Fri 8th - Sun 10th Sept: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

[John Drake]

Discuss this weekend's Betfred Championship games here.

FRIDAY 8th SEPTEMBER
Newcastle Thunder v Featherstone Rovers KO 20:00
Sheffield Eagles v Keighley Cougars KO 19:30

SATURDAY 9th SEPTEMBER
Halifax Panthers v Toulouse Olympique KO 18:00

SUNDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER
Barrow Raiders v Swinton Lions KO 15:00
Batley Bulldogs v Whitehaven KO 15:00
Bradford Bulls v York Knights KO 15:00
London Broncos v Widnes Vikings KO 15:00

[Normy_Rover]

57 minutes ago, John Drake said:

Discuss this weekend's Betfred Championship games here.

FRIDAY 8th SEPTEMBER
Newcastle Thunder v Featherstone Rovers KO 20:00
Sheffield Eagles v Keighley Cougars KO 19:30

SATURDAY 9th SEPTEMBER
Halifax Panthers v Toulouse Olympique KO 18:00

SUNDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER
Barrow Raiders v Swinton Lions KO 15:00
Batley Bulldogs v Whitehaven KO 15:00
Bradford Bulls v York Knights KO 15:00
London Broncos v Widnes Vikings KO 15:00

 

[crashmon]

3 hours ago, John Drake said:

Discuss this weekend's Betfred Championship games here.

FRIDAY 8th SEPTEMBER
Newcastle Thunder v Featherstone Rovers KO 20:00
Sheffield Eagles v Keighley Cougars KO 19:30

SATURDAY 9th SEPTEMBER
Halifax Panthers v Toulouse Olympique KO 18:00

SUNDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER
Barrow Raiders v Swinton Lions KO 15:00
Batley Bulldogs v Whitehaven KO 15:00
Bradford Bulls v York Knights KO 15:00
London Broncos v Widnes Vikings KO 15:00

Interesting fixtures...  Am hoping London do not understimate Widnes, I have a bad feeling the vikings will nick this

In other news, am also expecting this to turn into a 10 page thread about a fev fan farting on a Newcastle fan, after the game on Friday, so we get to discuss fev fans on the road again in this thread rather than actual results in the games

Edited September 7, 2023 by crashmon

[The Blues Ox]

FRIDAY 8th SEPTEMBER
Newcastle Thunder v Featherstone Rovers Fev by 54
Sheffield Eagles v Keighley Cougars Sheffield by 20

SATURDAY 9th SEPTEMBER
Halifax Panthers v Toulouse Olympique Fax by 10

SUNDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER
Barrow Raiders v Swinton Lions Barrow by 4
Batley Bulldogs v Whitehaven Batley by 22
Bradford Bulls v York Knights Bradford by 2
London Broncos v Widnes Vikings Draw

[OdsalBull]

Hopefully a bulls win with a friendly atmosphere and no crowd trouble

[Dovster]

Rovers by 20

Cougars by 6

Olympique by 8

Raiders by 6

Bulldogs by 12

Bulls by 10

Broncos by 8

Does anyone know why Sheffield choose to play on Friday evenings? Players will probably have been at work all day and away fans will be reduced due to the M62 friday madness.

[Michael Bates]

8 minutes ago, Dovster said:

Does anyone know why Sheffield choose to play on Friday evenings? Players will probably have been at work all day and away fans will be reduced due to the M62 friday madness.

Kids 5 a side tournaments get more attendance on Sundays than Sheffield would get.

[kiggy]

44 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

FRIDAY 8th SEPTEMBER
Newcastle Thunder v Featherstone Rovers Fev by 54
Sheffield Eagles v Keighley Cougars Sheffield by 20

SATURDAY 9th SEPTEMBER
Halifax Panthers v Toulouse Olympique Fax by 10

SUNDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER
Barrow Raiders v Swinton Lions Barrow by 4
Batley Bulldogs v Whitehaven Batley by 22
Bradford Bulls v York Knights Bradford by 2
London Broncos v Widnes Vikings Draw

Fax by 10 seems about right. They have a lot more to play for, depleted TO side and Fax were only just beaten in France.

[Griff]

52 minutes ago, Dovster said:

Rovers by 20

Cougars by 6

Olympique by 8

Raiders by 6

Bulldogs by 12

Bulls by 10

Broncos by 8

Does anyone know why Sheffield choose to play on Friday evenings? Players will probably have been at work all day and away fans will be reduced due to the M62 friday madness.

Easier to sell corporate hospitality.  The players like it.  They get to spend the weekend with their families.

