Bradford Bulls have reacted angrily to claims in a magazine that their fans would not travel to Saturday's Challenge Cup semi-final at Headingley because there are no discount prices.

And Total League's managing editor Tony Hannan has further angered the Odsal club by suggesting the rival soccer attraction of Bradford City v Manchester United at Valley Parade would keep people away from the match with Warrington.

Bulls media manager Stuart Duffy said: "We are appalled that our fans have been criticised in this way.

"We have the best travelling supporters in the game. Every club have acknowledged this.

"To suggest they wouldn't travel for the semi-final is ludicrous and offensive.

"We have already sold 6,500-7,000 tickets out of our 10,000 allocation and we urge our fans who have not yet bought tickets to do so as soon as possible. We want Headingley to be a sea of red, amber and black."

Hannan wrote in his article: "It's well known that the Bulls fans are not the best payers in the game.

"That's not a negative comment - the Bradford approach is based fairly and squarely on attracting families.

"With no special offers on the gate at RFL-run cup ties, taking an entire family to a match is an expensive business.

"Add to that the fact that Bradford City are playing Manchester United at home on the same day, with Warring-ton fans having to travel early for a 1.30pm kick-off and it doesn't take a mathematical genius to work out that the crowd for the Headingley face-off may not be as big as we might like."

Charlie Ebbage, a Bradford fan for 62 years and a former Supporters' Club chairman, said: "It is nonsense to say our fans won't pay up to travel.

"I was at Odsal on Monday and there were huge queues for tickets. We have the best fans and they would go anywhere to see their team."

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