Part of safeguarding the future of the sport is having credibility , and part of that is punishing things that damage the sport, now either the RFL didnt do their job when assessing the Bulls last licence aplication, or the bulls told huge lies

Somebody has to be punished, and as we know, a points deduction means absolutely nothing in a franchised comp, so what punishment do you suggest, financial?

Our credibility will be determined by what rules we put in place to stop it happening again during the next licencing phase. That may not be quick enough for some but it gives us time to get it right rather than trying to rush things through as we reach the climax of our season. I'm not suggesting we do nothing but the priority at the moment has to be assisting with getting new owners for the Bulls and completing their season. That may also mean apply a penalty either during this season or next.



I don't know what should be a reasonable penalty but I don't think relegation is one of them. Would the NRL just demote a club? Would the NFL? The MLB? These are sports that are similar in that they have franchised systems in which teams are not instantly replaceable. All three of these sports have dealt with issues far worse than ours yet they continue to grow because of the commitment to the bigger vision of improving their sport. I'm not sure that effectively consigning one of the sports strongholds to the outer wastes fits with that ambition and that should be something fans whose teams have been cast aside should be able to relate to.

How many times do we have to see a situation where we dont have rules to deal with misdemeanours that are not hard to imagine ? , when licencing was first brought in the RFL had several years to prepare, surely they could have had somebody coming up with various scenarios, and the punishments decided

So what penalty do you suggest? Points deductions mean nothing

It seems to me that the current favourites, like others are blackmailing the RFL , so should the RFL be blackmailed?

I'm glad to see your opinion of the Championships matches mine

That's fair enough but we haven't so we have to fix it correctly which will take time and can't be resolved in a few weeks.



I don't know because I'm not privvy to the precise internal workings of what's happened.



One person's blackmail is another's negotiating from a position of strength. We, as a sport, are not strong enough to force clubs into line because we do not have the same financial resources. I hate to keep mentioning American sports because some people have an aversion to them and think that they have nothing to teach us, which makes little sense. They have enough financial power to dictate what happens with the clubs. Our sport isn't in such a position and it requires movement from both the clubs and the RFL. I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself but if we had ten clubs outside Super League with successful business plans, stadiums and average attendances, chomping at the bit then the RFL are in a strong position. At best we have, what? Two to three teams who might meet a few of the criteria?

I don't think we have such a luxury of choice that we can afford to do without the Bulls. That viewpoint may afford more weight to bigger clubs than it does smaller clubs but that's life. When businesses go to the wall you're far more likely to find interest and investment saving a bigger one than you would a smaller one e.g. banking crisis. That may not be morally or politically correct but not everything is and occasionally we need to compromise those values in order to progress e.g. signing with Murdoch owned SKY.

RFL spokesman has confirmed decision on Bradford will be made by the RFL board and that clubs were warned over the possible effects of administration at the last issue of licences meaning Bradford is different from Wakefield and Crusaders.

Bradford are too big to kick out of SL. It's as simple as that. It just will not happen. The RFL will have a rethink of their strategy. We have a "live cap", will they now insist on "live accounts" ? Monthly numbers submitted to Red Hall, followed by an annual audit? How else can they protect clubs from stupid Chairmen?

How long do the RFL leave it though?
10 times, 1000 times, 100,000,000 times?
A line has to be drawn in the sand at some point and someone is going to be holding the 'present' when the roundabout does eventually stop.
I truly feel sorry for the Bradford fans...............but as a HKR fan who watched his club almost go to the wall with little help from the rest of the RL community I do feel that the Bradford fans are being a little unfair here on some level.
Bradford were spending money they did not have so I have to ask were you all this upset when you were cheering on the players you could not afford that won you games that you should have lost if you had been spending by your means?
Did you kick off when the club let you buy your passes for a very silly cheap price?
I said something similar to Hull City fans when they were up in arms about how much in debt they were when they dropped out of the premiership.
Our Chariman (HKR) has stated that our board are not going to bankroll us anymore and we are going to have to live by our means.
Our Full back is going because we wont pay him what he wants even though it looking likely that another SL club will, Ben Galea wont be with us next year due us offering him a rather large pay cut on his deal for next year all this on the back of the fact that you can clearly see that we are nowhere near full cap this year as it is.
If Bradford had done this instead of spending more than they should have then they wouldn't be in this mess.
Sorry to the Bradford fans but that is how I see it.

It's strange that the main reason everyone says Bradford are in debt is due to them paying too much for players. But can anyone actually back that up with actual facts? Say an itemised wage bill for Bradford players? The fact is, with a salary cap in place like the one in SL there is a limit to what can be spent.

The board however may have spent more than may have been prudent, but it's likely that they were basing their budgets on getting play off football at the end of the year. A lack of which, and the extra income it generates, for the last 3 years will have likely accelerated the club to it's current point as the lack of quality in terms of the players in the side and the way they were coached/played had caused some disillusionment with the fans, causing a drop in attendance which has a knock on effect on the money the club had.

The cheap ticket offer was supposed to boost attendances and make up the short fall from the reduced ticket cost on other items in the ground (merchandise, refreshments etc). However, another poor season caused a less than stellar uptake in actual crowds meaning the gamble taken by Bradford didn't pay off. However, two seasons selling over 10k season tickets is not a bad achievement for any club regardless of the price and given the way Bradford have been playing this year it could be argued that, without the financial problems the club are now facing, a 3rd year of cheaper tickets could have seen the club break 11k or even 12k.