[Dovster]

16 minutes ago, Griff said:

Easier to sell corporate hospitality.  The players like it.  They get to spend the weekend with their families.

Suprises me that the players would want to play rugby after work. Most of the Cougars families seem to attend the matches on a sunday.

[Griff]

1 minute ago, Dovster said:

Surprises me that the players would want to play rugby after work. 

Depends what they do.  Maybe they don't have a physical job.  Maybe they don't work Fridays at all.

[The Phantom Horseman]

1 hour ago, Griff said:

Easier to sell corporate hospitality.  The players like it.  They get to spend the weekend with their families.

When will the excuses stop?

[doc]

6 hours ago, John Drake said:

Discuss this weekend's Betfred Championship games here.

FRIDAY 8th SEPTEMBER
Newcastle Thunder v Featherstone Rovers  by 30
Sheffield Eagles v Keighley Cougars by 18

SATURDAY 9th SEPTEMBER
Halifax Panthers v Toulouse Olympique by 2

SUNDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER
Barrow Raiders v Swinton Lions by 3
Batley Bulldogs v Whitehaven by 12
Bradford Bulls v York Knights by 12
London Broncos v Widnes Vikings  draw

Important games at Eagles and Barra. Such fun.

[Griff]

1 hour ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

When will the excuses stop?

Excuses for what?

[Dovster]

Defending Sheffield for playing Friday nights I guess.

It cant be easy for part time teams to work, prepare (food etc) then travel for a match in Sheffield for 18:30 (1 hour before KO).

Maybe the visiting teams have been asked for their approval. In which case thats fine.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

4 hours ago, crashmon said:

Interesting fixtures...  Am hoping London do not understimate Widnes, I have a bad feeling the vikings will nick this

In other news, am also expecting this to turn into a 10 page thread about a fev fan farting on a Newcastle fan, after the game on Friday, so we get to discuss fev fans on the road again in this thread rather than actual results in the games

So 'breaking wind news' rather than just 'breaking news'.

[Griff]

43 minutes ago, Dovster said:

Defending Sheffield for playing Friday nights I guess.

It cant be easy for part time teams to work, prepare (food etc) then travel for a match in Sheffield for 18:30 (1 hour before KO).

Maybe the visiting teams have been asked for their approval. In which case thats fine.

Who's defending?  Should we ask folk to defend playing on Sundays?

Players meet at 6.  Working hours are a lot more flexible these days.

[Fevrover]

1 hour ago, Dovster said:

Defending Sheffield for playing Friday nights I guess.

It cant be easy for part time teams to work, prepare (food etc) then travel for a match in Sheffield for 18:30 (1 hour before KO).

Maybe the visiting teams have been asked for their approval. In which case thats fine.

I should imagine most players get the day off work the day of a game,obviously with understanding bosses lol.

[Griff]

10 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

I should imagine most players get the day off work the day of a game,obviously with understanding bosses lol.

Probably.

I did think it ironic that, after years of dragging teams down to London for Friday Night Lights, Skolars found that there were "difficulties" when they were asked to travel up to Rochdale.

[Monkeymagic22]

It’s upto each team to decide which day they play on, and if Friday works well for the Eagled, then so be it.

[Dovster]

51 minutes ago, Monkeymagic22 said:

It’s upto each team to decide which day they play on, and if Friday works well for the Eagled, then so be it.

Even if the home team gain an advantage by doing so? Surely the RFL have to be consulted and agree.

[Monkeymagic22]

3 minutes ago, Dovster said:

Even if the home team gain an advantage by doing so? Surely the RFL have to be consulted and agree.

Friday is a recognised day for matches, it’s not like Sheffield are playing midweek.

[watcherofRL]

10 hours ago, Griff said:

Probably.

I did think it ironic that, after years of dragging teams down to London for Friday Night Lights, Skolars found that there were "difficulties" when they were asked to travel up to Rochdale.

Not sure why this post is on the predictions forum but the Friday night lights is slightly different as precedes the CC whereas Skolars were asked to travel on Wednesday after work or get at least half day off! Difficulty here is that Skolars had already travelled to Rochdale on to be be told the pitch was waterlogged so how fair was it to then set a rematch midweek?

[Dovster]

Just now, Monkeymagic22 said:

Friday is a recognised day for matches, it’s not like Sheffield are playing midweek.

For Super League professionals I agree. IMO there's no difference playing Friday to any other evening.

However we are where we are.

[Monkeymagic22]

Looks like an interested week in the chase for the playoffs, fancy Fax to best TO, who have nothing to play for, and the Bulls should be a little too strong for York. London are on a roll and I think that they will beat Widnes.