- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The name Bradford has been synonymous with rugby league for over 100 years. But after the Bradford Bulls entered administration for a third time in four years in November, it was just to much for the club.
The Bradford Bulls Rugby League Football Club was liquidated on January 3.
Administrators had hoped to have a deal agreed for by Christmas, but turned down a bid from a consortium in late December 2016.
Yet the city remains hopeful of having a team in this season’s Championship.
It will not be the first time the club has come back from dead.
On November 23, 1963, the club, known as Bradford Northern at the time, attracted a club-record lowest crowd of 324 against Barrow in their final match and disbanded the following month.
It was resurrected the following year, after a meeting on April 14, 1964, saw over 1000 people turn out to discuss the formation of a new club for Bradford.
The people present, including ex-players, promised £1000 to help rebuild.
But the Bulls side is one that has fallen from grace.
After experiencing a golden period between 1997 and 2005, resulting in four Super League grand final victories (1997, 2001, 2003, 2005), adding to the two previous RFL Championships (1979-80, 1980-81), the Bradford Bulls revealed a £1 million shortfall in March 2012, and fell into administration for the first time in June that year.
The club struggled to fix the financial problems from then on, entering administration for a second time in 2014.
The telling moment was a loss in the Million Pound Game in 2015 to the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. A win in Super League play-off match would have awarded the struggling Bulls club with a much needed £1 million.
Let’s hope a new team is up and going for this year’s Championship, because the city of Bradford needs rugby league and rugby league needs Bradford.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.