Bradford Bulls have announced that New College Bradford’s assistant principal, Raza Siddique, has joined the club’s Youth & Academy Advisory Board.

The Youth & Academy Advisory board was established in 2022 as the club worked towards the reinstatement of its’ Elite Academy Licence.

Siddique’s arrival is another example of the club building relationships with education providers across the city, and he joins the likes of Bradford Bulls Foundation CEO Chris Chamberlain and Youth & Academy Director Gareth Pickles on the board.

Siddique said: “(Head of Youth at Bulls) Ryan Hunkin gave me a call a couple of weeks ago asking me to join the Youth & Academy Advisory Board as an Education specialist, and my role at New College Bradford is assistant principal and I have been in education over 20 years.

“I have been involved at a national level judging for national teaching awards and now I am coming on board at Bradford Bulls..

“I will be working closely with the Bradford Bulls to make sure the scholarship and academy players are in education, or training for employment alongside rugby programmes, which is really important.

“I will be holding people like Ryan accountable, making sure these young people have dual careers in rugby league and in education or employment.”

Hunkin said: “The Youth & Academy Board is designed to keep us on track as an Elite Academy, making sure we are hitting certain milestones and doing everything we can to keep improving. 

“The people on the board offer certain expertise individually.

“Raza has a rugby league background but certainly has an educational one too.

“He can offer valuable experience in that area to guide us as an Elite Academy to succeed where we need to succeed.” 

The club has been re-awarded its Elite Academy Licence but receives no central funding towards Youth Development.

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