Ralph Rimmer has outlined the three options the RFL is exploring regarding the future of Odsal Stadium, which has prompted a response from a source at Bradford Council.

Bradford will play home fixtures at Dewsbury’s Tetley’s Stadium in 2020, but the club’s new ownership has been steadfast in its commitment to taking the Bulls back to the city.

RFL chief executive Rimmer admits that the governing body’s preferred option would be for the three-time world champions to return to their spiritual home.

He said: “The options we are looking at currently are selling, the possibility of us developing, or the possibility of the Bulls coming back
Those are the three options, basically, and we’re looking at those in conjunction with Bradford Council and the Bulls.

“Our preferred option would be for the Bulls to come back into Odsal, but it will require the Council to be a part of that solution in order to make that happen.

“We are speaking with the Council on a regular basis and I know that they were a guest of the Bulls club at Leeds on Sunday, on how we might achieve that.

“I know it is the spiritual home of the team, but the team has got to decide it can come back.”

Rimmer added that a swift resolution is necessary to minimise the costs presently being incurred by “the Rugby League community” as a result of Odsal sitting empty.

He added: “Odsal is an asset that belongs to the RFL, that belongs to the sport, and that’s it.

“Whilst nobody is using that asset it is a cost to the sport, and any cost that may be incurred this year will effectively be shared out between the Rugby League community.

“That can’t go on and it’s not acceptable for that to go on forever and a day.

A source at Bradford Council responded to Rimmer’s comments.

They said: “The only way we can see a future for Odsal is the offer we presented to the RFL and Bradford Bulls, build a brand new community stadium with a capacity of 18,000 on the now vacant Richard Dunn site, which would include Bradford City, and make it a multi-sport education hub.

“We would then fill in Odsal with clean waste to generate revenue which would help fund the new stadium development.”

I know this is not Trinity related, but a lot of rugby league money has been used initially without public knowledge. I still think there should have been a full public investigation of the past few years on this matter.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear

He added: “Odsal is an asset that belongs to the RFL, that belongs to the sport, and that’s it.

“Whilst nobody is using that asset it is a cost to the sport, and any cost that may be incurred this year will effectively be shared out between the Rugby League community.

“That can’t go on and it’s not acceptable for that to go on forever and a day.


This is the part that annoys me and probably a vast number of rugby league clubs both amateur and professional, all fans who contributed to RFL levy. I’m sure no one signed up to pour their money into the RFL clandestine operation.

news on our stadium?

You do get the impression that the RFL are hell bent on getting the Bulls back to Odsal, even if, as it seems, 'at a cost to the RL community'. That last bit doesn't sit well with me!
I don't wish the Bulls any disrespect but why should one penny from other clubs go to solving their ground problem
While, as I say, I don't agree with the RFL using other clubs money to help the Bulls cause, we can't shout too much because IMO the RFL have been extremely tolerant with the likes of Wakefield and Cas' pulling the wool over their eyes about ground progress for years!

That's as maybe, but it does not cost money to be tolerant.

Very true, and with hindsight it may have been better leaving the last bit out of my post!

It wasn't a criticism of your post, just simply an annoyance at Rimmer bending over for Bradford, it's a shame he couldn't bring himself to try and offer to get involved with Wakefield council on our clubs behalf.

Start yet another thread if you want to know that, read the title this is about Odsal!

No worries mate, we both agree on that point!

He would make a cock of it anyway

If, at the outset, all of the clubs in SL agreed to the plan for the RFL to take on the lease and that they agreed to share any costs (or profits) made from the ground then, this may be a reasonable assertion from Rimmer.
However, IIRC, this was a decision taken by the RFL and Bradford and to the benefit of Bradford.
The whole thing stunk the house out at the time an it still smells awful.

It's no wonder that our sport is on its booty - those in charge of the game are unfit for purpose.
They gambled the house on saving Braford and lost.

Right now, they should completely write off or sell their "asset" (Odsal) and leave Bradford to run their own affairs in the best way that Bradford think they can. If this means having a new ground share with Bradford City then, so be it, something that probably should have happened long ago but, dont expect others to pay for it.
The thought of other RL clubs, even in part, funding a new ground for Braford is fecking ridiculous.

I wouldn’t read too much into the article. The ‘journalist’ that has written it isn’t the most credible individual around. In fact, he’s not even a journalist!

