Barley Mow

Doncaster v Hull FC (Sunday) is also cancelled.

I wonder if The Sportsman will look to find another fixture to broadcast in place of Thatto Heath V Orrell St James. Perhaps they will just broadcast the same fixture on the replacement date - I assume they are only able to broadcast one match per round.

Getting very off topic now, but Widnes is considerable further away from Lindisfarne! For those interested - moving forward from where the first Vikings first 'came ashore' in what's now England - below represents the territory they held in 911. Goole well within it, Widnes on the border between Danish and English (Merician) kingdoms which is here shown as being the Mersey. As @Eddie points out - Vikings also on the Wirral. Maybe back to some kits next!

The draw for the 3rd round is due to take place on Tuesday evening. This was supposed to be after all of the 1st round ties had been decided, but with postponements this coming weekend, we could be left with fixtures drawn for the 3rd round before the preceding 1st round matches have taken place - We aren't quite there for 1st round postponements yet, but I'm looking forward to a draw like: Stanley Rangers or Hunslet Amateurs or West Hull or Edinburgh Eagles V GB Police or York Acorn or Lock Lane or Doncaster Toll Bar

Yes, it really does place L1 teams at a disadvantage. Although that will change slightly following this year once the Championship is reduced to 12 teams.

Newcastle may well consider it their best option at the moment and it is clearly better than them having nowhere and folding, but I think calling it a stadium is pushing it. It has one small stand running less then a quarter of the length of the field (seating 400) and anyone else would be standing at ground level around the edge of the playing area. With less than 6% of the boundary of the field having any stand/terrace infrastructure, it doesn't look like a stadium to me.

Hunslet v York scheduled for Sunday cancelled due to the weather.

I hope it works out for them and doesn't impact player numbers for local amateur clubs too badly.

Quentin Laulu-Togaga’e’s Testimonial, Sheffield v Castleford on Friday evening has also been cancelled because of the weather.

They should be able to get it right! https://www.rugby-league.com/match-centre/match-preview/2299649

Thatto Heath v Orrell St James is a 2:30 KO according to RFL and The Sportsman. I assume to try to prevent the two broadcast matches from overlapping.

Barrow 42-4 Haven FT

Barrow 24-0 Whitehaven HT

Barrow 14 v 0 Haven on now - radio commentary live on BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/live/cj0r5n1gv8nt.app#player

Wath Brow's statement below. Does this suggest they aren't aware that amateur clubs entering the CC are permitted contact training before February, as others posted yesterday?

Could probably merge this with the Challenge Cup thread - already being discussed there.

Leigh Miners. Miners - people who do mining Minors - people who aren't yet adults

Hunslet ARLFC were winners of the National Conference League, Premier division (because they won the Grand Final). Siddal finished top of the table in the regular season.

Leaving aside the criminal/legal elements, this clarifies how/why Bradford have terminated his contract - I assume not being in the country prevents him from fulfilling his contractual obligations.

Preview of next weekend's matches: https://www.totalrl.com/club-drops-out-of-challenge-cup-with-concerning-reason-given/ Wath Brow pulling out is a shame, the reason for it is concerning. If I've understood (and I may not have), amateur clubs aren't allowed to do contact training yet (we are still some way from the first round of league fixtures) - but the RFL have nonetheless scheduled them to play in the Challenge Cup from next weekend. Wath Brow have therefore withdrawn due to concerns over player welfare. West Bowling consequently get a bye and face Sheffield Eagles in the next round - so they will now face a Championship club as their first fixture of the season, having been allowed to start contact training later than their opponents. Apparently the amateur clubs aren't permitted pre-season matches yet either, whereas Sheffield will have had two.

https://www.totalrl.com/barrow-raiders-v-whitehaven-pre-season-game-rearranged/ Barrow v Haven due to be today now rearranged for Tuesday (7th January) at 7.45pm due to snow.

Also Bradford v Keighley from the week before.

Full match replay of Batley v Dewsbury from last week for anyone interested (kick off at approx 43 mins).