Beldon Sports

The name that will always be associated with Beldon Sports is the club founder Joe Williamson. Beldon, who originated from The Ions, a demolished pub in Otley Road, actually started in 1957 on a friendly basis. They were founder members of the first Sunday league in Bradford, the Bradford & District Sunday, in 1962, and therefore have a strong point in their case for being classed as the city’s oldest Sunday team. Over the 40 years Joe Williamson’s enthusiasm has never waned, despite the club never winning a trophy, and he is equally proud that despite several times going through a season without a win, Beldon have never failed to put out a team in over 1,250 matches. 1982 was one of the club’s finest times when Beldon were supposedly making up the numbers in the Bradford & District quarter-finals against rivals Ventus, Beldon’s 2-0 win causing a major upset. Since joining the Alliance Beldon have never left division two, but the last six years have been quite disastrous – there was a period where they had only won one game in three seasons, and won only nine out of 124. Last season Beldon won three and drew three to finish tenth in division 2B. And to prove enthusiasm and success don’t always go together, Joe Williamson and Beldon Sports will be competing again in the Alliance, hoping to build on their improvement.