Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The insane ramblings of a confused Bulls fan......
Ok, This is madness. But I'll post anyway
Given the season so far I should be feeling that the world is about to end and that NL1 Rugby is coming and a lifetime of mockery from the Loiners is about to start.
Strangely this is not the case. At the minute I am likening my mood and outlook to that of Steve Mac earlier in the year when the masses were calling for his public and summary execution in Centenary Square. The fact that the Sack Mac barrage has subsided to a disgruntled mumble seems to suggest that quite a few people can actually see there is some direction now.
I am not sure what's contributing to this optimism but am willing to cite the fans forum responses, the OSV looking like it may actually get underway, we've already signed a decent prop for next year (and some bloke called Hall from Manly - haw haw haw) and the promise of more signings for next year seems to be real. On top of this it looks like some deadwood will be leaving us at the end of the year.
One thing for definite that is cheering me up is that the fact our desire seems to have lifted a hundred fold and we are seeing the team giving 100% each and every game.
We've witnessed some scintillating attack and some quite brutal and dogged defence and to use slaphead's words players putting their bodies on the line. Going off track only the fitness of the team is a question for me at the minute.
Looking at recent performances it's hard to see just how we ended up in this mire. In fact it feels like we've had two seasons so far. The whooping by Warrington seems eons ago.
But is the future really looking bright? For me this season will come to an end this Sunday should we lose against Cas. We've a game in hand and a win against Cas and then away at the Quinns will put us back firmly amongst the pigeons. Not bad when you consider the amount of obituaries written about us and the number of teams having great seasons who we'll be level with.
This is step 1 in the recovery of the Bulls. Getting into the play-offs would be a result in this dire season. Just a climbing of the table will make us happy at the minute.
Step 2 is the holy grail of Bradford Northern/Bulls...A new stadium! Previously we've fallen over at the planning stage because some numpty gets upset as it's not what they want eg Morrison with the Tesco stadium and Leeds/Sheffield Councils in the Superdome fiasco. This time, however, we are past this and into uncharted territory...we're good to go and we just need the money. And before all you cynical Bradfordians start and hold Leeds up as an aspiration we can't reach....
Leeds has grown at the expense of Bradford in the fact that Thatcher's government called it an 'Area of unacceptable deprivation'. They pumped millions into the area which was a total dump, gave land and rent away to attract companies into the area and lo and behold 25 years later it's leached the life out of Bradford and Bradford is now classed by the government as being an area of....you guessed it. Shame central government can't actually see they've caused the problem as all commerce moved from Bradford to Leeds to take advantage. Look at Bank Street....they all moved to Leeds...Hopefully it won't be long before this works in reverse as Leeds becomes vastly overpriced!
But I digress. Leeds was a sh1thole and to the greater extent it still is but when land was dirt cheap people invested to make money. This is the reason I feel reasonably confident that the OSV will come off. No-one would have dreamt that Brewery Wharf in Leeds would attract so much investment as it was derelict. The same is true of Bradford today and with all respect in the world it needs the Hoods of the world to kick start it because BDMC couldn't kick start a 50cc moped.
Step 3. This seems to be happening. With Lynch signed up, Hall signed from Manly, hopefully another year of the Beaver and a strong halfback we could propel ourselves back into the top 4 next year and start to rebuild our fanbase. I say top 4 purposefully as in the glory years we were top 2. Leeds have take our place in this and it'll take a couple of years to get this back but top 4 would be nice. We need to rebuild the team.
Step 4. This is down to us and the Bulls. We all need to market the Bulls. The organisation needs to give us something to be proud of and then we need to become advocates again rather than falling prey to the cynicism and self destruction about the place.
It appears that Steve Mac knew all this loooong ago. Just how he kept his enthusiasm going when all was crashing around him and trotted out the two or more things to work on line lord knows. Now we know more about the direction of the club I can see why he said this.
Just why they didn't give us some good news rather than pulling the Bird stunt to appease us I don't know!
Posted by m4dm0nk at 15:56 |
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Don't Sully the Names of Our Heroes
Isn't it bizarre that as a nation we find it almost impossible to view our heroes objectively?
Have a quick think of the classic heroes throughout British history and try find anyone willing to pull them down. We just don't and I think the reasoning behind this is collectively our pride won't allow this and any dissidents are shouted down with cries of 'Shame!', 'Disgrace' etc.
Let me suggest a few, Nelson, Churchill, Montgomery, Princess Diana, Gary Glitter (ooops well perhaps one...). No-one will point out the flaws in their character without doing their damndest to supply at least three times the amount of superlatives needed.
Churchill - Raging alcoholic - But the British Bulldog! Indomitable Spirit! Glorious Leader! Inspiration to the Nation!
Diana - At times prone to depression and related issues - Shining Star! England's Rose! Queen of hearts!
Which brings me to things more local. Specifically Caisley and Noble. On the surface their records speak for themselves and by and large, because of this, we afford them hero status and to me this is stopping us seeing the true reason behind the collapse of the Rugby League super power that is the Bradfords Bulls.
