Bradford’s move to a new stadium has been mooted for decades but it now seems the point of no return is here“It’s time to be realistic about it all.” Those are the words no Bradford Bulls fan ever wanted to hear uttered in regard to Odsal Stadium, thei…
• Attack made on Toronto’s French full-back Hakim Miloudi• Flanagan pleaded guilty and was also handed £250 fineThe Bradford hooker George Flanagan has been given an eight-match ban for attacking the testicles of an opponent.Flanagan, 32, was seen on v…
• Bradford 16-20 Halifax• Simon Grix’s side to face St Helens in last four of Challenge CupHalifax became the first lower-league side in over a decade to reach the Challenge Cup semi-finals after the part-time outfit beat Bradford 20-16 and set up a ti…
• Challenge Cup sixth round: Bradford 24-22 Leeds• Championship’s Bulls beat Super League strugglersChampionship side Bradford Bulls produced one of the greatest Challenge Cup shocks in recent memory to eliminate Super League side Leeds Rhinos and prog…
Bradford v Leeds used to be one of the great Super League rivalries – on Saturday the reconstituted Bulls meet their old foes for the first time in five yearsYou know you are in for a special sporting occasion when one of the chief protagonists likens …
Paul Anderson, who won multiple titles after stoma surgery, is telling his story to support a remarkable new rugby league teamBy Gavin Willacy for No Helmets RequiredPaul Anderson was fearsome. Nudging 20 stone, bald as a boulder, snarling and staring …
The four-times Super League champions endured liquidation and relegation to the third tier but Sunday’s local showpiece against York hints that good times could soon returnWhile being billed as the Game of the Year in one corner of west Yorkshire may b…
League 1 clubs should all have a clear purpose, whether that is producing players, promoting the sport, or representing an areaBy Gavin Willacy for No Helmets RequiredBradford Bulls were missed at the Summer Bash in Blackpool at the weekend. While a fe…
• Warrington 54-6 Bradford• Wing Charnley scores four tries in easy winWhile it was clear from an early stage here that Warrington were never likely to succumb to a Challenge Cup shock – and there have been enough of those down the years – perhaps the …
Leon Pryce, the former Bradford back, had a breakdown after retiring but is healthy again and looking to share his experience with others leaving the game
Leon Pryce is smiling. “Hi, mate, how’s it going?” he bellows as he enters the room with an ear-to-ear grin. “Life’s pretty awesome at the minute, isn’t it?”. Once, this greeting would have been little to remark upon from Pryce, but, given how the former Great Britain rugby league international is about to describe the mental turmoil he went through this summer after retiring unexpectedly, it makes his mood all the more surprising.
We meet at a service station coffee shop which, while only a few miles from Bradford Bulls’ Odsal Stadium, where Pryce made his name, is a world away from his glittering career.
• Administrators propose thorough check of historical financial records
• Liquidation process could last years if any litigation is undertaken
The holding company of the former Super League champions Bradford Bulls will finally enter liquidation this week after creditors voted overwhelmingly in favour of the administrators’ proposals, which include a thorough examination into the club’s historical financial affairs following its well-publicised demise.
Despite the Rugby Football League already sanctioning a new company and club in time for the 2017 season, the company owning the old club has not yet been formally liquidated despite reports to the contrary. That process will officially begin this week after creditors – who, in total, were owed almost £2m – approved plans to begin the liquidation of the company who ran the Bulls, Bradford Bulls Northern Ltd.
• Administrators propose thorough check of historical financial records
• Liquidation process could last years if any litigation is undertaken
The holding company of the former Super League champions Bradford Bulls will finally enter liquidation this week after creditors voted overwhelmingly in favour of the administrators’ proposals, which include a thorough examination into the club’s historical financial affairs following its well-publicised demise.
Despite the Rugby Football League already sanctioning a new company and club in time for the 2017 season, the company owning the old club has not yet been formally liquidated despite reports to the contrary. That process will officially begin this week after creditors – who, in total, were owed almost £2m – approved plans to begin the liquidation of the company who ran the Bulls, Bradford Bulls Northern Ltd.
• ‘Anybody who trivialises insolvency completely misses the point’
• Governing body said new owners were helped by their experience in the sport
The Rugby Football League has defended its decision to award ownership of a new Bradford club to the New Zealand businessmen Andrew Chalmers and Graham Lowe as well as the decision to place the reformed club straight back into the Championship.
