THE Bradford Dragons have had a nightmare start to 2021, with a place to play and train in the city proving impossible to come by.

They were meant to have a double header against Loughborough last weekend.

On Saturday, they were supposed to play them at home in Division One of the National Basketball League and then they were due to be down in Loughborough the following day for the quarter final of the L Lynch Trophy.

However, the Dragons were advised just before Christmas that their temporary match venue was now required as a location for mass testing of students until mid-February.

After initially agreeing to play both of the aforementioned games in Loughborough, they eventually decided to postpone them, as due to the closure of schools/colleges, they were unable to train either.

Having not practised since before Christmas, Bradford felt to go directly into elite level fixtures with zero training threw up a health and safety issue.

However, although this weekend's planned game against Nottingham Hoods is off too, there is some brighter news on the horizon.

Training starts up again next week at Calderdale College, so the Dragons are looking to recommence fixtures on January 23 against Oaklands.

Though they are still unable to find an arena to play in in Bradford, they are currently negotiating for a temporary 'home' venue in another city, and are hopeful of playing the Oaklands game there.

The first team look set to be the only ones playing basketball for a while though.

Basketball England issued a statement earlier this week regarding the season, and they have now taken the decision to cancel everything other than elite games.

It had previously been planned to recommence the junior leagues, however this will no longer happen.

All of the club's junior programmes therefore remain suspended until further notice.