When we started this trip into Super League Caisley was at the helm and the Bulls stole the march on the competition and as discussed in previous blogs went straight to the top of the class. In truth this was a happy co-incidence for Caisley as most people acknowledge that the true genius behind the rise of the Bulls was the all to quickly forgotten Peter Deakin. So damn good at it was he that before long he was tempted away. But his leaving was not before some forward thinking Australians had put in place all the ingredients needed for the Bulls on the pitch to match hype that had whipped up around Odsal
Under Smith and then Elliott it looked like we'd reign forever. The youth structure was bringing through Pryce, Fielden, Peacock etc and the Sky pundits were praising Bradford 'conveyor belt' long before they decided it was invented by the mob down the road in Leeds. In fact we were in such good shape that when Elliott pursued his dream of coaching in the NRL we hardly noticed when Noble took over. A Bradford lad, former Bradford player to boot, in charge of the Bradford Bulls. We were ecstatic.
We immediately conferred Hero Status on him and Caisley. Noble because he continued the winning streak (and why wouldn't he? He'd inherited an amazing squad that was based on solid dependable players rather than brought in super stars) and Caisley because he'd got the foresight to appoint Noble. This culminated when this team matured and cleared the board in 2003. A feat previously unachieved.
However behind the scenes, again as mentioned in previous blogs, something was not right. I knew lads who'd played in the academy and they'd been given their marching orders as Caisley and Noble did not see the point (not my words) so the youth policy that had served well was now but a shadow, the mainstay of the team, the pack, was about to have it's heart ripped out. Added to the fact another Bradford hero had put paid to the new stadium forcing us back into Odsal in 2003 things were already turning sour, but sod it! We had every trophy available to an English Super League club! Hail Caisley and Noble!
It would have been interesting to see where we would have been now had we been able to start our possibly fruitful partnership with Tesco but it was not to be. Ken Morrison (he can stick the knighthood where the monkey stuck the nut for me) - Proud Bradford lad! Local boy done good! BILLIONAIRE! Was scared of a little competition and cried like a baby to the Government.
Orrr poor ickle Kenny Wenny did didums not have enough money? Not that the tight fisted pr4t was short of any cash himself. Yes the Tordoff thing is legendary but for the good of Bradford surely he could have let it go, or even fund the damn thing himself? But I'd better stop, don't want to muddy the name of a Bradford Hero...
So, Morrison belted in the first nail and Caisley and Noble were happily taping in the rest. Noble wanted Gareth Ellis and was happy to p1ss of any number of his squad to get him and Caisley has decided to go after Iestyn Harris. Not happy with letting the squad deteriorate they seemed to want to have a tilt at the finances. The results were disastrous.
The players offered in a swap for Ellis were rightly unhappy and only Langley stuck around Harris duly arrived but not before we'd stuck the knife into the cornerstone of our success. In 2005 Peacock's performances seemed to be dipping and when he said he was leaving for Leeds some shrugged. Given the revelations in his book it's now easy to understand why he went and also why it hurt him so much. To lose him was criminal but to lose Pryce was deemed not that important. We'd fallen (me included) for Noble's 'He's not a Stand off' mantra. Unfortunately he's better than anything we have now.
Did we replace these players? Not really, the buy success recipe had indeed taken a massive toll on the finances and it's probably unfair of me to say it but it's amazing how both Caisley and Noble bailed out leaving Hood and McNamara with a massive headache and massive debts.
In recent times Bradford have been involved in some amazing signings, unfortunately most going the wrong way as we sold our prize assets to get out of debt and we must be honest with ourselves here. If it wasn't for Hood we many not have had a club to moan about today.
My greatest cheer for the club in recent times came last year when it announced it had made a profit for the first time in a good few years. This does not mean, however, we are now able to compete. The squad has been destroyed and the clubs reputation is in tatters. In conjunction with the recent revelations about creative payment arrangements at Leeds, Stains and Wire we are still light years behind.
There is also the matter of mis-information. At the beginning of this year we were told that we could if we wish spend the full salary cap allowance. But we weren't going to. Then we announced we had. Then we announced the signing of Bird. Erm if we'd spent the full cap how had we done this? Also it was rumoured before the announcement they been calling sponsors to get them to advance the monies. If it did not come off then we must have space under the cap? Now Poo-poo's gone we should have more but we can only sign Rinaldi, and at that temporarily. Perhaps we are saving our pennies for a blockbuster signing. One day eh?
So. There we have it. Caisley, Noble and Kenneth Morrison, three Bradford Heroes who, in my humble opinion, thoroughly deserve the villain tag. When McNamara and Hood talk of people not knowing what's going on behind the scenes I am inclined to believe their is more to this than meets the eye. We may never know how close we came to another 10th December 1963.
So my view has changed - as if you've read all the blogs you know it regularly does! But sometimes, you need to get to your lowest ebb, the very depths of despair before the emotion of the what's happening before your eyes subsides and things start to become clear. Perhaps Mac and Hood are not the ones doing the mis-managing, perhaps they are struggling in their fire-fighting duties. They have so much to put right but at the wrong time in their respective careers, without the financial means.
