THE Bulls have banded together with Yorkshire’s Championship clubs in a push to restart the season in front of fans.

Bradford, Dewsbury, Featherstone, Batley and York are backing attempts to get the 2020 campaign back up and running later this year.

But Featherstone are the only one of those clubs willing to do so behind closed doors if safety concerns rule out any crowds.

While Super League is due to return with a triple-header on August 2, the future of the Championship and League One remains in limbo.

Last week’s video conference led by RFL chairman Simon Johnson revealed views are still split beneath the top division because of the financial worries of bringing staff back off furlough without income.

Clubs were asked to fill in a survey with their views on what should happen next, which the Bulls sent in before last night’s deadline.

They will be considered at the RFL’s next board meeting on Monday – although there is still no likelihood of a decision being made at that point.

But Bulls chief executive Mark Sawyer revealed the strength of feeling among Yorkshire clubs in the Championship to play again, providing there are some supporters allowed.

Sawyer said: “When you look at the top divisions of football, there is a cigarette paper between one club and another.

“But in rugby league, there is a big difference between the top and bottom teams, even in Super League. In the Championship, there’s an absolute massive gap.

“Obviously, people’s views are affected by how clubs are run. But I would say the majority of Championship clubs are willing to play in front of reduced crowds.

“There’s no real support to play behind closed doors as we’ve said before.

“But there have been discussions between the Yorkshire-based clubs and there’s a block of support there for playing again, even with reduced crowds, providing the (COVID-19) testing costs aren’t ridiculous.

“That price is dropping and clubs accept there may be some costs that we’ve got to shoulder.

“But in principle, the Yorkshire Championship clubs feel it’s very important we play a few matches to interact with the season-ticket holders and general supporter base again.”

The Bulls, who have not played since March, sent out letters to season-ticket holders over the weekend to try to keep them in the loop.

“It’s been such a long time since we’ve had any rugby and it’s too easy for nothing to be happening,” added Sawyer. “We want people chomping at the bit again for games.”

Super League will kick off again behind closed doors – but the top division has the security of a TV deal with Sky. There is no such financial back-up for clubs in the Championship and League One.

Sawyer said: “In terms of stadia opening up again, I think the government will want to see how bars and restaurants have gone on before they commit to saying when we can get crowds back.

“Clearly, it would only be a percentage of a normal crowd should they move forward in that direction.”

From tomorrow, the Bulls will be bringing some office staff back to work on a part-time basis.