It sounds odd that the RFL would remove any minimum lighting requirements.
From a player/referee welfare point of view surely the RFL have a duty of care for them under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to protect, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of its employees. This certainly applies to the RFL where the referees are concerned since the referees are paid by the RFL, and more broadly the players because the RFL are running the competition they are participating in, thus they have a responsibility to take measures to protect them. I would argue that the low lighting levels might have a detrimental effect on the welfare of the players and that the RFL would have some questions to answer by not having a lighting policy in place.
As far as the Bulls are concerned I am disappointed that they haven't prioritized the lighting situation for the same reasons. Not just that, they could have scheduled earlier games to circumvent the issue in the first place, much like they did for the Boxing Day game. We don't need the floodlights in the summer (normally), so why not just save the money and scheduled pre-season (and maybe early season) games for 1pm or 2pm kick offs such that the floodlights aren't needed? I understand with the Yorkshire cup it was a double header - do the same thing, kick the first game off at 11.30am and the second at 1.30pm. Problem solved.
