By no stretch of the imagination has the 2010/11 season been a good one for Bradford City. Currently in 17th place, with 11 games to go and with very littleto play for apart from pride. Peter Taylor recently departed from the Bantams and it is left to Peter Jackson to guide the West Yorkshire club through the remainder of this season. However, a century ago things were very different for Bradford City…….

2011 marks the centenary of Bradford City’s FA Cup winning season. To commemorate this remarkable event, an exhibition – When the FA Cup Came Home – will be held at Bradford Industrial Museum from Saturday 19 March 2011 until Sunday 12 June 2011.

Through archive images, film footage and original objects, the exhibition will illustrate how the club achieved arguably the most famous and popular triumph in Bradford’s footballing history. A victory made even more remarkable by the club becoming the very first recipient of the current trophy, designed and produced by Fattorini’s of Bradford.

When the FA Cup Came Home will chart the footballing journey to FA Cup success – from a cold January afternoon in New Brompton to a grand day out and disappointment in a Crystal Palace Final against the mighty Newcastle United, culminating in victory at Old Trafford, Manchester, in a hard-fought replay.

It will also tell the fascinating stories of the players: their origins, how they came to be part of the club, their part in the victory and what became of them in the ensuing years. The lives of several cup heroes and millions more were to be cut tragically short on the battlefields of Europe in the Great War that began a mere three years later. Of the rest, some went on to make significant contributions to club and community, while others disappeared into relative obscurity.

A tangible reminder of the great day, apart from the cup itself, was the medal presented to each member of the victorious team. While many of these medals have remained within the families of respective players and passed down the generations, the whereabouts of others is less clear. Bradford Museums & Galleries has secured the loan of no less than six of them. These will be on display in the exhibition and the aim is to discover the location of as many others as possible before it begins. Think how wonderful it would be to have eleven medals, most likely not seen together since the great day itself a century ago!

Through retelling the story of this epic event, When the FA Cup Came Home will provide a glimpse of Bradford life at the beginning of the twentieth century and show how these echoes from the past still have resonance for us today.

Further details about the exhibition can be found on the following website: http://www.bradfordmuseums.org/venues/industrialmuseum/detail.php?ID=238