Bradford Bulls: Fielden hits out at 'crazy logic' of RFL (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
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Bradford Bulls: Stuart Fielden hits out at 'crazy logic' of RFL
6:00am Saturday 2nd March 2013 in Sport
By Ross Heppenstall, Bradford Bulls Reporter
Stuart Fielden says it feels like the Bulls have been penalised twice by the RFL
Stuart Fielden has blasted the RFL for the way they handled the fall-out from the Bulls’ financial crisis last year.
The Bulls agreed to sacrifice a “sizeable” chunk of their £1.2 million Sky television money from the RFL as part of the deal that secured the club’s future in Super League this year.
Yet Fielden, whose new side Huddersfield face the Bulls tomorrow, believes that new owner Omar Khan was unfairly punished after the club had already copped a six-point penalty for entering administration.
The 33-year-old prop said: “You’ve got to say it’s a crazy situation that the Bulls have been given less money and I certainly don’t understand the rationale behind it.
“It just seems crazy that a club which has gone bankrupt for a lack of money then gets penalised by having a good proportion of the money you are given by the RFL taken away.
“I can’t understand the logic in that – it’s crazy and it feels like they’re almost penalising the Bulls twice.
“I don’t work for the RFL – and obviously never will – but they’ve already penalised them for going into administration with the points deduction and then they’ve effectively fined them by taking away their television money.”
Fielden also believes the way the saga dragged on for so long left them hamstrung in terms of recruitment for the 2013 campaign.
He added: “Bradford were going to be struggling for players anyway because they didn’t know until so late in the day that they were safe in Super League.
“You can talk about the deadline for signing players but the reality is that some contracts for the following season are done in April or even earlier.
“It’s going to be a slow rebuilding process now – similar to the way Peter Deakin built the club after Super League went crazy in 1996.”
Comments(5)
-HCK3R-
says...
4:11pm Sat 2 Mar 13
monkeybull
says...
10:20am Sun 3 Mar 13
To true Bulls supporters you will always be a legend; best wishes for the season, but just glad you're not playing today!
Van Bellen's Baby
says...
1:35pm Sun 3 Mar 13
raisemeup
says...
5:11pm Tue 5 Mar 13
I will not go into the legalities again, but Stuart is right and you are wrong..
You ask if it is right for OK Bulls to buy the remains of the Bulls for £140k it was actually £150k with a further £100k to the administrators of Bradford Bulls Holdings ltd. If the new owners are granted a S/L license for 2014.
In the opinion of true Bulls fans the gained sponsors help to safeguard the Bulls and professional R/L in the city of Bradford. OK Bulls do not owe due diligence to anyone, except morally, perhaps the supporters and the City of Bradford...the RFL are not owed anything.
And to say the new owners can pocket a huge dividend and walk away is a bit crass isn't it??
raisemeup says...
3:41pm Sat 2 Mar 13
I have always maintained certain personalities within the game were content to see the Bulls going into the abyss.
Much of what we see in respect of the docking of our rightful share of Super leagues TV compensation money, seems to be based on a punishment to those who weren't on the scene at the Bradford Bulls Holdings ltd. unfortunate demise.
To the onlooker it must seem like spite, in it's petty and most childish form with a " we will let you play with us, if you give us half your pocket money?"
I am pretty sure a number of Super League Club chairmen will be most embarassed at that scenario, but obviously some aren't?
it takes a player with integrity to say it how it is!