Bradford have been given a dispensation to play their remaining fixtures on the sub-standard Odsal ground.
Surely there are pitches in close proximity that could have been hired? We survived but if we hadn't it would have been a bitter pill to swallow.
I’m a bit ambivalent on this one. It’s clearly very poor but it’s not actually dangerous and I’m pretty sure it’s not being done in order to gain an advantage.
Dangerous or not, advantageous or not, what's the point of having a set of rules and then ignoring some of them?
A narrow pitch does disadvantage a team trained to throw the ball about widely to fast wingers, and gives advantage to a team with big forwards playing a Biff-up-the-middle game.
It does seem ironic that the RFL actually own the ground. You would have thought that if anyone should have a pitch that meets the regulations, it would have been the RFL. But it is rugby league.
They should have told Bradford to continue playing at Dewsbury until any necessary changes were made to the ground to meet the regulations. Maybe, the RFL need the rent from the ground to pay Rimmer's salary!!!
Only in RL this would never happen in any other sport, people ask why we cannot expand the game. Outsiders will look at this and take it as a game of Jeux Sans Frontières with Bradford able to play the joker not once but for every home game.
Laughing stock of sport once again ,you bet
Looking at the video of the game, particularly at the Bradford pack, you have to think that a pitch as narrow as possible would cetainly been an advantage. Of course if Brough returns a wider pitch might be quickly arranged.