IT IS that time of year when we all reflect on the year gone by and the new year ahead - and check whether we are making the progress we hope that we are.

The record books will state the mere facts but sometimes this doesn’t necessarily reflect the emotional up and downs we all face both personally and professionally.

Anyway, I thought I would share some of my own highs and lows and, as importantly, my hopes for 2019.

Of course, it is fairly obvious to say that we achieved our primary objective and that was to play and win our way out of League One.

It wasn’t without its ups and downs but then again what is? The burden of expectation for us all as a club was terrific.

My overriding two memories were the wonderful sight of Odsal for the home game with York. I know we went on to lose the fixture but the popular side was full, the flags and shirts made for a very colourful sight and of course with the wonderful noise and the drums.

It gave us all a timely reminder of what the club and home games could be like if we keep progressing and keeping our promises.

The other very memorable occasion was of course the play-off win against Workington Town. Town had been our bogey side this year - two defeats home and away and full credit to Leon Pryce and his band of aging warriors.

The tension was substantial and of course when the final hooter sounded the relief profound. The smiles on everyone’s faces, along with the joy and the excitement was genuinely uplifting.

It may only have been League One, but it represented something positive to get behind, and a significant goal achieved for the club.

On a wider basis it’s hard to pick out much positive from the antics of the wider sport, in fact I would go so far as to say it’s has been a very poor year for our great sport.

The overriding image, for me at least, was three or four North West Super League club chairman/owner/CEOs posing for photographs announcing what amounted to a power grab from a collaborating governing body.

People weren’t prepared to admit - and still probably aren’t - but it represented a split in the professional league and a marginalisation of the RFL being the governing body.

It was dressed up as Super League having the freedom to grow commercially with the new money trickling down.

Well, there is precious little sign of any trickle down. In fact, there is little sign of anything except attempts to take more money off other parts of the league like ourselves and cosmetic, superficial measures designed to persuade everyone that real change is happening when it is not.

Recently the RFL confirmed that Championship and League One wouldn’t be playing Golden Point. Quite right by the way; but for the first time the professional clubs will now be playing under different rules depending upon which league you play in. Can you imagine that happening in soccer?

It is of course simply because some Super League clubs and their CEO think copying the NRL must result in better performance, when anyone who properly knows rugby league understand that the differences are profound and simply introducing a golden point, where whoever wins the toss has first crack at dropping a goal is an unfair way of settling the league match when a draw is a perfectly acceptable outcome.

I predict the NRL will ultimately abandon this approach in the battle for the minor premiership, and of course the Super League will no doubt follow suit.

With the unedifying prospect of the Challenge Cup still apparently sponsorless, I am not sure what the RFL’s board and specifically Brian Barwick’s end of term report looks like.

This is the man who eventually came to a Championship meeting and once challenged everyone at our level, his constituents you understand, of not working hard enough! Big call.

Fundamentally, the truth is that the Championship allowed themselves to be split and therefore lose the right to influence the destiny of the sport.

I see Rochdale’s friendly with Warrington is taking place soon, no doubt part of the Faustian pact entered into by some of our Championship colleagues.

And we have news that the RFL have asked for a bond from the overseas clubs to play in the Challenge Cup. This of course follows a record low attendance at Wembley with Catalans of course triumphant on the day.

Presumably the RFL factored in the possibility of an overseas club, particular one playing in Super League making the final, or have they just thought of it?

With Red Star Belgrade apparently now playing in the competition, mixed messages abound everywhere. And the holders may not even defend their trophy. Fingers-crossed for some common sense.

More positively, the year ended with a strong international showing from the England national side, albeit the Kiwis quite properly exerted their superiority in the last Test.

In addition, our very own John Kear coached Wales to World Cup qualification and we and other Championship clubs also provided a number of players to the World Cup Qualifiers.

All major sports benefit from a properly constructed international calendar. It has been elusive for a number of years but there are signs that the international game is finally getting its act together and about time too.

This week, we were back in action with a hard-fought boxing day win against our friends from York in the ‘Grand Final that never happened’. Great game, and plenty of match time for our big squad.

The Championship is a terrific competition in 2019 with nine or ten really challenging clubs. It will be a decent competition and test for everyone and I can’t wait to get started.

But first the reinvigorated Yorkshire Cup. Some clubs who are not playing in the competition have taken shots at it, but I think it is a great concept. It’s not going to change the world, but it is a genuine attempt to make sense of the pre-season calendar and put some order and real value into it.

The clubs competing are all similar progressive outfits who just want to do what is right for the sport. It is a shame that our friends from Keighley are standing out and I have no doubt that more to their struggles will be revealed soon.

In the meantime we crack on with a great fixture against our old foes from Halifax in the first round of the Yorkshire Cup with a blockbuster double header at Odsal next Sunday afternoon (January 6). The first match is Batley Bulldogs vs Hunslet Hawks at 1pm, followed by Bulls vs Halifax RLFC at 3pm. Get along and support the boys.

In closing out a successful 2018, I want to thank everyone for their support and commitment to this great club.

And I want to reassure all that everyone at the Bradford Bulls is striving to keep our promises and provide a club whose teams will all strive to perform at the highest level. Perhaps 2019 will be the year of the Bull.

A very happy and safe New Year. COYB.