We haven't been granted an academy license.

God this sport really is heading for oblivion. Having 10 academies, 1 of which is French, doesn't scream to me they're growing the sport. Especially when you look at the track record of some of those clubs.

I despair with RL, such a poor decision, the sport is dying, will be part time in the future except for a few elite clubs.

Incredible, myopic, destructive behaviour.

Another nail in the coffin of professional rugby in Bradford, and in general.

All because of the pure greed of tin pot club chairmen like Lenagan, Person, Carter etc.

They're literally destroying the sport.

We've got a proven track record of producing some of the best junior players in this country and in the NRL, yet we don't get approved to run an elite academy?!

Interesting that the rfl had capacity for 12 licences but still only issued ten. Castleford have also missed out which is huge news in itself.

Paul Medley was one of the people on the panel! He's national player progression manager WTF???

We need to hear the details behind the reasons. If they could have awarded 12 licenses but only 10 met the criteria, then there are some serious questions to answer.

There's a whisper on the other forum that they had pre-decided to only have 2 licenses for Championship teams. If true we've lost out on purely geographical reasons, since Newcastle and London scored points for 'expanding the footprint'

If this decision is final, then we are basically doomed to permanent second-tier rugby

I don't think it's quite that drastic. Someone on the TRL forum did a pretty good job explaining the decision and it makes sense, so long as those ten teams with elite academies don't go and plunder the community clubs.

If we've left ourselves with questions to answer then we basically have three years to sort it out and then we can reapply.

And who is going to pay for those improvements, given the absence of funding?

Judging by the current lack of investment in the club, it seems like we'll be struggling to even keep the Academy, let alone invest in significant improvements that may (or may not) result in us getting a license in 2024