Posted by m4dm0nk at 09:43 |
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Monday, March 2, 2009
Groundhog Season
Am I gullible? The answer to this must be a resounding YES.
Having sat and watched the 'team' last Friday I realised I'd been had good and proper, and more to the point so have the Bradford Bulls board.
A couple of years ago when Nobby decided that a Meat and Potato pie was preferable to anything on offer in Bradford a well respected (at the time) coach of our nearest and dearest backed the appointment of McNamara as Bradford's head coach as he was 'one of the best up and coming coaches in the business - and British too'.
Tell me why we all listened to an Australian coach of the L**ds Whinos?????? To be fair he was not the only one harping on about his credentials but with hindsight, it looks now like we made a hurried and very wrong decision.
The fact that other teams were interested in him at the time seems to have blinded us to the fact that, with all due respect, he really can't coach at the highest level.
What do I base this on? For me the basics on the pitch are all wrong and many of you share this opinion and have said so on the forum. We've been patient, steadfast and loyal to him in the face of our team crumbling and have called for more time for him to develop. How much more time can we give?
What really sticks in my throat is the fact we are now approaching joke status. Each week we read the same fairy tales in the T&A spun by a different player each week. 'We're not far off', 'They boys are ready', 'There's a great spirit in the camp' yadda, yadda, yadda. Whilst the T&A readers jump on this and abuse each other, the more eliciudated bretheren at Bradfordsbulls.co.uk sit, scratch their head and generally put forward plans which actually make sense.
Again this week we were treated to the McNamara Mantra of ‘We did some dumb things, decisions against us yeah we’re still confident we’ll be there at the end of the season there are some good signs’
What frightens me is that I too actually see the signs and am sorely tempted each week to believe him but after giving my head a good shake…no more!
Yes the signs I see are good. Most of you will grudgingly admit that we actually have some good players. Burgess, Menzies, Morrison, Scruton, Cook, Tadulala and to some extent Sheriffe ( - ducks to avoid low flying abuse) all showed me the signs last Friday (and the majority have been showing them for a while now). But as Sheriffe broke down the right, kicked into the middle to be swooped on by Menzies (oldest member of the team!??!!?) who then stood upright in the tackle looking utterly bewildered at the very obvious lack of white shirts within 30m it dawned on me. I have been the most gullible fan around.
We have the players to compete, the skills needed and these players produce the signs but what is missing is for me the vital ingredient, the one who brings these disparate collections of skills together and blends them into one unit. The tactician, the planner, the COACH!!!
Because Steve Mac is such a nice person we all see the good points and as I’ve mentioned before no-one like to kick the family Labrador! However, it’s true. Think back to his career, he was a solid if a little uninspiring loose forward and he’s brought that to coaching, solid, inoffensive, calm, steady, I could go on. The thing is, looking at our outstanding players they are mainly forwards and there lies our inability to score on an open try-line. We have a forward coaching the team.
With a heavy heart I now realise that we must abandon our British coach high ground. If nothing else, the game last night proved beyond doubt that when the Aussies actually want to play they are head and shoulders above us. We need a coach with ideas, with the teeth to make the team play together and bring them on to the field as a cohesive unit. I can’t see a Brit out there that can do this?
I am sorry Steve, I really am, I’d have loved you to succeed but the time has come, he says bringing out a disgraceful cliché, to shape up or ship out. My first move would be to take the Armband from Deacs and pass it to Morro or Menzies have someone more vocal and driven at the front. My second move, if I was the board, would be to put Newton out to grass (I can down a pint by the time he’s got the ball off the ground and airbourne AND we ALL know he's going to run right at the marker defence in the hope of a penalty) and place a situation vacant for a hooker. THEN the hard part.
"Steve, you have a month. In that month you must not loose and you must get over the tryline on an average of once every 15 mins. If not. I am sorry but the writings on the wall. It’s time to go."
Posted by m4dm0nk at 10:06 |
Bradford Bulls
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Monday, July 21, 2008
Give it some!!!
Been a while since I added a blog so I thought I'd shake my lazy self and get something down
First of all, it's been my sad duty this morning to attend the funeral of fellow Bulls fan Peter Butterfield whom I worked with in Education Bradford around 10 years ago. I last saw him at Odsal a while back after a defeat and before he developed terminal cancer. As usual he was smiling and more interested in what I'd been up to than getting miserable about events on the pitch. If there was ever a bloke cheerful and confidence inspiring then I'd have to go along way to meet them. My condolences to his wife and sons. It's sad to think I'll never bump him to him up there again. RIP Mate.
Now on to the misfiring sports care that is the Bulls. For months and months I've been saying perhaps Macca is too gentlemanly. Now don't get me wrong I DO NOT want to see him go, along with the team he is building he needs to develop and learn the trade. The problem, I have suggested, is that he is too nice.
Something's been bugging me this season and I could not put my finger on it but yesterday, what most of you will have already noticed, leapt up an hit me in the mush, no not that Cas got the most ill gotten 10k ever when they allowed Platt to don the hallowed Bulls jumper, something amost more sinister.
