Bradford Bulls chairman Peter Hood has claimed that Leed
s are claiming for £3.2 million in compensation in the ongoing Iestyn Harris saga, announcing that such a victory for the Rhinos could bankrupt one of the most successful clubs of the Super League era.
Harris left Leeds in a deal reported to be worth between £850,000 and £2million for his switch to union in 2001. The area of dispute has been a returning clause that saw the Rhinos have first pick on the player upon any return to the game.
When Harris came back to league in 2004, he did so as a Bradford Bulls player refuting any claims of a clause. Leeds challenged the move, with Chief Executive Gary Hetherington saying he was “angry and disappointed” and that the matter was with the club’s lawyers.
Since then, league has been punished with a cat-and-mouse style of pantomine, with Leeds throwing their toys at Bradford and Bradford shelling out cash for a player who has never recaptured the form he had before his union switch. Leeds won their first round of legal disputes when a high court judge ruled that the Rhinos did have first option on Harris, if that was the weigh-in, the forthcoming high court showdown will be the big event, and nobody will win.
Leeds are evidently right to be a little aggrieved. But now this issue has gone well past contractual rights to a player who is set to retire before the case comes to court, this is now seemingly about Leeds extracting revenge, dragging the Bulls through the courts and giving them a public lashing regardless of who else gets hurt. The circus that will inevitably follow will show league up as a sport of people out for their own interests without a care for the future growth and development of the game. A group of people willing to go so far as to erase a club from existance just to claim back a percentage of a sum of money that is dwarfed in these days of big business.
Listening to Bradford though (and it is them doing any of the talking), they say they are ready to fight and have clearly won the PR exercise this news was intended for. But they are as bad as the Leeds they portray. They were the ones with a flagrant disregard for the rules and have since broken the salary cap rules on two occasions, they fought Leeds even when they knew they had broken the rules and now it seems they will pay dearly.
Some may argue they have already paid with the lacklustre form of Harris since he signed, the only true loser though will be the sport – and we will all be paying the penalty.
Harris Bradford image from www.milleniumstadium.com
Harris Leeds image from www.bbc.co.uk (usage policy)
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