A LITTLE personal tale to start this column, if you’ll allow me to indulge you.

I was one of 12 apprentices to start working for British Newsquest titles from February 2018, but I was unique, as the only member of the delightful dozen to move away from home to take up my post.

It wasn’t the uprooting from Guisborough to Bradford that scared me, it was how the heck I was going to survive on £600 a month for a year.

There were lots of people to thank for helping me through that difficult 12 months, my editor and his secretary for agreeing to subsidise my lunches, the PA to our managing director for booking my trains home every eight weeks for study back in Darlington which allowed me to see my family for free, and my best mate and his girlfriend, for putting me up at their place in Batley initially before allowing me round whenever I felt lonely and isolated.

But there was probably nobody I was more indebted to than my landlord Shan.

A kindly South Asian man who had lived in Bradford for decades, Shan took me under his wing and treated me like a son.

He took a personal hit financially to only charge me £250 for rent and bills inclusive, when the true figure probably would have bankrupted me, he was constantly round at the house if ever I had a problem that needed fixing and we would constantly chinwag about life, every single week.

This was a man that was only a central figure in my life for 18 months, before I moved from Great Horton to Horsforth, but someone who will always have a special place in my heart.

Though I would like to think tolerance levels of Bradford’s large South Asian community go up with each passing year, and why not when people like Shan exist, Tuesday night showcased the worst of the divide in and around the city.

The Bulls were hosting their second annual Ramadan event, inviting large numbers of Muslims and South Asians to Odsal, demonstrating the club’s commitment to inclusivity.

While the event itself was publicised to little to no adverse reaction, a big positive, one post from Bulls on X lit the blue touch paper spectacularly on Tuesday.

In it, they put out a 45-second video of a call to prayer, which took place outside Odsal’s Southbank Stand, where the club hold all manner of events.

While plenty in the comments were supportive of the post, there was a huge slew of less favourable replies and quote tweets, which ranged from the negative to the downright disgusting.

Social media can be a cesspit, and not always a true barometer of wider feelings, but the fact the grim comments all over the post provoked a disbelieving reaction nationally, especially in rugby league circles, meant it was a situation to be taken seriously.

Bulls felt moved to release a statement the following day, which clarified that the night before had nothing to do with gaining IMG points or ticking boxes, but showcasing rugby league as a sport for all and Odsal as a place for all, a move that was endorsed by the Rugby Football League a few hours later.

Odsal being a place for all felt like a key and pointed statement from Bulls, and what I wanted to address.

No fan, white or black, Christian or Hindu, old or young, needs to feel ostracised, and they are no less welcome at Odsal than any prospective new supporters of Islamic faith.

That inclusivity message, surely vital in a city with such a diverse population, is to try and make rugby league a sport more accessible for all to watch, not to try and drive anyone away.

I’ve sat or stood in many Odsal crowds over the last six years, mainly as a journalist, sometimes as a fan, and granted, the vast majority of supporters are White British.

To be clear, Bulls do not have any intention of trying to eradicate or trim down that part of their fanbase, they have been indebted to many of those diehards for 50, 60 or 70 years.

But to those who commented on Tuesday night saying that, to paraphrase, “Muslims don’t go to rugby league games”, maybe that’s because rugby league has never made much attempt to welcome or cater for them?

No-one at Bulls expects every person in attendance at their Ramadan event to suddenly become a season-ticket holder at Odsal, but if that event has put say, 10 people enough at ease to decide to start coming down and watching the side in the Betfred Championship regularly, how is that a bad thing?

Besides, Bulls host events in the Southbank Stand all the time.

Hypothetically, they could be hosting a young woman’s 21st birthday party in there this weekend.

Is that a problem for anyone, if her and most of the other young people there have no interest in rugby league or coming back to Odsal for a game?

I’d suspect not.