Jason Hirst was just a young boy when his grandfather took him to his first Bradford Northern match in the winter of 1976.
“From that day on, I was hooked, not only on the club, but the wider sport of Rugby League,” he remembers.
He went on to devote decades to the game and in 2022 gave up a well-paid job to take on the voluntary role of CEO at the club, which by then had been re-named Bradford Bulls.
The “very proud Bradfordian” has never lived more than three miles from Bartercard Odsal Stadium. Raised on Woodside Estate, he attended school there, before being educated to ‘O’ Level/GCSE level at Buttershaw Comprehensive.
After leaving school at the age of 16, while already working part-time, he went on to employment in the public sector and banking and finance for about 12 years, rising through the ranks to management positions.
At the age of 28, he decided upon a totally different career and went to work on the shop floor, at the well known local chemical company Allied Colloids.
“In almost 25 years on site, I worked for four different companies, from four different countries, each one being significantly different to the previous one in terms of culture, certain priorities and operational and strategics policies and procedures,” he said.
“Once again, I was fortunate enough to be promoted several times to numerous, varied management roles – I get bored easily and always want to look to test and develop myself. A colleague once told me that I was ‘very comfortable being uncomfortable’, which I took to mean that I’m more than happy working outside of my comfort zone.
“The site was the making of me, as I gained more valuable knowledge and leadership experience in operational, business, project, strategic, facilities, CapEx , transition and organisational change management.
“All that has meant, that although I now work and lead in a different sector i.e. semi-professional sport, the principles remain the same and my skills and knowledge have been easily transferable and are still value adding.”
Throughout his career he remained hooked on rugby and on Bradford Bulls, and was involved at a community level for more than 35 years, first as a player and then latterly as a coach.
Then in 2021, he was approached by a former teammate, Nigel Wood, OBE, the Bradford Bulls Chairman, about joining the club in a voluntary part-time capacity, to take up the newly appointed role of Youth & Academy Director.
“It’s fair to say, I didn’t need much persuading, as I jumped at the chance to be held accountable for the club regaining its full Elite Academy Status, which it had lost a year or so earlier, whilst simultaneously reconnecting the club with its local community clubs,” he said.
“Thanks to the great support and cooperation I received from colleagues, I successfully oversaw the above two objectives and was then offered the full-time CEO role in May 2022.
“I knew immediately that I wanted to do it, but it was a monumental decision for me. I understood and appreciated that the club couldn’t afford a CEO salary, so it meant leaving a well paid job that I enjoyed and retiring early at the age of 53, to take up an entirely voluntary role, which is what it remains, to this day.
“In some ways it was a heart ruling the head decision and certainly one that’s come with great personal financial sacrifices, but my emotional attachment to the club and my continual desire to step outside of my comfort zone and perhaps and hopefully prove doubters wrong (I’ve always used that as motivation throughout my career), meant that it was too good an opportunity to turn down.”
Since taking over he has faced many challenges and enjoyed many successes – including ensuring the club is run as a business that is financially sustainable and managed properly.
“That’s undeniably the case now,” he points out.
He also sought to reconnect the club and its fans.
“Fans need something to believe in,” he said. “They need to see that their team has a genuine chance of success or is at least ‘going for it’. “They also need to trust their club’s ownership and off-field leadership and management team.
“Without being disrespectful to anyone, when I became CEO, neither of the above was really in evidence, for a whole host of reasons, not least, the club’s well documented, previous financial difficulties.
“Fast forward 32 months and thanks to a fantastic collective effort, the club has certainly turned these things around, although my team and I will not rest on our laurels, as we know there’s still more we can and will do.”
Jason also set out to change the culture.
“To me that’s all about behaviours, standards and accountability (both personal and collective). The Bradford Bulls is now about self-reflection and continual improvement, whereas previously there was an element of a ‘we know best, we’ve always done it like this’ environment.”
His ambition now is for the club to return to Super League at the earliest, realistic opportunity, which he thinks will be in 12 months’ time. The club is currently one level below, in the part-time Championship competition. Once there he wants them to consolidate and grow, on and off the field.