Bradford were liquidated on 3 January following seven weeks in administration. The RFL chose Chalmers and Lowe as the winning bidders following offers from four parties interested in reviving the former Super League champions.
• ‘Anybody who trivialises insolvency completely misses the point’
• Governing body said new owners were helped by their experience in the sport
The Rugby Football League has defended its decision to award ownership of a new Bradford club to the New Zealand businessmen Andrew Chalmers and Graham Lowe as well as the decision to place the reformed club straight back into the Championship.
Bradford were liquidated on 3 January following seven weeks in administration. The RFL chose Chalmers and Lowe as the winning bidders following offers from four parties interested in reviving the former Super League champions.
• Former player in line to succeed previous incumbent Rohan Smith
• Club keen to remain full-time outfit but will have 12-point deduction
The new owners of Bradford are lining up the former Bulls player, Henry Paul, as the likely candidate to succeed the previous incumbent, Rohan Smith, after it was confirmed on Tuesday he would leave his role as coach of the newly reformed Championship club.
Smith, who was appointed as coach of the recently liquidated Bulls midway through last season, had previously indicated he wished to remain in charge upon the club’s reformation before the club’s new owners, Andrew Chalmers and Graham Lowe, revealed their identity on Tuesday following a successful bid to assume control at Odsal.
• Accuses officials of paying lip service to plans involving £1m of his own money
• Lamb adds it felt ‘like they knew who they wanted all along’
One of the bidders who lost out in the race to launch a rugby league club in Bradford following the demise of Bradford Bulls has described the Rugby Football League’s handling of the affair as “amateurish”, saying he is yet to hear from the sport’s governing body as to why his bid failed.
Richard Lamb, the chief executive of the Championship rugby union side Rotherham, says he was prepared to invest a million pounds of his own money in a new rugby league club in the city following the liquidation of the four-times Super League champions this month.
• Governing body fielded 12 expressions of interest over a new club
• RFL to decide this week whether to sanction pre-season Bulls game
The Rugby Football League has confirmed four bids have been lodged to create a rugby league team in Bradford following the liquidation of the former Super League champions Bradford Bulls last Tuesday.
The Bulls went out of business when the club’s administrators failed to find a new bidder, after the last remaining party pulled out of discussions. The RFL fielded 12 expressions of interest regarding the possibility of setting up a professional club, and they will now assess the four bids which were submitted before Monday’s midday deadline before making a decision “as soon as possible”, they said in a statement.
• Kris Welham: ‘It can’t be allowed to happen in this day and age’
• RFL has set Monday deadline for offers to set up new club
One of the players released by the Bradford Bulls following their liquidation this week has described what the squad were forced to endure during the club’s two-month period in administration.
Four weeks before the start of the new season, Kris Welham was officially made a free agent on Tuesday following the liquidation of the Championship side, who were world champions as recently as 11 years ago.
• David Thorne met staff at former Super League champions’ Odsal stadium
• ‘I see Bradford Bulls as an iconic brand. It’s down to the RFL to decide’
David Thorne, the former CEO and owner of the rugby union side Wasps, is one of the parties interested in re-forming Bradford Bulls following the club’s liquidation this week.
Thorne registered a company called Bradford Bulls Capital Limited with Companies House on Wednesday, before meeting the remaining members of playing staff at the club’s Odsal stadium.
The news of Bradford Bulls’ liquidation did not come as a surprise but it should serve as a warning to other league, union, cricket and football clubs
By Gavin Willacy for No Helmets Required, part of the Guardian Sport Network
The demise of such a famous name as Bradford Bulls may have come as a surprise to some sports fans who do not follow rugby league closely, but those in the know have seen them this slide towards oblivion catch pace for years.
While it’s less than 11 years since Bradford won the World Club Challenge for the third time, it is eight since they finished as high as fifth in Super League. The speed of the decline is nowhere near as shocking as some other clubs in our game. Halifax melted at the end of 2003, just five years after being the third best team in the land; Crusaders reached the play-offs in 2010 and were gone a year later; 18 months after lifting the Challenge Cup Sheffield Eagles were swallowed up by Huddersfield and relaunched as a new club in the Steel City; Gateshead Thunder reached the play-offs in their first season. There wasn’t a second one.
