Bradford Bulls chairman Chris Caisley is asking for strong action to be taken against Ian Millward after St Helens fielded a severely weakened team in Saturday's top-of-the-table Tetley's Super League clash at Valley Parade.

Caisley accused Millward of "doing immense damage to the sport" after he left out 12 players from his likely line-up for next Saturday's Challenge Cup final against Wigan at Murrayfield.

The Bulls triumphed 54-22 to go back to the top of the table, and it was a record win over the Saints, eclipsing their 50-22 success at Odsal in July, 1996.

And what's more, the makeshift Saints side played for the last 25 minutes with only 12 men, despite having made only five of their permitted six substitutions.

"He has treated the broadcasters, the sponsors and the spectators with complete contempt, and laughed in their faces at the same time," said the recently retired chairman of Super League.

The clash attracted 14,271, but Caisley added: "We probably lost £35,000 on this gate because we would certainly have expected a crowd of over 17,000 the way St Helens have been playing."

And Caisley, who said Millward's actions could jeopardise the Super League's attempt to negotiate the next contract with satellite broadcasters BSkyB, continued: "I remember the time this club was effectively fined £50,000 by the Rugby Football League for leaving a few players out against New Zealand.

"If £50,000 was an adequate punishment all those years ago, what is an adequate punishment now?

It is possible that Millward or his club could face a charge of bringing the game into disrepute.

A League spokesman said today: "We are to investigate all the circumstances surrounding the match. We will consider whether any of the current by-laws have been breached during the fixture."

Millward, genuinely surprised at the allegations by both Caisley and Sky TV pundit Mike Stephenson, insisted that the 12 missing players were genuinely injured.