“Our club has had a turbulent ‘boom and bust’ time this millennium, my fellow directors and I won’t allow that to happen again, under our custodianship – we love the club too much,” he stressed.
“We’ll achieve this through teamwork, communication, accountability, realism, hard and smart work and by being open-minded and receptive to embracing, driving and implementing necessary change.”
During his time at the helm the club has taken significant steps forward – including a large increase in the number of season tickets sold over the last year.
“Season tickets offer tremendous value and sales, boosted by the return of the legendary Brian Noble, MBE, as Head Coach, are 35 per cent up on the corresponding stage last year, so if you haven’t got yours yet, please do,” Jason said.
“Merchandise sales, alongside turnstile clicks and hospitality events in our 52 weeks a year hospitality banqueting suite, are key to our ongoing business sustainability and success. Our merchandise sales are particularly important during the off-season when we don’t have matchday monies, so again, I kindly encourage people to support our club by buying merchandise, either on-line and/or from our club shop.”
Jason is part of a board of six – with the other five owning the club.
“I’m fortunate to have a very supportive ownership group, who are all Bradford Bulls fans wanting success, for all the right reasons. The majority of whom have businesses in Bradford and the surrounding area,” he said.
“We have a fortnightly Board meeting to discuss key topics, share ideas, opinions, and form and finalise strategies. Beyond that, I am accountable and often responsible for all day to day decisions in conjunction with my numerous on and off-field teams. In short; I help form the plan before ensuring it’s executed.”
He doesn’t see himself becoming an owner although he says “I’d never say never”.
“Unfortunately, my pockets aren’t deep enough, particularly as I’ve had no employment income since becoming CEO. My financial input has been my time, free of charge and my salary sacrifice.”
His role as CEO has many fundamental similarities with other work he has done – but there are also many differences.
“Although I’ve previously held several higher management roles, I’ve never been a CEO and I never thought, in my wildest dreams, that I would be, let alone at my boyhood club.
“The biggest difference is that I’m now accountable for pretty much everything connected to the business I work for, from the budget, down to everything else that sits below it. To successfully do that, it’s imperative that I’ve got the right people around me, consistently making and executing the correct decisions. The club and I are very fortunate and appreciative that we do have those people (volunteers and paid staff), as nobody is going to get rich working for the Bulls. It’s all about people buying into and loving the club.
“It does help that I’m a fan, because it helps give me an insight as to what they’re possibly feeling and what they’re wanting and expecting from their club and team(s). I do genuinely believe that the fans can relate to me, not least, because of my working class, Bradford roots, but that’s for others to comment further on.
“One thing that I am extremely self-conscious of, is that I need to make and sanction decisions as the CEO of the club and not as a fan. In that respect I have to compartmentalise my CEO and ‘Jason, the fan’ emotions and thinking.”
He added: “For me personally, I want our fans to get excited and come to games as fans, in other words be focused on the matchday spectacle and not the off-field business. That’s what sport and being a fan is all about and I hope that never changes.
“That said, the reality is that the Bradford Bulls is a business that needs to make money to exist and prosper, so it is important to the club and I, that the fans see the bigger picture of all the great work this club and it’s charitable marketing arm, the Bradford Bulls Foundation, do off the field of play in supporting numerous charities and educational establishments on a week in, week out basis.
“By running another eight teams in addition to our Men’s 1st Team (Women’s, Women’s Under 19’s, Reserves, Academy, Scholarship, Wheelchair, Physical Disability and Learning Disability), our Club and Foundation also offer tremendous opportunities for our local communities. No other part-time, semi-professional Rugby League club in Europe supports its community to this extent in terms of the number of people it has playing our great sport.
“This, alongside the sterling efforts of my colleagues, our vast army of dedicated volunteers and hugely supportive commercial partners and sponsors, makes me extremely proud to be a custodian of our great club and I cannot wait to bring on-field success to our loyal fans, as we target promotion back to Super League.
He added: “If anyone wants us to help their business grow by becoming a commercial partner and joining our exciting journey back to the elite of European Rugby League, please contact the Bradford Bulls Commercial Manager, Ian Stafford ian.stafford@bradfordbulls.co.uk or myself jason.hirst@bradfordbulls.co.uk “
