THE BARLA National Cup and 1973 Cup finals double-header at Castleford Tigers was yet another special occasion in the grassroots calendar, even if both games were settled by significant margins.
West Hull, who topped the 2026 National League Premier Division table, beat National North West highfliers Ince Rose Bridge 44-16 in the National Cup clash.
And Hunslet ARLFC, who finished second to Wests in the league but beat them in the Grand Final at Wakefield nine days earlier, overcame Fryston 42-0 in the 1973 affair.
Those scorelines are not dissimilar, while goal-kickers struggled somewhat to hit the target in both games, with four out of nine attempts being successful in the main match and three out of nine in the 1973 decider.
Other similarities are that both Hunslet ARLFC and West Hull fielded, at Castleford, quite a few players who had turned out in the Grand Final (eleven for Hunslet ARLFC and 15 for Wests).
There’s nothing wrong with that, by the way. Clubs are, after all, entitled to select whoever they like, subject to not breaking any rules.
It’s just that I’d expected to see, pretty much, ‘second’ teams in action, and I don’t think I was the only observer who was a little surprised by the reality.
No matter. Hunslet ARLFC have made some sort of history by lifting two new trophies in a matter of days while Wests, who bestrode the grassroots game for much of the year, badly needed to avoid a second defeat and will benefit from winning a major prize.
I hope the National Cup continues, by the way. I wrote only a fortnight ago in this column: “The National Cup no longer attracts the number of entrants it used to, while the 1973 competition, which involves teams defeated in the first round of the National Cup, has stumbled somewhat in its first year.”
Those sentiments have been echoed, more or less, by Paul Thorpe, the secretary of Hunslet ARLFC.
Paul is speaking from a position of strength, incidentally, as his club are very successful.
He said, simply: “I think the National cup needs looking at or scrapping as too many teams played weakened squads or gave games up.”
The man is worth listening to as he is operating at the coal face, miles away from any ivory tower.
I hope the National Cup remains in place. It does, though, need the support of far more clubs than in recent years, and so does the 1973 Cup.
I fear that it might not be repeated, given the number of ‘blobs’ we’ve seen this year. Hopefully my concerns are unfounded.
Hunslet ARLFC’s ’s Grand Final success, incidentally, should remind everyone involved in British Rugby League that big matches matter.
The Grand Final, whether under the auspices of the National Conference League or, now, the Rugby Football League, is certainly a huge occasion (even if, like me, you maintain that victory in it should be rewarded with a premiership trophy, rather than the championship, although that’s another issue).
Talking about big matches, I referred in last week’s issue to the fact that, in my opinion, the RFL let the girls’ game – especially the players – down badly by not publicising the results of the Under 16, Under 15, Under 14 and Under 13 Cup finals, which were played at Victoria Park, Warrington.
I stand corrected – sort of.
The scores did appear on the RFL website. There might be a way of establishing exactly when they were posted (that’s beyond my technological abilities, unfortunately).
But I don’t think they showed up on Sunday evening – certainly not at the stage when we went to press, by which time I’d had nothing from either the GameDay agency or the RFL – so I imagine they were published by our governing body either on Monday, or on Tuesday when I returned to my desk.
Anyway, the results are now listed on our Youth and Junior page. Congratulations to the four winners, and commiserations to the runners-up.
More confusion, in the meantime, under the RFL’s jurisdiction.
We all believed that Oldham St Annes and Pilkington Recs, who closed as the bottom two in the First Division of the inaugural National League, would be relegated and, uncertain about who would replace them, I emailed Alan Smith, the RFL community game senior administrator, twice on Friday.
I stated, the second time: “It looks to me as though Ince Rose Bridge and Blackbrook (the teams who contested the recent Cross-Conference Play-Offs final) will be promoted, but I’m not 100 percent sure about that.
“I’ve written somewhere that the two sides reaching that final will go up (although my understanding is that teams joining the National League’s First Division must meet minimum-standards criteria similar to those who applied in the National Conference League) so on-field success will only get them so far.
“I’m also unsure as to why there should have been a final at all. As both teams (if my understanding is correct) are promoted, why have another game?”
I didn’t get a reply. However, an email issued to clubs on Thursday by Smith’s colleague at the RFL, Alan White, has found its way to me.
Readers will find its contents – which I’m sure will provoke much debate – published elsewhere in this issue.
My own reaction is that we now seem to be in an awful mess (not least when clubs who had appeared to have been relegated get to stay where they are).
Some teams, also, seem to be able to pick and choose which league they play in (and why not?) while others are told to like it or lump it.
It’s also been pointed out to me that the much-vaunted pyramid system, cited by the RFL as a major reason for the National Conference League being jettisoned, isn’t even mentioned.
The meeting called with Conference clubs on Thursday week could be very interesting.
Meanwhile I hope that, by then, Wigan St Judes, who have advertised recently in these pages for a new coach, will have their man.
