Just read on the offical SL website that Rugby League has bought Odsal to secure the future of the Bulls. I wonder what help we are going to get ???

It makes you laugh how we have been treated in the past by the RL

they were dead quick to help us out last year were they not......? oh yeah, not.

well done to bradford on securing thier next 20 year licence.

It stinks. You lot have had to jump through hoops to redevelop/plan for new. Bradford can sit back and relax.

You couldn't make it up could you, unbelievable.

Astounding , absolutely astounding. So do we read into this that SL will purchase every ground if the club is struggling ?.Who is responsible for the upkeep ? It all just beggers belief.

The game is corrupt to the very core, not 1 penny will leave my pocket for RL ever again whilst the bunch of crooks are in charge.

Can't put into words how angry I am about this! Gobsmacked, that's what Lewis deserves. Bunch of fat pratts lining their pockets.

Was this in their franchise application ? and whilst everyone knows that Odsal was never a level playing field, this in mind blowing.
There is an official announcement on the RFL website for anyone who thinks its April 1st.

What a joke - Bradford have just secured their financial future and their SL licence in perpetuity by securing a massive bail-out from the RFL; meanwhile, clubs like ourselves and Cas are attempting to perform financial miracles to get out of exactly the type of "evocative stadia" that they lament the loss of - the type of stadia by the way, that their own licensing criteria prohibits.

You simply could not, under any circumstances, make this stuff up.

It means that we will support clubs we want in Super League but clubs like Wakefield and Castleford can go down the pan.

It makes the next franchise round even more difficult and no Newmarket no SL.

I will only support Wakefield Trinity financially - I will not go to any games where Wakefield are not involved including Cup Finals, Grand Finals, Test/Tri Nation Games etc. - anything that involves the RFL.

Has this really added more ammunition to any club threatened with expulsion due to ground inadequate. Surely the governing body owning this has some sort of a conflict of interest.

Do the RFL still own Keighley's ground? I know they bought it a while back to help the club. So maybe the offer would've extended to Belle Vue had the BOI looked to have offloaded to an unsympathetic developer immediately after Tillion(?) defaulted on the loan

Boycott Odsal.

I'm even considering having a vinyl banner printer- BOYCOTT ODSAL

The Bulls have been heading for implosion for a few years now, so this comes as no real surprise to me, nor does in all honesty the speed the RFL have jumped to their aid.
A few questions I'd love to see get an answer.

Q1. How can the RFL justify not giving the Bulls a franchise next time around and risk losing money on odsal and the Bulls in general?
Q2. When Lewis and Woods speak of strong clubs and strong business' why do they (when it suits!) keep having to bail out clubs, year after year?
Q3. Baring in mind all clubs have recently undergone independent scrutiny as part of the franchise process, how long have the RFL known about this "problem"?
Q4. If other clubs now suffered similar problems, how financially would the RFL be able to support other members of SL or the wider "RFL family" on an equal basis?

On another tack, I bet the Bulls are really glad they re-signed Iestyn Harris now, because apart from nobby running the club beyond its means, that particular mill stone has weighed heavy.

This game is a bloody joke!!

As they seem quite gullible someone should tell them I've got the rights to the Humber Bridge and it's theirs for half a million quid.

BOYCOTT ODSAL

Does seem odd, but there are two distinct differences:

1. Belle Vue and Wheldon Road are not deemed to be fit for Super League, and so why would the RFL save them.
2. More importantly, they could have done the same for us, I presume, had the last owner not flogged it to a limited company connected to him. The Crown Jewels had already been passed on, and it's not the job of the RFL to bail out Ted's land investments.

How can this be true? This news is rotten to the core, and everyone knows it.

Odsal is barely SL standard, the bailout will probably give them enough cash to improve the stadium. WHY ????

I don't get why this was necessary? Weren't they boasting 10,000+ season ticket sales?

I got this off the Bulls Forum;

The RFL’s property portfolio comprises grounds and stadia used by both professional and community clubs. These include Cougar Park, Keighley; Spotland Stadium, Rochdale; Normanton, Underbank; Hensingham; Maryport and Buslingthorpe Vale in Leeds.

TBH they seem as confused as everyone else, if you've the time it's worth following.

Disgusting. Stinks.

What a "sport" this is.

They should remove stadiums from franchise points now.

Really unfair to saints, Salford, cas and us.

Joke

All the more puzzling when the RFL have just told around 13 development staff, who've done a magnificent job, that they're being made redundant because of lack of funds.