Bradford back at Odsal

[gavin7094]

6 hours ago, Simon Hall said:

York have Kieran Dixon & Ben Jones-Bishop on the wings so we may as well just not bother with them on Sunday. The touchlines at Bradford will be 8.5m further in on each side than at our home ground.

 

Bradford will still get round Dixon on the outside though. 

[gavin7094]

Play 7 in a front line and 6 behind. 

Give a whole new meaning to the phrase 'second phase'. 

[gavin7094]

"Front rank, FIRE!"

"Advance!" 

"Second rank, FIRE!"

"Advance!" 

etc. 

[gavin7094]

Q.  What do you call a cross-field kick at Odsal?

A.  An up 'n' under! 

 

Bum, bum. 

[gavin7094]

Am I the only one who finds this funny? 

[Lowdesert]

33 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

You might be thinking of the original BPA ground which was very much like Headingley in that it had the cricket ground backing onto it.

The Horsfall stadium is a couple of thousand capacity or so? 

Cheers mate.  Forgot about that.

[gavin7094]

3 hours ago, Johnoco said:

This thread encapsulates Rugby League completely.

A story to that at face value is a positive one that means the championship will have a crowd of 4000 this week. Not exactly a regular occurrence and indeed bigger than some SL clubs. 

Yet what do we get? Moaning, moaning and yet more moaning. 

Seriously, it's ridiculous. 

OK.

Being positive, at least there's room to play them at cricket. 

[gavin7094]

Shame Brendan Hill's not still playing.

They'd need to go into touch to run round him. 

[gingerjon]

13 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

Not playing in Bradford would have pretty much guaranteed the demise of Bradford as a professional RL club. I'm sure you are ok with that as if satisfies your box ticking mentality but tbh I don't give a toss about the wider game any more, I want Bradford to survive and prosper. If the haters don't agree who cares? Eff them 

The clubs first approach has led rugby league to the state it’s in now.

So enjoy it while you can. The game is done.

[Hemi4561]

3 minutes ago, Johnoco said:

Maybe it is, I don't particularly care about anyone else. I want Bradford to do well, if that means bending a few rules or greasing the wheels of industry, so be it. I'm past caring about morals or no mark clubs wanting equal treatment. 

And I mean that.

What sad individual you are. 

[OriginalMrC]

Think there'll be 13 props on each side this weekend . Going to be a proper war of attrition! 

[Man of Kent]

I don’t get the hatred for the Bulls. A strong Bradford is good for rugby league.

[RigbyLuger]

12 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

I don’t get the hatred for the Bulls. A strong Bradford is good for rugby league.

Why?

[Man of Kent]

15 minutes ago, RigbyLuger said:

Why?

They’re probably the seventh or eighth biggest club in England even now. Certainly top ten.

Bradford is a sizeable city, don’t forget. I remember that ex-Melbourne guy saying Bradford makes up about a quarter of the rugby league population.  

[steve oates]

10 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

They’re probably the seventh or eighth biggest club in England even now. Certainly top ten.

Bradford is a sizeable city, don’t forget. I remember that ex-Melbourne guy saying Bradford makes up about a quarter of the rugby league population.  

Great post as always.

People can't moan about the sport being "small time" and then say it doesn't matter if Bulls are in the Championships, or if Bulls don't have an academy. Across the history of the TV deal and superleague Bulls various contributions to the game have given the game so much in terms of players, supporters and on field entertainment.

We know how soccer can dominate and depress Rugby League, Bradford has been a place where RL has dominated soccer and can easily do that again. No true RL supporter can really argue with that surely?

 

  

[Man of Kent]

17 minutes ago, steve oates said:

Great post as always.

People can't moan about the sport being "small time" and then say it doesn't matter if Bulls are in the Championships, or if Bulls don't have an academy. Across the history of the TV deal and superleague Bulls various contributions to the game have given the game so much in terms of players, supporters and on field entertainment.

We know how soccer can dominate and depress Rugby League, Bradford has been a place where RL has dominated soccer and can easily do that again. No true RL supporter can really argue with that surely?

Not bothered about the football side - the Bulls and the Bantams can happily co-exist - but certainly there's not many English cities with a population of 500,000+ where rugby league is a prominent sport. We're not a big enough sport to toss away that sort of thing.

[Lowdesert]

10 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Not bothered about the football side - the Bulls and the Bantams can happily co-exist - but certainly there's not many English cities with a population of 500,000+ where rugby league is a prominent sport. We're not a big enough sport to toss away that sort of thing.

Jeez, who is actually suggesting we toss Bradford away?

Genuine fans want, whoever, to do well, get into SL and improve the number of fans, media coverage and the games overall development.

