LEGAL representatives of 46 current and former players and staff of Bradford Bulls failed today in their bid to try to reach a deal between the claimants and the respondents in an effort to avoid a tribunal.

The claimants’ legal team, headed up by Richard Cramer of Leeds-based firm Front Row Legal, met representatives of the administrators in charge of the former Bulls club, the new club, the Rugby Football League, and the insolvency service.

After the meeting, Mr Cramer said: “There is no deal at the moment but further discussions will take place.”

The case has been set to be heard at Leeds Employment Tribunal in a seven-day hearing in January 2018.

The claims have been made against Bradford Bulls Northern Limited, the previous owners who have gone into liquidation; the RFL - the sports governing body; the owners of the current Bulls club Bradford Bulls 2017 Limited, and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

A total of 46 current or former players and staff have made claims regarding wages, holiday pay, notice pay, and potential statutory redundancy payments.

These include current Bulls players Liam Kirk, Ross Oakes, Vila Halafihi, and Dane Chisholm, and former players such as Alex Mellor, Adam O’Brien, and Adam Sidlow, who is the lead claimant.

At the first hearing in July, the RFL attempted to have 39 of the cases thrown out for non-compliance with the ACAS Early Conciliation Process (ECP), which was rejected by Judge David Jones.

Andrew Sugarman, representing the RFL, said the 39 claimants were not named on any early conciliation certificates and the claims could not all be treated as the same dispute.

But Judge Jones dismissed that argument and said rejecting the claims for not being part of the same dispute would have been an “absurd technicality”.

The case follows Marc Green’s Bradford Bulls Northern Limited entering administration in November 2016, before being put into liquidation in January 2017.

A new club was formed by Bradford Bulls 2017 Limited - headed by New Zealanders Andrew Chalmers and Graham Lowe - about two weeks later to compete in the Kingstone Press Championship, starting with a 12-point deduction.

After an unsuccessful season on the pitch, the Bulls are set to be playing in League 1 next season after failing to overcome the 12-point deficit and getting relegated after finishing bottom of the division.