Dewsbury Rams is a Wakefield postcode.

The travel isn’t the issue for me. I live near Keighley so it’s a drive whether they play at Odsal or Dewsbury. The issue is that we’re not playing in Bradford. We’d be playing in red, amber and black at Owl Lane. So Dewsbury in all but name. As Duckman says there are doubts as to whether we’d ever be able to get back.

I know the RFL has apparently set precedents in the past to allow clubs to move out of their areas but were these agreed on condition of there being some legal commitments to return?

I’ll be very interested in the RFL response to all this. It could tip things one way or the other. Admin 4 anyone?

WF postcode but Dewsbury is Kirklees Council not Wakefield. It's a bit like Skipton. BD postcode but in Craven Council area.

Any chance we can merge the two threads, flicking between the two topics with the same thing being discussed

Yes, but that is not what MBBB wrote, is it?

If the RFL block the move, Chalmers will walk away and the club will die. No doubt some on here would blame Chalmers for that.

Not sure this is correct. Next season is when all English SL sides are forced to run reserve sides and a few clubs outside SL - including us - will be in the same reserves competition with them.

If you disregard all that then maybe this is just a play to get the RFL to take over the Odsal upkeep. It could be. I hope so and the RFL cave in because moving the club out of the city will be the end of it.'"

I do apologise.

I suppose it's like people from Chickenley claiming the come from Ossett because it makes them sound a bit posher. Or people from Ossett saying the come from Horbury. Or people from Aggbrigg saying they come from Sandal.

They definitely approved Sheffield playing at Doncaster and to the best of my knowledge the Keepmoat has a DN postcode so the point still stands.

Not sure what bearing a 2020 competition has on the terms of RFL re-entry forced on us in 2016.

Yes, it may well be announced we are in it - but if our obligations are over after this season (as I suspect), then we could probably withdraw if it came to the crunch. Nothing to stop us carrying on with the reserves either.

I've merged the two topics and have one simple question.

Will the Dewsbury chairman make public assurances that he believes Chris Joynt undertook a voluntary tackle on the 19th October 2002? Otherwise I'll have no faith in the bloke.

Spot on.
You won't get many people in support of this post.
No other owner has stood up to RFL they have both backed down.

I don't think we had an obligation to run a reserves as part of our application back into the league. We did for our academy though.

Reserves are mandatory for us next year as we run a cat 1 academy. As a previous poster said I'm think Kears comments mean we currently have a first team and a reserve team whereas next year we'll trim in and more of our reserves will be made of younger players (which makes sense with the academy going down to U18s)

Ah fair play - thanks and due respect to Nothus

Halifax Fans offering their usual fair-minded and non-parochial take on events: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=625519&view=unread#unread

Halifax Fans offering their usual fair-minded and non-parochial take on events: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=625519&view=unread#unread

The point is valid, just not the example given.

I agree there should be no issue with the RFL approving the move and to do otherwise might seem like a political move of self-interest.

Pretty sure the ground had to have some improvements for the Wakefield move, but that was due to SL seating/capacity requirements. I think the idea was to move the hospitality blocks from BV...not an issue for Championship regs.

Morning all.
I guess we all felt the same last night on hearing the news. We all know something had to happen and soon, couldn’t go on with paying out 400-500k a year at Odsal.
Like most are saying, I fear about this 2-4 year plan for a new stadium, really think this is the issue.
On the moving out of Bradford, I hope Chalmers exhausted every avenue(no pun intended) this is a massive gamble that people will still go in similar numbers to now.

Like everyone Odsal has so many special memories. I started going when I was 2, I started taking Elliot when he was 2 and in 2 week I’ll be watching him play in the last match there.
Can’t see there been a dry eye in the house that day

Quote ="Pumpetypump"Halifax Fans offering their usual fair-minded and non-parochial take on events: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=625519&view=unread#unread'" They really are a strange bunch. They're more bothered about what we're doing than themselves. They would rather we lose a game than they win one. Maybe they should concentrate on their own club. Not had a great season have they have not exactly great off field either from what I understand.

Quote ="Pumpetypump"Halifax Fans offering their usual fair-minded and non-parochial take on events: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=625519&view=unread#unread'" They really are a strange bunch. They're more bothered about what we're doing than themselves. They would rather we lose a game than they win one. Maybe they should concentrate on their own club. Not had a great season have they have not exactly great off field either from what I understand.

Quote ="Pumpetypump"Halifax Fans offering their usual fair-minded and non-parochial take on events: https://i.rlfans.com/forums/viewtopic.p ... ead#unread'" Forever in our shadow

Quote ="Pumpetypump"Halifax Fans offering their usual fair-minded and non-parochial take on events: https://i.rlfans.com/forums/viewtopic.p ... ead#unread'" Forever in our shadow

Well, taking a step back and looking at everything objectively, this move is the best thing that the Bulls owners could do in order to keep the club actually in existence.

Current estimates for the year on year running of Odsal are being touted as between £300k and £500k. That's a lot of money for a mid-table Championship RL club. Hell, it's a lot even for most SL clubs. But even if we're paying a rent of £100k to Dewsbury (which I doubt we will be paying in that region given the extra footfall that Dewsbury will see by having the Bulls stay for 2 years as I imagine that the concessions for food and drink will all be going into Dewsbury's coffers) we still have freed up a large amount of cash that would have otherwise gone to stadium up keep, although I admit that if concessions are going to Dewsbury then we'll not have as big an income. But I'd think the balance would be more in Bradford's favour.

I personally believe that the 2 year thing that has been mentioned is not the timescale by which we can expect to be walking into a new Bradford stadium by 2022, but more likely the timescale by which the deals will be in place and groundbreaking will take place on the development of a new stadium.

Odsal is a millstone around the club's neck. It's a money vampire that keeps sucking the cash out of the clubs accounts and leading us back down the path of administration.
I think Chalmers and his team have done enough by this point to have earned a little trust from the Bulls fans as they have yet to seemingly do anything that has been detrimental to the club and it's long term future.

I don't think the RFL can take over maintenance of Odsal without copping a lot of flack from other clubs. However letting us die would result in losing a large percentage of the speccies from the RL catchment area. They are also in a cleft stick. Maybe the RFL and SL will use this as a catalyst for a major reorganisation. Our misfortune could lead to the saving of professional RL in this country.

Not likely though, is it?

Of course not. They will just harp-on about the 48 teams in New York that want to play.

Don't worry Michael Carter and Neil Hudgell want to buy Odsal - of course - and they are serious business men. RFL just need to flog it to them.

That'll clear their losses for this year too.

Let us die and there's no more rent and the site reverts back to the council. The RFL lose a £750k asset and £72k per year.

It's in their interest to do a long term deal picking up the maintenance but also making provision for developing the place so that future income goes into the game. That way the guarantee a club in Bradford, get regular income and get a decent facility in the future that benefits all clubs.