The backwash from the RFL decisions is far from over imo.  MPs getting involved by various clubs, bad press and some good press.  It may just be that this pressure involves clubs to correct a few things and show evidence. I think that will happen but it will take a few months. 

 

[AB Knight]

10 hours ago, Johnoco said:

Why?  Why is any club who can actually get punters through the gates good for RL?

Maybe you prefer endless strugglers getting heroic crowds of 3-4k ? 

Incidentally Bradford seem to have been in an endless struggle since exiting Super League and their average last full season attendance was 4339 but I get your point.

I remember Bradford sometimes outnumbering Castleford at The Jungle, I remember being in crowds of nearly 20k at Odsal. A lot of my favourite RL memories involve the Bulls, they’ve had some amazing lineups. 
 

I just feel like they are never more than a few months away from their next problem.
 

That and the way I and a few other unpaid match day volunteers were spoken to by both a rude Bradford director and a number of Bulls fans (swearing, abuse) creates a bit of resentment towards the club. Especially when that season there were no similar experiences with any of the other visiting clubs. 
 

Either way I hope this works out, I hope they can push on and win back the fans, I hope they can get themselves onto a stable financial footing. Could SL do with a strong Bradford team? Yes but they’ve got a lot of work to do to get there. So have most other teams with SL aspirations.

Oh and I forgot Keighley still had a team, nice of one of their fans to make an appearance and remind us 

 

[Man of Kent]

4 minutes ago, Lowdesert said:

Jeez, who is actually suggesting we toss Bradford away?

Genuine fans want, whoever, to do well, get into SL and improve the number of fans, media coverage and the games overall development.

The backwash from the RFL decisions is far from over imo.  MPs getting involved by various clubs, bad press and some good press.  It may just be that this pressure involves clubs to correct a few things and show evidence. I think that will happen but it will take a few months. 

 

I agree that the academy thing will be resolved. Perhaps the RFL isn’t as dumb as it looks!

I do think some like to death-ride on Bradford, or at least use them as a sort of cat to kick about the game’s ills.

Looks like Bradford are slowly on the way back up from hitting rock bottom a couple of years ago. I’m glad about that. 

[gingerjon]

52 minutes ago, steve oates said:

Great post as always.

People can't moan about the sport being "small time" and then say it doesn't matter if Bulls are in the Championships, or if Bulls don't have an academy. Across the history of the TV deal and superleague Bulls various contributions to the game have given the game so much in terms of players, supporters and on field entertainment.

We know how soccer can dominate and depress Rugby League, Bradford has been a place where RL has dominated soccer and can easily do that again. No true RL supporter can really argue with that surely?

 

  

People can and will moan about the sport being small time when it's relying on stock car volunteers to paint and update a ground that is then unsuitable for rugby league *and this is for a club that is potentially one of our biggest and certainly one of our most famous*.

[Lowdesert]

1 minute ago, Man of Kent said:

I agree that the academy thing will be resolved. Perhaps the RFL isn’t as dumb as it looks!

I do think some like to death-ride on Bradford, or at least use them as a sort of cat to kick about the game’s ills.

Looks like Bradford are slowly on the way back up from hitting rock bottom a couple of years ago. I’m glad about that. 

I think Bradford fans want to progressively build back to where they were.  Posters on here didn’t want boom and bust again, which, given their history is sensible.

The cheapest ways to get back involve the academy and the first team winning.  The championship is a tough league to get out of though!

[Eddie]

11 hours ago, Johnoco said:

Bradford is not just a sizeable city, it's much bigger than more 'glamorous' cities like Newcastle or Liverpool. And has a more interesting history than most l. 

Ok,  it's currently pretty rubbish but the point stands.

Bradford isn’t much bigger than Liverpool and nor does it have a more interesting history. However I’m in agreement that English RL will be in a much better place if Bradford ever get back to the top table. 

[Hopping Mad]

On 24/05/2021 at 18:21, Mumby Magic said:

Nearby in inverted commas Skegness I believe and Boston unless I've been I'll informed which cud be true.

They still have stocks and bangers at Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield.

Also have them at Scunthorpe - much closer to Yorkshire than Skegness. 

The Boston circuit, at New Hammond Beck Road, went years ago - late 80s, I think.

[silverback]

1 hour ago, Hopping Mad said:

They still have stocks and bangers at Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield.

Also have them at Scunthorpe - much closer to Yorkshire than Skegness. 

The Boston circuit, at New Hammond Beck Road, went years ago - late 80s, I think.

the old scunthorpe smithy ran was great,the new place had brisca on a few meetings but its far too small and round rather than having to main straights,dont forget mildenhalls still around,thou not in yorkshire,best banger track by far is brampton.

[daz39]

15 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

I don’t get the hatred for the Bulls. A strong Bradford is good for rugby league.

Anymore so than a strong Swinton or Hunslet or Barrow and if so why?