Bradford Bulls in crisis after being hit with six-point deduction for entering administration

BRADFORD Bulls saw all their directors quit the cash-strapped club on Wednesday morning (EDT), just minutes after they were docked six Super League points for going into administration.

With relegation re-introduced into the Super League this season, it left the Bulls, long one of the powerhouses of English rugby league, on course to drop out of the top flight and facing a renewed battle merely to stay afloat.

England's governing Rugby Football League imposed the six-point penalty after Bradford, based in the 13-man code heartland county of Yorkshire, northern England, breached insolvency regulations for the second time in 12 months.

The RFL's decision effectively led Bradford's directors - and prospective owners - to pull out in protest.

Bulls chairman Mark Moore said Bradford Bulls 2014 Ltd, the holding company which had a bid to purchase the club from the administrator accepted last week, had withdrawn its offer.

“It is with great sadness and frustration that we have been led to this point,” Moore said in a statement.

“I believe that we have been forced into making this decision, due to the Rugby Football League's proposed sanction of a six-point deduction, making relegation almost a certainty.”

The RFL explained its decision by saying: “The RFL board of directors has today (Tuesday) ruled that Bradford Bulls will be deducted six points - the equivalent of three competition wins -- as a penalty for entering into administration in January 2014.

“The board's decision follows a full assessment of the circumstances surrounding the club's administration, which followed a similar insolvency event by Bradford Bulls in June 2012.

“The points will be deducted with immediate effect.”

Bradford won their first match of the season at Wakefield last week after opening with a home defeat by Castleford and so will now go into this weekend’s match against London Broncos on minus four points.

The Bulls, who were founded as Bradford Northern in 1907 before being re-named at the start of the Super League era, have never been out of the top division since the switch to summer rugby from the game's traditional position as a winter sport in England.

Indeed Bradford were Super League champions four times in the first 10 years of the competition and won the World Club Championship on three occasions before decline set in after the last of their five successive domestic grand final appearances in 2005.

Source: http://www.foxsports.com.au