Every team has recognised that they can take liberties with us. Look at yesterday, Wakey speared Jeffries and what was the teams reaction? Brilliant, a break whilst we recover our breath. Imagine if you would, the same incident happening in 97? Maybe 2003? Would the team have used the chance to recover from poor fitness?
In these two years we have Lowes and latterly Fielden on the park. Can you imagine either of these two walking away from this without taking the chance to get a few verbals into the opposition and perhaps put them in two minds as to whether they should take up the next drive? Even Peacock would have been in to help his mate out, but the class of 08? Not a murmur.
On paper we seem to have a decent pack and we all enjoy the hits Burgess and Big Joe put in but that seems to be it. I don't condone Burgess getting ten minutes for getting involved but wasn't it nice to see some passion? The point I make is that we have no 'enforcer' anymore. No-one who fires our pack up or has the occasional shoving session with the opposition just to let them know they are about. Even Terry's been coached in being a Gentleman on the pitch!
I feel until we get some fire in the pack the team will underperform.
Yesterday when Jefferies made a break on a pass from Tadulala to hit the line ready to offload he turned to find....the rest of the chaps were still 20m away passing the time of day. Not one of the team looked ashamed and no-one took it upon themselves to berate the laziness that could have cost us another try. The only certainty of it was had he been playing for Scum or Stains he'd have had a try assist. We seem to have developed a 'Play the game' attitude. Let's get some fire!!!
Another thing I noticed yesterday was the amount of fans who, other than buying their ticket, do not actually contribute financially to the club. I refer principally to the game day draw. We all like to sit about crowing about how skint we are and bemoan the less than inspiring signings we make and I am tight as the rest but it seemed from the sellers I watched that only 1 in 10 bought a drawn ticket. Imagine the revenue if we all bought one. So, can we sacrifice one of our pints for a draw ticket? Will this bring more money into the club? Perhaps some-one else nearer the working of the club can answer this. But dear lord we are tight (me included) but not when it comes to Burgers, Beer and other consumables!!!
Talking of beer looks like summer has finally arrived and cool beverages at Odsal are on the cards! But hang on, we have only got two home games left! Summer rugby eh! So with the big day tomorrow will these be the final two games for the Grand Old Lady before the much needed facelift?
Let's hope so and that announcements regarding OSV are made soon! As mentioned before I have been persuaded to abandon my New Home cry as soon every team will have a sterile, dull, state of the art stadium and I hope we keep the Bowl!
To the play offs!!!!!!
Posted by m4dm0nk at 14:02 |
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Hail the Marketing Men!
Let me be the first to congratulate the Bulls Marketing Department on their 'mates rates' and shirt discount promotion.
Any relationship between and organisation and their 'client' (us in this case) is a very complex game. Recently our beloved club has been experiencing a down turn in form and the fair weather boys have taken flight dropping the attendances badly.
In these times, when the team is not pulling in the revenue, the marketing department is the engine driving the revenue streams through building engagement with the fans and thus building brand loyalty. This is why I applaud the efforts of the marketing team in giving the fans another reason to attend the game this weekend.
Few people realise that the only department in an organisation that actually thinks with the customer interest at heart is marketing. All other areas are concerned with protecting the company and anything done is with the organisations well being front and centre. Marketing is the polar opposite.
Already I am concerned to hear that people are upset as they already have the shirt and feel they have been ripped off. The harsh reality is you haven't. Your choice was to buy the shirt and so you really can have no complaints. The main thing here is to be objective and look at the club and realise it is actually taking an interest in us as fans. What do we want, when and how?
By building this engagement our loyalty to the club grows and our future becomes more certain. Look at the Mancs over the hill. They built a brand which has taken it to the top of the soccer world. They even have Manc U mortgages for goodness sake. And you know what? People trust the brand so implicitly people have taken it regardless of whether it was the best deal. The brand is trusted and they would not get involved in anything shonky!
And so back to Odsal. As a fan base we are down, we are frustrated we want the good times back and so we are cynical about anything the club does to bring people back. But that is our goal too. We want the big crowds in, the carnival atmosphere and everything that goes with it. So let's get off the back of the marketing guys who are showing signs that they are going into gear to do this!
Instead of trying to get our money back, let's put a different spin on it. Well done guys, will you be doing the same for the home shirt? Will there be another mates rates? Even suggest ideas!
And to the club. We've have had many, what I consider, gaffs in the recent past. Without raking too many areas of pain over, Friday night footy and charging your customers to use their credit card to buy an early bird season ticket just THREE weeks before Christmas when cash is a scarce commodity were really designed to pee your base off. Hopefully these are a thing of the past!
My suggestion as a starter is that the Bulls encourage people to sign up to SMS news. Register here and we'll send you the team news before anyone else gets it. Ever register for SMS alerts on-line and get £5 off your next purchase. For us reading that are already saying that's not great, maybe, but it's a step. By registering for services provided by the club they can see what work, what ticks the boxes for the fan base and so can tailor the future to our needs.
