Rugby League

Graeme Bradley, manager of Bradford Bulls, has signed a one-year extension to his contract, keeping him in the job until the end of the 1998 season.

St Helens, who, along with Wigan, were fined pounds 15,000 for a brawl during the Challenge Cup tie between the two clubs, have called for the right of appeal against such punishments to be re-instated. They also want a system of fixed penalties, similar to the one that operates in football, to apply to players' suspensions.

The administrators running the debt-laden Hull Kingston Rovers have rejected a pounds 914,000 takeover bid by a consortium headed by Bob Jamieson because of "insufficient financial guarantees." Jamieson tried and failed to take over Workington last year.

Wigan are widely expected to sell their ground to Tesco this weekend, flying in the face of an overwhelming vote by their shareholders last month in favour of staying there. The board of the club has decided that the terms of a deal proposed by the Wigan Athletic chairman, Dave Whelan, are unacceptable. Whelan had offered to buy the ground for pounds 4m, redevelop it and lease it back to the rugby club.