Thats all well and good but what "if he changes his mind and pulls the plug" Not having a pop mate but London would last about 8 minutes standing alone.


Thats the risk i reffered to and while its true that its the same for many clubs, others imo could stand alone for long enough to attract new investment.

Out of interest why is the broncos owner covering 1.5million quid a year to keep them afloat. What's his motivation?

Their books must have shown a large debt and alarming P&L trend at the time of license review. Love to know the RFL's reasoning for a B grade license.

Seems Lewis picked a good time to leave!

This post has to be one of the most idiotic ones ever posted, so you are suggesting that Bradford were ' gambling ' on making the play offs, or on cheap ST s being compensated by ' other sales ' ?

And that it was a sensible idea?
You are Mr Hood and I claim my 5 pounds

First thing is that 11,000 fans @£60 is the same as 3,666 fans @180(about the norm in SL)
So again I'll ask did a lot of you state that it was bonkers and needed rethinking? Or did you all just think 'nice one' whilst having a dig at any other fans who dared to tell you all that the numbers didn't add up.

Are you saying that you don't think you spent more on your cap than you should knowing now how much you were bleeding money?
If so do you think that the debt fairy just flew over Odsal one day and decided to take a dump on you?

I'm sorry if the Bradford fans don't like it but them just holding their hands up and saying 'nowt to do with us it all the boards fault' as some have done when they have enjoyed better players than they could afford is rather rich.

That was why I mentioned Hull City in the premiership right at the start of my post as they in the same way as you are now were just paying for their enjoyment after the event instead of before it.


Also can anyone explain to me why the Bradford admin still hasn't started a fire sale to keep the club alive?
Surely the job of admin is to get the debts as low as possible so the company can continue as a going concern until a buyer is found unless I have it totally wrong.

Spot on AS, the Bradford fans have to look at themselves over this , stupidity isnt an excuse , both for the administration or the support base

He is a big RL fan, but he is also obviously 100%, cast Iron insane, as he will never, ever, see a penny of his quite substantial investment to date, back.

When he walks, the club will vanish........he will spend another 4.5 million including this year, but he will spend it on the wrong things and when he does step aside, unless the RL community are willing to shake a bucket a la Bradford, or the RFL buy a ground for us, a la Bradford, or lend us money, a la Bradford, then that will be that for London's SL team.

Everyone is pouring cash and donations into the Bulls and as yet, they still have all of their "assets" in tact.
No player movements yet, which would bring cash into the club and at the same time reduce the monthly wage bill ?

I personally don't what all the fuss is about. We have a salary cap so why does clubs going bust and being restaarted really have to affect the playing or supporting side of the club. If a club is not in admin and is bought no one bats an eyelid, so why bother at anytime, seems rediculous to me

If Bradford really thought the reduced income from cheap season tickets would be made up by increased revenue in the ground then they're even stupider than I thought they were.
Cheap season tickets are supposed to be for the reason Huddersfield did it, not to raise revenue in the short term but to raise attendances and interest. I can't believe Bradford didn't realise they would take a financial hit from offering cheap season tickets.

Like AS, I'm also a little concerned as to why players haven't been sold and weren't sold pre-admin too. 300k for Bateman? That's a decent chunk of debt gone, or a decent chunk of next months wage bill paid.
This administrator doesn't seem very "independent", and if I was a creditor I'd be bloody furious right now.

Totally agree, good bloke and the sport is lucky to have him..just dont ask him to pick a Coach




What was your plan again...£1.5million on marketing the Broncs over six yrs to raise the avg attendance to just under 5k....so you'll hit your 10k attendance rate(See: gutts cunning plan no:24343446) sometime in 2024.Maybe.


Tbf gf, Odsal isnt the only ground lease the RFL own and, despite bugsys protestations, we arent the only club who have had monies advanced.

Salford, Hull, Hull KR, Huddersfield, Widnes, Cas and Leigh have been promoted by right. All are in SL bar Leigh. Crusaders and Widnes won franchises, Bradford and Wakey kept franchises.

Personally I would say the facts do not support your argument.

I don't know if it has been said but on the BBC website it says clubs are split on Bradford staying in the super league

I would be very interested to know which clubs voted to keep Bradford in, and which didn't!

And you've dropped straight into that little "All the tickets were £60" argument. £60 was the basic ground entry for the first year. The price went up for this year to I believe £85. But why let facts get in the way of your blindness. There were family tickets and tickets for the seating areas that were of higher value as well. But still, it was an idea to get people back into the ground, back watching the team because Bradford's crowds had been on the slide. It was a gamble that has seen the Bulls get bigger crowds back into Odsal. On that stance, the cheap season tickets have been a success.

The club has a history of success, the board knew that cheap season tickets alone wouldn't keep the returning fans coming back. A return to the successes of the recent past were needed. As such, the club were allowed under the salary cap rules to spend what they spent. They broke no rules in doing that. The budgets the club had were clearly set on reaching the play-offs and getting a cut from the prize money that generates. Failure to do so for the last 3 years has hurt the club financially and are likely a big part in being where we are now.

As for why the administrator hasn't sold off any players; that's probably because, at the moment, he doesn't need to.

As for that report on the BBC site. There's a direct quote on there that states it's the RFL's decision if Bradford stay in SL or not.

seems crazy situation "we need a buyer, someone to invest in the club, superleague, the game..... oh hi, thanks, here's the key new owner. Oh by the way we're relegating you out if sl."

New owners.. "er forget it "