Wouldn't it be easier for the two to share the ground at Valley Parade, or don't the Bulls want to pay any rent there.

Quite appalling that the RFL didn't have an exit strategy in place when they bought it - even worse failed to deliver one since then.

It was always a stupid plan.
Bradford were paying a "peppercorn" rent on Odsal and then moved to a "commercial" rent (after the RFL bought the lease).
Apart form giving them circa £700k to fritter away, the long term effects, for a club that couldn't trade profitably, were always going to be harder than they had been.
As I said, it was wrong at the time and just gets worse and worse.
The RFL need to cut their losses here and if their really is still an appetite for rugby league in Bradford, which I think there is, Bradford will eventually be a force again, even if it takes some time.
Equally, there are plenty of politics at play here and they appear to be trying to force the RFL's hand (by walking away from the rental agreement), something that the RFL cannot allow them to do.

With everything that has gone on, I can't understand why you still think that is accurate? That was the popular opinion at the time, but after 8 years, looking at the results, the opposite is correct. Unless when you used the word "benefit", you were using its other meaning - massive damage to the Bulls, the RFL and the game as a whole?

The RFL didn't buy the lease to help the Bulls, they did it to save themselves. The RFL gave the Bulls a large unsecured loan 3months previously and basically exchanged it for the only asset the Bulls had left.

Hood should never have asked for the loan. And the RFL should never have agreed to it. That decision tied Bradford & the RFL together, caused reputational damage, issues with governance, likely affected Sport England payout to the RFL as governance and avoiding conflict of interests are big for public bodies.

If the Bulls had gone into administration earlier, they would have had about £1.2m debt and a £1.5m asset. Much more saleable. Instead, they and the RFL had their devils compact and the bulls went bust one year later with no asset and about £2.4m debt.

There was a plan?

I think Rimmer is right in needing a solution for the benefit of the rugby league community as a whole, because of course long-time Bradford fan, and now owner, Nigel Wood, helped saddle the sport with the millstone in order to help "his" club.

Now that the sport is saddled with it, it is only right that the sport does what it can to get rid of the millstone. If that benefits the Bulls, I've no issue. They are a bona fide top flight club.

But there is no point in moaning about what was done in the past. The sport needs to get rid of the burden in a way that is best for the sport, and perhaps even for the Bulls.

It's just a disgrace how it was done (and perhaps a shame that Nigel Wood wasn't a dyed in the wool Wakefield fan).

Wasn’t Neil Tunnicliffe a supposed Trinity fan? Did he do us any favours? Certainly not on that scale, we can’t even get the old boys network to go in our favour

There is no bout that the loan of £700K was for Bradford's benefit or, was it forced upon them ?
As you say, there was little choice for the RFL to swap the debt on the loan for the lease, as Bradford had nothing else to offer.
Yes, this was a slightly toxic arrangement and as I said, it was detrimental in the long term compared to the "peppercorn" rent that an already insolvent business was paying.
However, where should we put the blame.
Was it a desperate governing body, not wanting to see a fallen star disappear or was it Bradford that convinced the RFL that the plan would work.
Either way, the RFL still look like a bunch of incompetents and Bradford, for all of their great years, are just done, which is terribly sad for the game and it appears that "we" are all going to pick up the tab with half of the load already having been written off.
Although a new build on the Richard Dunn site sounds great, it would appear that nobody is prepared to face the fact that there is no bloody money and whilst it seems that Bradford are desperate to avoid playing at Valley Parade, as an outsider looking in, this looks a way better option than playing out of Dewsbury or hoping for a miracle.

Nigel wood (now part owner of Bradford and long term Bradford fan) and general joke of humanity and rugby league in respect of he’s made a living of running the league in to the ground and more recently represented us internationally (a further and even bigger joke) is utterly ing his self

How is this guy still making a living from our sport?

You can’t help but feel he some how did a deal on the Bradford ground with big nige can you ........

A lot of flak for Wood and rightly so but have we ever had anyone running the game who was even half way decent. Richard Lewis seemed ok in sort of career civil servant kind of way.

Anyone with an actual plan on how to take the game forward would be a start - Richard Lewis seemed to at least fit this criteria, although, I think he may have been at the helm at the start of the Bradford Bulls saga and it could be that some of the catastrophic decisions made, were during his stewardship.