RFL credibility now ZERO!!!!
No players, no administration, no coach, no history and now allowed in the championship yet other new clubs have to start in championship 1
Only this sport could be so out of touch and hypocritical.

Has it?

Confirmed on RFL website that deal been struck. Press conference next week and speaking to the players of former club.

Legal entity admitted to the League with players to be sourced if you prefer that approach

So which 2 nd tier Aussie team sells 6,000+ season tickets to fans that attend every game ?

I concur , it will be a season trying to avoid drowning , hopefully after they've get their feet under the table a meeting involving the new clubs owners , The RFL and the council can be held

Ultimately something has to be resolved with regards Odsal , if it doesn't happen , we'll be seeing this comedy all over again quite soon

Anyway , welcome back Bradford

A welcome bit of good news at last.

do we know who is involved yet ownership wise?

So having cut Bradfords funding and deducted them points in 2012 only to see them go back in to administration in 2014, the RFL tried deducting the Bradford Bulls points, stopped them signing players, saw them relegated and a massive cut in funding which saw the club liquidated in 2016.

With the Bradford Bulls now dead, the RFL have admitted a new brand new Bradford club just weeks before the season starts and an entire squad still to build, have thrown caution to the wind and tried something new, original and completely left-field. They have cut their funding and deducted them points.

I'm still intrigued with the RFL on this one,until all unfolds I'll reserve judgement.

Funding hasn't necessarily been cut as such in a way. I try to think of it like:

Old Bradford finished 5th, therefore would have got money based on this finishing position for 2017 (for arguments sake we will say £1,000 per position, 12th gets £1,000, 11th gets £2,000 and so on) so Old Bradford would have received £8,000. Then old Bradford were liquidated.

In the RFL's mind NEW BRADFORD gets a Champ place, due to it being so close to 2017 season and the League 1 clubs all have prepared for League 1. Plus needing to fill Summer Bash (Bradford take a lot of fans there, only Hull KR will take a significant amount if we aren't there) and they need someone to play at Odsal. So instead of being relegated we have been relegated to the lowest funding point in this league (12th position, £1,000). So not really a cut in essence. NEW BRADFORD starting from the bottom of the Champ table in terms of funding. Getting the same money as any other club who would have finished 12th (or last).

The points deduction I do not understand. New club should not have to face a points deduction as they have done nothing wrong. The only explanation I can think of is that the RFL needed a way to punish us due to not starting from League 1. There is uproar now about us starting in the Champ, imagine what it would be like if we started in the Champ without a deduction? For the record, most Bradford fans agree with most of the RL community in terms of we should be starting in League 1.

To stop clubs using this as a way of avoiding their financial responsibilities. Yes it's a penalty on a new owner, the players and the fans who has done nothing wrong, but ultimately that is the 'club' in it's entirety. If the new owner had bought the old club and payed the creditors no penalty.

As for the next 12 months possibly a tough time. In the last two years the team finishing 3rd bottom has achieved 14 points before the 8s that's having a team capable of winning 13 games with the penalty in place. Assuming at worst Bradford are no more than 2pts behind the third bottom team the 8s structure gives them a chance of finishing in the bottom two. It may be more the quality of squad that can be put in place by the start of the 8s than the 23 game pre-season Bradford are now about to enter.