Bradford Bulls deal with fan fury and Odsal Sports City plan

Chairman Nigel Wood in particular had to deal with some angry supporters at the end when he ventured out into the crowd, as calls of "joke" and "embarrassing" could be heard from the most vocal.

Plenty of queries were answered in the near hour and a half forum though, with arguably the most interesting topic seeing Wood discuss plans for a potential new facility.

Talking about how initial talks around an RFL restructure had gone, Wood said: "Moves are afoot to re-define how the sport is constructed, such as the number of clubs in each division, and who is full time or not.

“Those in the best position, it will not just be based on what they do on the field, but also the size of things like the club and their academy.

"People realise rugby league is better when Bradford is bigger and stronger.

“But there is no easy route and one of the undeniable aspects where you’ll be considered is the facility you play in, and clearly this has held us back over a number of years.

“We’re trying to do something with the stadium and make it a priority.

“We've worked with local and national politicians to make this South Bradford corridor better.

"That work has been productive and with the help of the Levelling Up fund MP Judith Cummins, we are trying to help the club achieve its objective, a 21st century facility for Bradford.

“(Boris Johnson ally) Steven Barkley came to visit Bulls a few weeks ago, and asked Kersten England to present her vision for a sports complex up and down this valley.

"We've also asked John Bateman for his thoughts, and senior officers of RFL, who’ve pledged to use their lease of this place to make it available for a state of the art development.

“It's not Bulls’ project though, it’s City of Bradford's, and out of respect for the authors of the plan, I can’t say exactly what it looks like."

A picture was then produced of a mocked-up Odsal Sports City, a potential future complex.

A mock up of what Odsal Sports City could look like.

Wood added: “There’s a Bradford Council initiative to develop that corridor from Richard Dunn, to here, then down the valley to make a modern facility.

"It's probably a 2/1 shot it will come off. as not everybody who applies for Levelling Up funding will get it, it has to be based on the impact in the local economy and everything the club stands for.

“The hopes and aspirations are to take the club forward, and part of that ability to remain relevant is to address facilities at the club.

"There are a number of people who are serial critics and suspicious of my intentions for club.

"So I will repeat, it’s not the highlight of my career to be chairman, not what I dreamt of as seven-year-old ball boy, but I felt when the team was out of city, it needed Bradfordians to get it back.

“All I want to do is get the club playing the highest standard of rugby league and in a 21st century facility, and I want to stay here until that’s done.

“As long as there’s a future, you can rely on me to do my very best for this club.”

Talking about where other clubs had gone wrong, Wood said: “We thought it was the right move to return to Odsal.

"I can remember when Swinton and Oldham were powerful clubs, with the former having a particularly big fanbase.

“Both moved away from their historical home, rapidly spiralled and are not the forces they used to be.

“We didn’t want to see that happen to Bulls so we worked as hard as we could to give them a viable future in Bradford and made the decision to come back here, on the basis that it wasn’t the end of journey but the start.

“There’s been great developments in cities and towns over years, Leigh play in a £35m facility for example.

“If that's good enough for Leigh, Bradford deserves a facility like it.

“Before we came back, we talked to the decision makers around the city and the RFL to see if we could create an image like Odsal Sports City.

“If we could get a new facility on this footprint that'd be amazing, but if that's not viable and it needs building up as new on the Richard Dunn site, I’d take that.

“But we are aiming for something here, because Odsal is iconic and that’s what the decision makers are supporting.

“I don’t think playing in Dewsbury is right for club, and we left looking for a better facility, but there's not one here other than Odsal.

"Other clubs might be happy with their lot, but our club deserves the best chance to play at the highest level.

"We do have to remember that the club had three insolvencies after taking over this site though.

"We only took out a short-term lease this time to make sure it’s affordable from our point of view.

“I think we're better off here than anywhere else but has to be economically sustainable."

And that means the oft-maligned partnership with stock car racing, which has led to a small pitch and dirtied seats.

Wood said: “People criticise the size of the pitch but we couldn’t do this without stock cars.

"The RFL and stock cars have the contract together. We’re just tenants and we have first use.

“We know some issues need attention, but things like the concrete barriers are an attempt to make the transition between rugby league and stock cars as easy as possible.

“It took two or three days before to do that, so the stock car people have invested in those barriers.

“It is difficult for it to stay clean, but a lot of people make the effort to keep it that way, and we will try to close areas down to help.

“And the pitch size is compliant with the rules.

"Having idiosyncratic grounds is ordinarily seen as a strength, like Batley's Mount Pleasant, so we're disappointed our current home record is so mediocre, but that's a matter for the coaches.

“Ultimately, there are no easy solutions to the facilities deficit for rugby league in Bradford.

"We're trying to deliver a seismic solution and that's vitally important, because there'll be no opportunity to play in a 1980s stadium with the future in rugby league that's coming."

Addressing the anger over having no questions from the floor after the forum, club CEO Jason Hirst said: "Having reflected on feedback that I believe is fair, the next fans' forum will include a section with an open mic, for constructive, respectful and relevant questions."