We are always wanting more from the club so why not give a little in return? It's all about bringing the fans closer to the club and if the club communicate with the fan base and give them the inside track and offers they actually want then we have a greater chance of keeping people at Odsal and turning them into advocates who'll sell the experience rather risk them walking away...here's my starter for 10 to get people visiting the official site. Use mobile numbers collated from the Man of the Match vote and send a teaser.
Now, we have a very knowledgeable and reasoned membership base on here and it's a great place to get our voices heard. So, onto the forums, over to you. What can the Marketing department do to build the relationship with the Bradford public? And remember it needs to be viable and not bankrupt the club! Let's work together to ride out the storm!
Posted by m4dm0nk at 10:48 |
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Monday, June 9, 2008
What gives you the right????
Another week, another attrocious performance registered and more misery all round.
No, I am not talking about the team I am talking about the people who claim to support this club of ours. Every week on the T&A site you get the doom mongers rubbing their hands with glee waiting for the next round of sack Mac, we're going to get thrown out of SL, they RFL are going to force us into all sorts.
Yes I know I have vented my spleen on the message boards. I am frustrated and my passion for the team and the club will have me going off on one every so often. For example, to me the reasoning for the failure is clear, Macca is too nice and we need a decent assistant coach. Look around at the other teams and you'll see what I mean. Tony Smith always seemed a nice sort of bloke but the team performed, who was his no 2? Brian Mac. Now if he said go run headlong at the posts, you'd probably do it. Who is our assistant?
Then again that's my opinion and I have the right to it. Why? Because year in and year out I pay my money and I take my seat, hail, rain, sleet or snow. This is where I fear the decline of the club is coming from.
Personally, I know people who have stopped going to Odsal because, despite all protestations, they are glory supporters. This will upset many people reading this as they too will have lapsed but it's true. Aren't we all getting fed up of the bile and vitriol spouted by people who don't actually support the club. And by support I mean this literally. Pay to get in, your money goes towards the running of the club.
'I don't go any more, no big name signings', 'waste of my money' yadda yadda yadda. To those in this category I suggest you are not a supporter of the club. Yes you may want to see Bradford win but you certainly aren't supporting the club in any way, shape or form. There seems a very clear difference.
To me now we need to admit we are no longer one of the 'Big 4' and there are two sets of people that need to understand this.
Firstly the 'I'm not paying to watch that rubbish' battalion.
It's simple really. Scientists will tell you there is an equation that explains everything in the universe. You name it there is an equation. I reckon success in RL can be simplified to the following:
Money = Success. No doubt about it. Where do we get money from? People attending.
Therefore
low attendances = dwindling coffers = no star signings = worse team performances = more fairweather boys staying at home = less to spend on the cap = Barrow Border Raiders and co each week...
Simply put, if we claim to be fans of the Bulls then we should get our backsides to every home game possible and ensure we keep the tills and the players ears ringing.
The second group is the clubs board. Like the upper eschelons of society they haven't seemed to realise that the empire has gone. They need to wake up fast and realise the complacency built on the back of Peter Deakins reign can no longer pull us through. Stiff upper lip stuff will not get us out of this.
I'll help....WE ARE NO LONGER IN THE BIG 4
Once we admit this to ourselves it becomes clear we need to re-define our role within the SL. We don't have the big money backing like Wire or Pies. We don't have the cash flows at the minute and crowds are dropping.
This needs to be turned around. Even if we can't turn the team around the club needs to look at restoring the feel good factor or having a new 'something' to bring people back through the gates, get them to feel they belong. At the minute I am reverting to the feelings in my first blog. It's looking poor, battles with Wakey and Cas are ahead as the Scum United Song boys and St's blast us away every game. Think I am lying? If we lose to Stains we are out of the six. Can you see us getting back in any time soon?
Even so, we are Bradford, we are loyal and we suport our team in every sense. Well some of us do and we can have a crow and know we have the right!
The rest of us need to look at ourselves and ask why only 8k turned out on a lovely summers day to watch the club they claim to love and support through thick and thin.
Posted by m4dm0nk at 12:38 |
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Monday, May 12, 2008
Millenium Farce
I've just been over to the shops on my usual dinnertime jaunt and for a change decided to have a sneak peak at the RL press without having to relieve my wallet of the funds. I am from Yorkshire after all...
Anyway the main crux seemed to be magic. Magic this, Magic that, magic the other...yawn. Straight into my gripe this week. Why the hell are we still trying to sell this concept? It's embarrassing to see that great swathe of empty seats in the stadium and let's be fair the cameras are always set up to point in the vacant directions.
We are told it's a success, it's now a traditional part of the season (oh really? I'd say twice is not traditional, otherwise we'd say it's traditional to play RL in the summer. It isn't) and everyone enjoys the day out. For me I can't see this.
