularly important to the Airlie Birds, whose defeat to Leeds at Headingley on March 5 left them down in 19th.
Bradford were concerned, as the only Odsal solution was to play the Wednesday game at a ridiculously early time of 4:15pm, meaning a guaranteed low crowd as most people were still at work.
But there appeared to be a genius solution, as reported by Barry Wood in the T&A 60 years ago today.
Bradford (Park Avenue) had agreed to lend Northern the use of their ground for the game, with a much-more agreeable kick-off time of 7:30pm.
A grateful Northern struck a deal that would allow Avenue to receive a 10 per cent share of the total gate receipts.
Northern chairman Joe Phillips hailed the agreement as being “all for the good of sport in Bradford” and it was rather fitting, because while the club had played games at Valley Parade during World War II, they had never done so at Park Avenue.
Joe Phillips (left) presents the Lord Mayor of Bradford to Northern’s players in August 1964, ahead of their first match since reforming against Hull KR. (Image: T&A)
But the following Monday, just two days before the game was to take place, the Football League put their foot down, refusing to sanction the game.
Both clubs, and many in Bradford, felt this was an unnecessarily high-handed decision, given it would have really helped both clubs out.
It was also noted that the Challenge Cup final was held at Wembley every year without issue.
A frustrated Northern pushed kick-off back to 4:30pm, as a strange afternoon clash at Odsal ended in an underwhelming 5-4 defeat for the hosts.
Phillips, a brilliant and popular player at Northern in the fifties before taking on his administrative role in the sixties, sadly never lived to see his beloved Bradford become the dominant force they did towards the end of the seventies.
Joe Phillips (left) caused Bradford’s opposition plenty of headaches as a speedy full back in the fifties. (Image: T&A)
Having played a huge role alongside fellow club legend Trevor Foster in helping the club reform in 1964 after going bust, Phillips sadly died just a few years later.
In London on business the day before the 1969 Challenge Cup final, Phillips died in his hotel at the age of just 44.
The New Zealander sadly left behind his wife Margaret and their three children, Catherine, Charles and Joseph.
But as one of Bradford’s greatest foreign imports, the club ensured he was never forgotten.
Later that year, his two former clubs, Northern and Keighley, came up with the idea of the Joe Phillips Memorial Trophy.
That is still contested for between the two sides, all these years later.
