AS, with November approaching, the nights further darken, thoughts inevitably turn to the Challenge Cup and to which amateur teams will be taking part.
We’ll have to wait a while yet for that information, however, as the identity of the sides set to participate in next year’s Super League and Championship had (at the time of writing) yet to be ratified.
Readers might ask “so what?” but it’s mathematically relevant as the number of professional teams involved clearly has a knock-on effect on the number of grassroots sides that can be included. Alan Smith, the Rugby Football League’s Senior Administrator, aptly summed it up when he told me, late last week: “We are waiting to find out the line-ups for Super League and the Championship, and then we will know how many entries we need for the first round.”
I imagine that the announcement regarding North Wales Crusaders might go some way to resolving the matter, while hopefully Featherstone Rovers will be back in the fold after a year’s hiatus.
For all I know there might be question marks over one or two other professional outfits. Fingers crossed that I’ll be able to publicise, in the near future, details of the teams set to embark on the Wembley trail at the turn of the year.
More immediately, the 2026/27 Student Women’s season would have got underway on Sunday (October 25), but for postponements caused by the weather. I plan to continue to provide readers with reports of each and every Sunday’s action, as I did in the competition’s first three seasons.
I take my hat off to the stalwarts at Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and, of course, Northumbria, where two teams are again operating. However, I also find it disappointing that the Women’s Student League hasn’t grown at all since its launch in 2023. I’m sure that’s an issue that Development Officer Mikayla Gillespie, the RFL’s Women’s Girls’ and Inclusion Officer, who I understand has succeeded the indefatigable Andrea Murray, will have at the front of her thinking and my fervent wish is that Nines Festivals – I’ve heard that one was held a week or so ago, in which a team from Hull impressed – will produce concrete results in terms of additions to the main competition.
One of Rugby League’s well-established arenas, and one not a million miles away from Women’s Students, is the England Men’s Universities pathways programme. Admittedly this relates to the selection process for the international students’ side but its success leads me to think that Gillespie could do a lot worse than have a chat with the England manager David Butler. She would certainly have nothing to lose from getting on the blower to him. Butler is, I’m sure, the man behind the announcement that regional trials are to take place with a view to selecting teams for the Midlands, North East, North West, South East, South West and Yorkshire; those, which would in turn feed into the North-South Origin game, from which the England side is selected.
It really has been a very successful formula for many a year, notwithstanding the fact that England Universities missed out on the 2026 President’s Cup, largely through a defeat at the hands of a very good Great Britain Teachers’ team. I think there are lots of lessons to be learned by many other organisations in Rugby League from Butler and his colleagues.
Meanwhile the BARLA National Cup Final (and the inaugural Shield Final) will take place this Saturday at Castleford Tigers’ OneBore Stadium.
Ince Rose Bridge and West Hull (the Green & Golds’ second team, incidentally) will contest the National Cup Final at 3.30pm and I anticipate a fine contest.
Wests have quality running right through the club and much the same can be said of Ince, who have obviously rebuilt successfully after having opted not to compete in the National League’s First Division this year.
The final of the 1973 Cup (so named in homage to BARLA’s launch that year) will be contested by Hunslet ARLFC (as with West Hull, the south Leeds side’s second team, I believe) and Fryston Warriors.
This should also be hugely entertaining and will kick off at 11.00am. At just a fiver admission (£3 concessions) the occasion offers tremendous value for money even if the National Cup no longer attracts the number of entrants it used to, while the 1973 competition, which involves teams that were defeated in the first round of the National Cup, has stumbled somewhat in its first year.
Talking of interesting contests, many observers felt that Saturday’s inaugural National League Premier Division Grand Final between Hunslet ARLFC and West Hull at Wakefield Trinity’s DIY Kitchens Stadium was a classic.
I could see where they were coming from, despite the game being a low-scoring affair which Hunslet won 14-0 in cold, blustery and rainswept conditions. Leaving aside for this week the issue of why the team that tops the final table can’t be hailed as champions (is that possibly too simple?) the south Leeds side certainly deserved their victory and produced a masterclass (in defence and, given constraints through the weather, attack) which reminded me very much of Australia’s 34-2 win over New Zealand in the 2013 World Cup Final at Old Trafford.
The Division One Promotion Play-Off Final, which preceded the Grand Final, was more expansive, East Leeds securing top-flight status by deservedly beating Oulton Raiders 23-10.
It’s ironic incidentally that Oulton, who were only elevated to the National League’s First Division through Ince’s withdrawal, reached the Promotion Play-Off Final at all, while East Leeds will feature in the Premier Division after fetching up in fourth spot.
The RFL will be conducting a review of its National Community Rugby League structure (which, inter alia, led to the controversial demise of the National Conference League). The formula that led to second-placed Kells being denied promotion from Division One, with teams that finished fourth and sixth respectively battling two days ago for the right to be elevated, has led to many eyebrows being raised.
In addition, the fact that the Division One champions Dewsbury Celtic were included in the play-offs but, having earned elevation through finishing top, could not also be promoted through the play-offs was, to put it mildly, very confusing. Had Celtic reached Wakefield and prevailed, then second-placed Kells would have gone up. Clear as mud, eh? The whole system is likely to be scrutinised, while I have long held that the team that finished top of the old NCL (and, now, of the National League’s Premier Division) should be recognised as champions. If play-offs must be held, call the eventual survivors Premiership winners, as used to be the case with the professional teams that were top dogs in the 1980s finals at Old Trafford.
The RFL missed an opportunity, surely, to correct a serious wrong this year.
Finally, I’d have liked results to feature in this week’s League Express of the Girls’ Finals held at Victoria Park, Warrington, on Saturday. It came as a surprise to me (although, given past history, it really shouldn’t have done) to see, on the RFL’s website on Thursday, a preview of the four matches. There was no indication, when I requested from the RFL the week before last information regarding all fixtures, that any Girls’ game at all were due to take place. The GameDay agency, meanwhile, indicated a ‘blank’ weekend, leading us to note in our Youth section: “There were no results, and there are no fixtures, in the Girls’ League.”
That was a great shame. I’d have been delighted to preview Saturday’s very special day in Warrington if any news of it had been forthcoming. And I’d have been delighted to publish, today, the results. Sadly, at the time of writing, there had been nothing at all from GameDay, and there was no news on the RFL’s website. Deary, deary me…