What is traditional to me is the Challenge Cup final weekend trip. Full stadium, fans of Rugby League in general, carnival atmosphere and a good weekend away to boot. What makes this special is you invariably add an adopted team to your colours for the day meaning for that one day you have a vastly different fan base around you. Last year I daresay we all went Gallic for the day, in 2005 we all pronounced the number 9 as 'Narn' for the day and stunk of fish. To a degree you even get this at the Grand Final (witness my support of Leeds last year as I cannot abide Sintellins) but never, ever, is it as good as the Challenge Cup final. Does this happen in Wales? No.
So I need to ask, what is this Cardiff cock-up all about? We can't bond as RL fans because we are there to be partisan and support our teams, we don't watch the other games as frankly the seats are not meant for all day occupation and it can get a tad boring and anyway we all sit together like we would if the game would have been at home.
Proponents will tell me it's to promote the game in Wales. I say let the Celtic Crusaders do that. What impact will a couple of coach loads of Northerners do? Really. Think about it, every year it seems the NFL ship girls rugby over to England in the vain hope that more people other than weirdoes and Yankophiles will get into the sport and join in. Every time it fails, we have League and Union and even Union is more physically challenging than running for 2 mins in a suit of armour before having an hours rest.
However, we have one thing over the NFL's attempts in that our game is physically and mentally one of the toughest in the world. It sells itself so why not let it do just that. I can't help thinking that we just don't get masses of Welshmen and women through the turnstile on Millennium weekend. You can't blame them. Would I watch 14 Union teams if they trolled up to Bradford for an 'Odsal Odyssey'? Would I heck. This is where we are going wrong in my eyes.
To get me interested in Union we'd need a Bradford Bulls RU team that was dishing out a decent hammering to the Rah-Rah's on a regular basis and actually breaking through the image of the sport as a southerners game.
If the Millennium shenanigan is all about growing the game in Wales then I think we need to change tack. For some reason the working class Welsh sided with the Union public school boys in the great split and did not follow their working class colleagues into the brave new world of the Northern Union. They have remained steadfastly loyal ever since.
To grow the game we need to support the Celtic Crusaders in their endeavours and help then nurture their growing fan base. Nothing is more attractive than a winning team and encouraging the brave Welshmen who crossed the divide to come north and are trying to take the game to the Welsh public is the way to go.
Rugby League is all about belonging; to your club, to your county, to your country and ultimately to the game. What belonging can the Welsh Public feel at the Millenium 'Magic' weekend? Pushing a round of Super League into Cardiff each year is not doing anyone any good especially in these times where the doom mongers in the press are desperately trying to get us all to vote Tory by yelling recession ad infinitum.
I say stop the Millennium Farce NOW! Give me back a game I can attend and develop the game properly.
Posted by m4dm0nk at 10:35 |
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Monday, April 28, 2008
That's Entertainment
Seems a very apt title this week after a fantastic victory over Wiggin where the team royally entertained us with some fantastic attack some dogged defence and a knowing smile to Wiggin when they lost the plot and started with the coconut shy antics. Fight? With Leeds next week...tell you what here's another try. How do you like that eh? Back on the bus boys the Pies are about done.
But no, the reason for the title is to look at something I've wanted to examine more closely all year. The match day entertainment. I was going to do a piece after every home game looking for peoples' rating of the entertainment but after pestering the marketing department at Odsal for pictures to jog peoples memory every week I think it was getting a bit trying (for them rather than me!).
Thinking about it, booking the entertainment must be THE worst job at the Grattan Stadium. You will never please everyone and we'll only end up criticising regardless of the quality of the product. Take me for example. I simply hate the St Patrick day thing we do every year. There are two veerrrry simple reasons for this
- I am not Irish
- I don't live in Ireland
ergo...what relevance does this have to me? I know the old ladies love the little girls in their quirky outfits and dubious syrups doing a passable impression of someone who is, after suffering the ultimate park related embarrassment, furiously trying to kick an obstinate dog turd from the soles of their shoes, but seriously everyone, you put a Morris Dancing team in there and we'd all laugh. Wouldn't we? Be honest you really would!
Is this really less ridiculous then Morris Dancing???
With this in mind then why no St George's day this weekend? Think of the possibilities, Morris Dancing, Dragon slaying re-enactments, parade of classic English Cars and bikes, veterans parade, two for one on Tetley's the list could go on. What did we have instead? Elvis.
Elvis? Now I'll be the first to admit that I uttered more than a couple of profanities when I saw the 'Las Vegas' theme advertised. I fact I went so far as to question the motives of the club, cutting corners again, just putting things on for the sake, no thought etc etc. We have at least one Elvis impersonator every year! I was fuming!
Then, as the misguided, jumpsuit, clad madman in the middle got into his stride I realised to my open mouthed amazement that half of the crowd were sat silently mouthing the words to the songs. The other half were split into two camps.
1) The 'This is old hat, we want something new' brigade and
2) The steadfast 'We didn't need this frivolity in the Northern days and we were happy then drinking our tea from a rolled up newspaper whilst the temperature plummeted to -90 and all we had against the cold was a shirt and a flat cap and we didn't complain - you jessies don't know your born!' battalion.
