Thought that would be obvious as everyone should be in lockdown - positive test = in quarantine......

Well not obvious to Poptart eh?! The game isn't going to start again any quicker because the government has given 'us' money is it? From his post I have taken that is what he means, but he has the right to reply and correct me if i'm wrong and he means something else of course......

Thing is you can be tested negative and within hours of giving a sample walk straight into a infected area and catch it, it's that scary

Think it will be interesting to see how the RFL actually distribute the money, after all a couple of clubs - Leeds perhaps probably dont really need it in the short term. Will it go towards the salaries and overheads of the clubs, if so in proportion to the outgoings or effectively without a means test as a flat payment ?

Was talking to John Kear who i bumped into whilst exercising (at an appropriate distance) he said he couldn't see Bradford playing whilst July at the earliest, also was talking about the dfficulties his players were having in weight training as body weight only exercises weren't really adequate

I don't understand how this is going to work. It is a loan so it will need to be repaid. The only money in the game comes from TV money and diectors loans to clubs, if directors call in their loans then most SL clubs would go bust. Without the TV money then its back t part time. The RFL lost money on last accounts and in a good year make just a few quid. SL Europe breaks even, so where will the money come from to repay the loan, only way I can see is if a percentage is taken from TV deal to repay the loan and the clubs have to cut budgets and survive on less

I was replying to your post not his.
If that's the case why don't you ask him?

I'm presuming it's a case of looking at the alternative scenario. The repayments might be over many years, and there is a World Cup pending, which might go some way to repaying it.

Also, Sky TV might be offering something (I'm only speculating). At the moment, a lot of customers have paused their Sports subscription, and Sky have said it will resume as normal when sport does. Now, at the moment, we might be paying full subscriptions by May 28th, as the NRL is resuming. If we followed in June, we have live sport and Sky income goes up.

As for the clubs, I seem to remember that MC said we make about 60K every home game (or is it losing 60K for not staging them?). So, as a round figure, we'll be down around 700K on the season. But, staff are furloughed for a couple of months, so the loss will be less. And if played in empty stadiums, or on a triple-header basis without crowds, there are fewer suppliers to pay, so the loss comes down lower. And there maybe some way of streaming the games for a small fee, which will help.

So, in a nutshell, I'm speculating whether a club like Wakey might only need 500K of that 16 million just to end the season in the way that they would normally, in financial terms.

What we don't know, of course, is whether the liability for the loan is borne by the RFL, or whether the RFL then use it to extend credit terms to the clubs, so in fact the RFL sit on 16 million as a resource for any club that needs it, but of course it has to be repaid to the RFL. Will the RFL loan money to clubs, and repay the government through clubs repaying the loans, or will the RFL give money in terms of grants and the RFL finds its own way to repay it?

This is a long-winded way of saying that none of us really know much but those who know what they're talking about think it is crucial and a good thing, so hurrah!

I mean that the target should be to get back out there as quickly as possible but player welfare is first.
Test everyone, which is perfectly possible now. And there would have to be some serious governance around what players and staff can do and where they can go, but it shouldn't be insurmountable.
The contact part of our sport shouldn't mean we can't proceed until the virus is gone. Just that we should proceed when it is safe to do so. The money will help do that, even if it is just to put the players up in a quarantined environment.

I might be wrong but, do the RFL own a large chunk of prime land in Bradford? Perhaps this could be sold off to help with the current financial situation our sport faces at this time. Remember, every little helps.

whoops get the tin hat on

It would be an ideal time DS, sell it to the council and open it to fill with all the garbage that the scum are fly tipping up and down

They don't.



















Prime land doesn't exist in Bradford.

The R.F.L. don't own Odsal.

MC quoted in today's League Express saying that we won't be applying for any of the £16 million as it is a loan that will eventually need to be repaid and he doesn't want to take us down that route, whereas a certain big-spending club just 10 miles up the M1 will be !!
Adam Pearson says that Hull FC are in a similar situation with regards to a huge wage bill and virtually no tangible assets !!

Just our luck that MC will turn down the loan; then yer Leeds, Hull, Wigans etc will accept it, only for the Government to write the loans off in a couple of years. Hence the rich clubs will become wealthier and we'll still be struggling. It's the way of the world, I'm afraid.

I know it's a risk but I don't think the government can afford to do that.
They are giving do much financial help it will be a real struggle financially on the other side.
Loan will be paid back through HMRC I'm sure. .

No chance they will be wrote off its UK tax payers money that is administered by the Govt. It's not a grant it's a loan it has to be that. If the Govt had provided 16 million as a gift then the floodgates for other sports would have been opened.

The government has been known to write of debts RWB, public money or not, particularly to third world countries.

So a positive story about our finances, that we don't need to borrow money from the RFL to get ourselves through this crisis and are in a better financial shape than most clubs to get us to the other side, and it becomes a negative? That takes some doing.

Totally Agree.
Its like saying that if someone rang you up offering you a loan and you didn't need it you'd take it!!!
Not surprised though with some on here Slugger.........

Listening to his podcast there was a lot of interesting stuff on it - much of which was very positive.

He intimated that we owed less than 3 k to trade creditors which was pretty remarkable,
That he anticipated any central support should go on a needs basis so hull leeds etc had much larger infrastructure costs so would probably get more of any money
The players were supportive but were potentially free agents and if they could get a better deal he would understand
There was loads of other stuff but have to say was really impressed as always and thank we are pretty lucky to have him and if says we aint claiming its good enough for me

It’d be absolutely criminal (but not surprising) if grassroots RL and lower league clubs didn’t receive a single penny.

Apparently £1m of that £16m is reserved for grassroots clubs, however as a chairman of a grassroots club I haven't received any information to confirm that. But again as a loan we would need to pay back and currentlt, with nearly 3 months of no income, I'm not sure where the money will come from to pay it back.

Surely you know Willzay by now? All the questions but no answers.

One thing that occurred to me yesterday is that RLFans has plenty of people on it who decry these small pit-town clubs, who cry merger, overseas, anywhere but the M62 or Belle Vue. Well, suck it up, because these small pit-town clubs and ones like Wakey have just saved rugby league, because it was that small-town community element that got the grant from the government. And I include teams like Wigan and Warrington in that. They may be big clubs, but the towns themselves are small in reality and the clubs are the heartbeat of the towns. Would we have got it if the game had been just about Toulouse and Toronto and merged clubs, if the sport wasn't still a northern working class sport? Not a chance.

So, suck it up. You know who you are.