Bradford Bulls fans have been warned not to take ticker-tape to Sunday's Silk Cut Challenge Cup clash at The Shay.

Halifax are anxious that the Bradford supporters - who will number around 6,000 at the big match - do not provide their usual ticker-tape welcome for their side.

A Halifax spokesman warned: "It will be confiscated if supporters try to take it in."

But Bulls' Media Manager Stuart Duffy was quick to tear a strip off his club's cup rivals.

"Our fans are renowned for providing a colourful spectacle wherever they go and the ticker-tape is all part of that," he said.

"This is a silly ban because it is all a bit of harmless fun.

"It seems as if they don't want the job of clearing it up afterwards which is disappointing in view of the amount of money our fans will be putting into their coffers.

"We have sold our full allocation of almost 4,000 tickets and we believe as many as 2,000 more of our followers have bought tickets at Halifax.

"It is a pity that Halifax cannot take the same attitude as some of our other rivals.

"Salford told us last season that they wouldn't mind sweeping it up every week if they could be guaranteed the number of away supporters we took to their ground."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.