The Phantom Horseman

I think this was the first game in the Shield, which seems to work a bit like the Championship Shield did a few years ago.

A second win of the season for the Ladies' team at Leigh today. Really good result after Leigh had beaten Fev 34-8 earlier this year.

Which FB page/group was this please?

Well, I'm not saying this is representative, but just from an anecdotal viewpoint... The previous WMDC Labour cohort included a strong advocate for the club in Maureen Tennant-King (who posts on TRL), a lifelong Fev fan whose dad played in the 1952 Challenge Cup FInal. The recently-elected Reform WMDC cohort includes the man who fell out with the Fev club chairman and ended up brawling with him in the infamous "hammer" incident on Station Lane.

Well, it's Shaw who I was quoting - "the people are telling me that's a big blow in terms of getting Featherstone back up and running." You're right that the buyers intentions were the big unknown (to most people anyway) especially as talk in the administrator's latest report was of the stadium being leased out by the potential purchaser to another party that would submit an application to the RFL to run the rugby league club. It might be that they baulked at the number of demands that were being placed on any potential purchaser in terms of compliance/maintenance etc to the stadium. Then again, one of the more eyecatching comments in the recent administrator's report was that the dispute about the RVL Developments and whether that company (whose 2 officers are Mark Campbell and Colm Corran) have an interest in the land or not. The administrator stated this would need to be determined/resolved prior to the sale of the assets to third parties, maybe it's the uncertainty regarding this issue that has deterred the potential buyer, who knows. As for the issue of the new Fev club renting from the administrator, I know it's possible as after all he's been renting the stadium to Rovers2026 for most of this year. I suppose if the new Fev club repaid the rugby debts that might improve the situation for creditors though at some point the land is going to have to be sold. The other thing we've been struggling to follow on the Fev forum is the fact that in his latest statement the administrator stated that unsecured claims were estimated at nearly £2.9 million but less than £400k in claims had been received by him to date. It's no fun for Fev fans as the situation is not easy to fathom with most of us not having much knowledge of how these things work.

Not good news according to Matt Shaw on his latest Love Rugby League podcast. Shaw reports that he's been told that the person who was going to buy the land has now pulled out and that this is a big blow. The bit about Fev starts at around 45.00.

Not good news according to Matt Shaw on his latest Love Rugby League podcast. Shaw reports that he's been told that the person who was going to buy the land has now pulled out and that this is a big blow. The bit about Fev starts at around 45.00.

I know there are some forum users who don't use Facebook etc or other social media so here's a piece from today's League Express that has been shown on the True Blue Facebook page about the forthcoming Legends game on Friday 14 August, in case there are some fans on here that haven't heard about it and might want to go.

Yes, the ex-Fev players playing for Lions are all crowd favourites too but as you say they're all getting on a bit and most of them had already announced their retirement from the semi-pro ranks.

I agree with this. We played some really good and attractive rugby in 2025 but the crowds were alarmingly sparse. There are various reasons for this but having been arguably the most consistent Championship club for 15 years and knocking on the door of SL in one way or another for much of that time, I think plenty of the non-diehards became a bit disillusioned, and if we do return in 2027 we'll presumably be on the minimum £250k cap and also will be recruiting very late in the year compared to other teams - for instance, Danny Addy and Bailey O'Connor, who would both have been with us again in 2026 if we had got the go-ahead from the RFL, have already signed contract extensions with Dewsbury.

I kind of think it happens already - there's a 10-page thread called "2027 Transfer Tracker" further down the page, though quite a few of the players mentioned are overseas imports - but maybe not officially announced, over here most transfers seem to leak out through journos (via agents) well before they are announced by clubs. One or two have been officially confirmed by the clubs though eg Cameron Smith to Wakefield was announced in January and Robbie Mulhern to Cas has also been announced.

When I saw that Gilmore had had a "Ben Black moment" I assumed he'd completed an unlikely comeback by his team with a game-winning drop-goal after the game had been held up by a mysterious fire... #notbitter

Hard enough for Fev fans scrolling through Twitter on a Sunday afternoon...thought for a moment we were back and having a proper dig up in Cumbria

Was flicking through X, saw this and thought, good, sounds like we are having a proper dig up in Cumbria. Then I remembered they have a player called Featherstone.

Not sure about that, but when it rained there was a "shallow end" and a "deep end"