Leaving aside the 50's Northern boys it then became obvious why we go back to the tried and tested. At the beginning of the season we had Dance X
One for the 'Younger Generation'
Now, in Dance X we had something current, high profile and still fresh in most peoples minds as we are, as a nation, suckers for reality TV. We're we happy? To quote General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett ..... 'Oh Good Lord no!'.
Even the community on this site were merciless in their pillorying and mirth ridden jibes aimed squarely at the poor folk on the pitch in front of us. Look at the picture above, this nicely turned out, not unattractive contemporary performer drew howls of derision and unbridled laughter.
Now contrast with the picture below and tell me why on God's green earth this rag tag, scruffy bunch produced knowing nods of appreciation and applause from the crowd?
You are all mad!!!!!!!
Die di die die diddly die!!!
So, and here is the point of my blog this week, if you have read this weeks blog and it's struck a chord (sic) I'd like to invite you to put your thoughts in the Entertainment thread in 'General' on the forum.
What would be truly interesting to find out is what people actually thing about the matchday package, the acts we bring in, what you don't want to see, what you'd truly love to see (and keep it clean remember we have remembered we are a family club) and if you could take charge of the package for one day, what would you do?
Posted by m4dm0nk at 14:23 |
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Monday, April 21, 2008
Team Of the Year
We are lead to believe, with no reason to think otherwise, that Bradford are now back in the black with the finances looking healthy again. This of course is excellent news and we all look forward to bolstering the team and making some major signings in the next few years to put us back up at the top where we belong. It's as simple as that! Or is it...
The fact that we have technically infringed the salary cap in the last few years tells you something quite significant. Whilst we have struggled on with a weakened squad we have filled the salary cap. Quite a stunning fact when you think about it.
Firstly and most importantly I believe the salary cap is an excellent tool in allowing clubs to compete on an even playing field. Every year you'll hear the Waldorf and Stadler of Sky Sports bleating on about 'The closest year yet' or 'The competition just gets stronger, we say it every year and it's true'. Yes guys we get the picture (and yes you love the 'Entertainers of Super League' too you needn't repeat that ad infinitum every season. It's dull, get over it.)
Secondly it stops the cash rich Wiggin's of the world signing up all the top players and then falsely ruling the game for generations.
It does for me, however, shift the focus of fans eyes to other teams involved in RL. 'What are you carping on about? Keighley? Barrow?' I hear you ask. No. I am talking about back office accounting and contract negotiations teams.
At the minute in the league Leeds, it pains me to say, rule the roost and appear at times to be unstoppable. To pay them a compliment for once, their success appears to be based on their academy bringing on a squad that has played and matured together for several seasons so that the understanding between them is almost automatic. It also has the major benefit of being cheap. Most of the starlets were signed on junior contracts early and so have being playing well above their value for a season or two now.
Their situation mirrors, almost exactly, where our beloved Bulls were at the beginning of this century. Pryce, Peacock, Fielden, Reardon and to some extent Deacon had come through the ranks, were cheap and playing very well. Then came the contract ends and we simply could not afford to pay them their worth and keep the team together.
Many people will cite Noble or Caisley as a factor in driving players away but the simple reasons appear to be that Reardon was offered more than double to play at Warrington, Peacock was offered more, Fielden went for 90k erm sorry for the challenge and Pryce went for cash.
Numerous Sts fans will tell me over and over 'It wasn't the money for Pryce he wanted to play 6'. Really? We'll my more reliable sources say he was offered more and Bradford deliberated on the damage to the Salary Cap that would ensue and by the time they'd matched the offer, he'd signed and the deed was done. I stand to be corrected if anyone out there knows the exact truth but it does lead you to look closely at this salary cap idea.
Leeds' dominance and strong squad we have looked at and the encouraging thing to note is that if they are to stay within the cap some players are going to have to go. They can't continue with the same squad and add players like Buderas without the loss of Ellis and I suspect others. Look at 1-17 with Leeds and you can see the longer they stay together the higher the wage bill becomes and having two excellent hookers like Buderas and Diskin is going to be costly. Peacock has signed for another term. Lauititi will not be coming cheap nor will Donald, Toopi, Webb, Senior and Sinfield. With Ellis and Senior already heading to the door and the quick fix Aussie raid you can see a season or two's uncertainty ahead.
Every other team in the league appears much of a muchness with quality in most of the starting berths and some solid players on the interchange bench. In this respect the salary cap is spot on (we even resorted to playing McAvoy in the starting 13 for goodness sake!) and we have to say the Sky mantra is correct and games and comps are getting closer.
There is one interesting exception to this. A team that gets a minor slap on the wrist for a minor infringement of the cap but yet boasts no less that 17 internationals in their ranks. All this on an average crowd no more than ours. A team that is rightly called the entertainers I suppose and is a star studded unit that, although you'd hate to admit it, have that much skill packed in it's almost a pleasure to watch them. Step forward St Helen's.
I have a friend who is a St's fan, and in true glory hunter tradition comes from.....Wakefield! She will happily tell me that players will take a pay cut to go play for St's because it's a privilege and they are guaranteed to win something. What is truly scary is she actually believes this!!! She believes that grown men, in a short career which carries the very real danger of being cut shorter (Karl Pratt for example) will take less than they are worth just to play for Saints. Seems like Wakefield is a large village...
