TBH, despite the misdemeanors of the Salford club, I really do not think that we, as Bradford fans, are in any place to criticise. We have plenty of previous in this field and we benefitted from salary cap breaches in the past.
IIRC, our breaches were 'inadvertent', due to insurance payments not being received for players injured in international games etc, and definitely 'cock-up' rather than deliberate. I think it's fair to call our, and others at the same time, pretty minor compared with what appears to have gone on at Salford.
TBH, despite the misdemeanors of the Salford club, I really do not think that we, as Bradford fans, are in any place to criticise. We have plenty of previous in this field and we benefitted from salary cap breaches in the past.
What comes around goes around....
We lost Shontayne Hape to play for his Country and we brought in Adrian Morley on a short term contract. The mistake we made was expecting NZ to pick up Shontaynes salary therefore taking him out of the salary cap and allowing us to add another player to our team. We breached the cap between 2 & 5%. We were fined £25000 and docked 2 points... Wigan in the same year were docked 4 pts and fined £50,000 so how fair is that, in comparison to what Salford have been given.. OK I feel for the fans, but no one felt for our fans did they?
IIRC, our breaches were 'inadvertent', due to insurance payments not being received for players injured in international games etc, and definitely 'cock-up' rather than deliberate. I think it's fair to call our, and others at the same time, pretty minor compared with what appears to have gone on at Salford.
That is as may be in theory but I am less than convinced about "inadvertent" breaches. The club has to take complete responsibility IMO.
We all know that cheating has been going on at some clubs for years and the sad fact is that Salford are hardly an exclusive case.
I may be being a bit too simplistic here but a breach is a breach, however it is done. Ignorance is not an excuse for me. The biggest issue is the clear failings of the RFL and their "live" cap that was supposed to avoid these things happening.
We lost Shontayne Hape to play for his Country and we brought in Adrian Morley on a short term contract. The mistake we made was expecting NZ to pick up Shontaynes salary therefore taking him out of the salary cap and allowing us to add another player to our team. We breached the cap between 2 & 5%. We were fined £25000 and docked 2 points... Wigan in the same year were docked 4 pts and fined £50,000 so how fair is that, in comparison to what Salford have been given.. OK I feel for the fans, but no one felt for our fans did they?
I actually think that PLENTY of people had sympathy for the Bradford fans when things were going "t!ts up" TBH.
On the same token there will have been plenty who, rightly, were outraged that we appear to have won the GF on the back of cheating.
As for the Hape situation, did nobody at the club actually bother to check that NZ would foot the bill for Hape's salary? Because that seems somewhat unprofessional to me if so.
TBH, despite the misdemeanors of the Salford club, I really do not think that we, as Bradford fans, are in any place to criticise. We have plenty of previous in this field and we benefitted from salary cap breaches in the past.
What comes around goes around....
You're not wrong, and twice at that.
But this remains the most egregious attempt to deliberately circumvent the cap there has ever been. I don't want to lord it too much but I'm happy to slap down anyone who thinks they're being victimised by this teeny, tiny punishment.
But this remains the most egregious attempt to deliberately circumvent the cap there has ever been. I don't want to lord it too much but I'm happy to slap down anyone who thinks they're being victimised by this teeny, tiny punishment.
I agree that the punishment(?), if that is what it is, is hardly a deterrent to anyone. It is embarrassingly insignificant in the greater scale of things.
I agree that the punishment(?), if that is what it is, is hardly a deterrent to anyone. It is embarrassingly insignificant in the greater scale of things.
In scheme of things it wont matter a jot if the points are wiped out at the middle eights. How is this a punishment?
I agree that the punishment(?), if that is what it is, is hardly a deterrent to anyone. It is embarrassingly insignificant in the greater scale of things.
That £5,000 fine would be felt hard by 99% of people. That has to hurt. The only people who wouldn't feel something like that are millionaire racehorse owners. Oh wait....