Bradford Bulls versus Halifax on Christmas Eve seems flawed

Some concepts of festive rugby I absolutely love, but mainly from a soppy, emotional standpoint.

A family day out just before Santa arrives, watching your favourite sports team with the people you love the most? Priceless.

Lonely this Christmas and getting out to the Bulls game and speaking to your matchgoing pals? Priceless.

Getting the chance to mingle with your favourite players after the match in the Southbank Stand at Odsal? Priceless.

But from a cold, logical standpoint, I’m not keen.

On the playing side, I suppose the counter argument would be that there is no better way to get match fit than playing matches.

But rugby league is a much higher impact sport than say, football, so the notion of having four friendlies, then a raft of cup games before the Betfred Championship season even starts, feels like an injury disaster waiting to happen.

Given the 1895 Cup group with Dewsbury and Keighley acts as a sort of pre-season warm up anyway, I would have at the very least, got rid of the Christmas Eve game, and maybe only played two of those three scheduled January friendlies.

Bulls could play as many TEN games before their Championship season gets underway at Wakefield Trinity in mid-March (four friendlies, three 1895 Cup games and three Challenge Cup ties).

In terms of muscle and tissue injuries, and simple burnout, the medical team at Bulls, and other clubs, must surely be getting their treatment rooms ready already.

I completely understand the need for clubs to make a profit and revenue, of course I do.

The sound financial argument would be that if Bulls can attract say 4,000 fans to Odsal for the Halifax friendly on December 24, all paying entry, all buying food and drink at the ground, that gets them off to a sound economic start ahead of the 2024 season.

But beyond the nice family and emotional reasons, the money factor is the only one really in favour of holding this game against Fax, in my opinion.

Most rugby league players in the Championship are part-time, with many of the Bulls squad doing hard, manual labour jobs alongside the sport they love.

It is hard enough to juggle that during the regular league season, so the least we can do is give them an appropriate winter break.

This was the scene at Odsal on Boxing Day two years ago, when Bulls' friendly with Halifax was called off at the last minute due to the awful winter weather. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

It does not sit overly well with me that several clubs, and this does not just apply to Bulls by any means, did not finish their season until October, then only had just over a month off to recover before getting back to the grind of pre-season.

And while Eamon O’Carroll and his fellow head coaches can manage the workload in training, and adapt to what the players need, that all goes out of the window very early on matchdays.

Anything can happen in those 80 minutes, and to me, that gap between Bulls trekking to Toulouse for that heartbreaking Championship play-off semi-final defeat on October 7 to hosting Fax in a fiercely competitive derby on Christmas Eve is simply too short a turnaround for these part-timers.

I also fear how Bulls’ pitch will stand up to all of this winter excess.

For all its flaws, and as the IMG and the RFL have pointed out, there are plenty, Odsal does have a sentimental hold on me, as it’s a venue that has played host to some of my favourite memories in sports journalism, as a young reporter starting out in his career.

But removing that emotion, it’s not a brilliant playing surface by any means, and can become an absolute quagmire in bad weather.

I completely understand the importance of bringing in revenue to Odsal, especially given both of Bulls’ 1895 Cup Group 2 ties are away and that could be the case in the Challenge Cup as well.

Bulls had already played nine Championship games by the time they faced Halifax in the Challenge Cup fifth round in April, but if they reach the same stage in 2024, they won't have played a single second-tier game by that point. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

But having games against Fax, Hull and Leeds on that pitch, all before the end of January, given the atrocious winter weather we’re currently having, feels like a disaster waiting to happen.

Expect the groundstaff to be working overtime put it that way.

Even the players have contrasting views.

I interviewed captain Michael Lawrence last year just after he had signed for Bulls, when they did not have a pre-season game until Dewsbury in mid-January.

He told me: “For me, I’ve never played on Boxing Day.

“Luckily, or unluckily depending on your point of view, Huddersfield never had a game then, but I’ve always thought of Christmas as family time anyway.

“It was normal for me not to have to get ready for a Boxing Day game, but a few of the Bulls lads in training were disappointed not to have one.”

Yet when I spoke to young centre Jayden Myers last month, he said: "I do think it's good to have this game (against Fax) so early, because it allows us to get match fit quickly, and it might give us an advantage over other sides at the start of the season.

"It would definitely be nice to win the game, but really it's just about seeing the level we're all at, with it being our opener."

Both make fair points, but I still maintain that a mid-January start would give Bulls plenty of time to get match fit.

As for what the skipper says, I guess it depends on what family time means to you, as to some players and fans, it will mean bringing everyone along to the rugby league.

Ultimately, sentimentality aside, I just feel there are more cons than pros to Bulls’ season getting underway in two weeks’ time.

But will I be cheering them on in my red, amber and black Christmas jumper? Why, of course!