You can see why she makes these protestations; Wellens, Gardner, Gidley, Meli, Tallau, Pryce, Long before we get to Cayless, Sculthorpe, Cunningham, Gilmour etc. I'd be twitchy about the cap with that lot in harness!
So looking at our squad in comparison to St Helen's, we are weaker but we are spending the same amount of money on it? Similar sized crowds and I'd suspect similar turn over in the merchandise department? On second thoughts, maybe she is right, maybe people will take a cut to play for Sts. Or maybe, just maybe, their management have got something right.
Putting aside accusations of teams making overseas payments or signing players to play Union when they will never even train with the 15 man squad (we have to accept St Helen's are abiding by the rules otherwise the RFL would have come down on them) my eyes are firmly open now.
When we sit now, with our finances in order, to look at our next signings we make, I urge the Bradford Board to sign the greatest team in Super League, one that achieves the unthinkable and has taken more international scalps than any other team...
The St Helen's finance and contract negotiation team.
Posted by m4dm0nk at 10:19 |
The Super League
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Thursday, April 3, 2008
Bring on Russ Abbott!!!
Following on from my last blog I have to admit that I sensed a lifting in the atmosphere around Odsal last Sunday even before hapless Cas were put to the sword.
Spring was definitely around and there seemed to be a lifting of the spirits or at least the green shoots of recovery as the club did put on a bit of a show both on and off the pitch. I was even astounded to see Mr Harry Gration erstwhile rhinophile of the Yorkshire Television parish urging the great Bradford public to get down and support their local successful team.
Once again the good people of Bradford responded magnificently in the only way they know how. Total apathy! As mentioned previously we appear to be in a downward spiral where the club appear to be unwilling to break the shackles and cut loose on the entertainment front and you can see all too clearly why. Ten thousand out of a population of 492k on a comfortable spring afternoon. Appalling.
Is this then the sole fault of the club? Is it the fans? Or is it something, to turn all Monty Python for a moment, completely different.
Last weekend was the anniversary of the very first Super League game to be played. The self same weekend just 12 years later and we are already a third of the way through the regular season. Can you see where I am going with this? Summer Rugby...where has it gone?
As we appear, as a club, to have remembered our aim was to be a family club we now find ourselves with another layer of complexity. Families don't bring toddlers/younger children out in conditions which have been, to be fair, approaching arctic!
Whether this also affects season ticket sales when we see the first round creeping earlier week by week each year I can only speculate on but you can be certain when the temperature drops that fairweather supporters rather keep their brass monkey's inside rather than risk the alarming complaint they are prone to! Carry on as we are and we'll all be having Christmas Dinner in the Touchdown, watching the Queen's speech before turning our attention to the pitch rather than James Bond.
I know people will be pointing to the Leeds crowds and asking if they can do it why can't we? Answer, they have a whole different demographic. Leeds' mostly male following are used to standing in the cold as United have never played Association Football in the summer 
. I know it's controversial but you have to say that the coincidental rise of the Rhino's during the demise of United has swelled the crowd and these new fans are used to winter games.
Cue howls of derision from the Rhino fans but true loiners will acknowledge that their crowd was as low as 3.5k during the Dean Lance days and will also question why they play a football anthem each time their team takes to the field. Working in Leeds it always amuses me that there are ten thousand fans who'll tell you they were loyal during the reign of Lance despite the stats clearly showing the opposite...
That's enough bashing the Rhino's for the minute but the point is valid. There is a large amount of floating fans at all clubs. These fans need all the ingredients to be there to attend games although they will claim to be loyal supporters. One missing component and they may still attend, get two or more and they don't go. Leeds are winning so the crowds remain despite the cold, Bradford are mis-firing, in addition to the cold, this is enough to keep people away.
So here we are, the fans who attend the games in all weathers and temperatures, we have that warm feeling inside knowing we support our club don't we? Well actually we could do more.
It's us that make the atmosphere in the ground (hence Russ Abbott?!!?!?!) and I am sure we all remember the early SL years when the singing was constant, the chants were funny but clean and we all wanted to be at the ground to be part of it. Going back to the floating supporters atmosphere could also bring them back. Unfortunately, we just don't seem to be able to get any going anymore. It seems to be an unwritten rule that you should not repeat the 'Come on You Bulls' chant more than three times. Lord help you if you do! Everyone else stops, you are on your own and you get laughed at. You learn you lesson and next time you don't join in!
Those of us with tickets in the stand are hamstrung at this point but those with ground tickets I call upon you to join together for the Toulouse game (after a few nerve settlers of course) under Steve Macs box. Introduce yourself to the BradfordsBulls.co.uk massive and sing. 'We love you Bradford', 'Come on you Bulls', 'Are you Keighley in disguise?', 'Who's your father referee? anything clean but sing!
Let's get the atmosphere back and with it the floating supporters and let the team know we are about and getting behind them.
Posted by m4dm0nk at 13:30 |
Bradford Bulls
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