Bramley Buffaloes

For the original Bramley club, see Bramley RLFC.

Bramley Buffaloes RLFC is a rugby league club from the Bramley area of West Leeds in West Yorkshire, England.

History

At the end of the 1999 season Bramley RLFC resigned from the Northern Ford Premiership to become a feeder team for Leeds, but this never materialised. Bramley applied to rejoin the Northern Ford Premiership in 2000 but were rejected whilst a similar bid from Gateshead Thunder was accepted. They had planned to play games at the home of soccer club Farsley Celtic and progressively upgrade the ground, this may have been the cause of the rejection. The club folded.

A new Bramley club applied again to rejoin the Rugby Football League for the 2003 season with their home games to be played at Morley Rugby Union Club, with the long-term aim of establishing their own ground. They were rejected despite meeting the grounds criteria because the stadium was not in Bramley. They were reformed as a supporter-owned club and joined National League Three, also fielding a side in the Rugby League Conference. The first game against Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks drew a crowd of more than 1,200. In that first 2004 season, coached by Phil Hellewell, the club reached the NL3 Championship semi-finals, losing at eventual champions Coventry Bears. In 2005 the Buffaloes went a step further reaching the Grand Final at Widnes, losing in the last quarter to Bradford Dudley Hill.