WELL in the event, only three of the scheduled 17 first-round ties in the Betfred Challenge Cup went ahead – but it certainly wasn’t for want of trying, certainly not at Ince Rose Bridge.
Ince worked tremendously hard to get their tie with Irish side Longhorns (who were actually the ‘home’ team but were compelled to travel as part of the strictures imposed by the Rugby Football League as a requirement of their inclusion) played in an echo of Challenge Cup games in the 1960s when armies of volunteers were called in to clear snowbound pitches ahead of major ties.
It seemed back then, to my child’s eye anyway, to be a regular thing and it was, I have to say, quite moving on Saturday to receive regular updates from the RFL’s tireless Pat Cluskey on how things were progressing in Wigan, where the National Conference League Division One side are based.
While other ties fell by the wayside as the big freeze continued, Ince kept toiling away, with industrial heaters brought in on the Thursday helping thaw out the pitch.
It was a huge effort all round – including by Longhorns, who flew over in what was an in-and-out visit on what was, in truth, very much a 50/50 gamble.
I suppose the problems regarding travel logistics in the event of a postponement (which has now become reality as all that toil and effort was, in the end, in vain, the ground failing to take a stud as the scheduled kick-off time approached) focused minds at both Ince and Longhorns.
But, even so, the whole episode was mightily impressive, especially given that Ince are obviously based in the north of England, where the weather bit hardest.
No other ties (or, indeed, games – the winter-based Pennine League’s programme was wiped out entirely) took place in the north while, of the southern-based matches over the weekend, all but two survived.
The casualties were in Aldershot, where the British Army were unable to play the RAF (the RFL were not, I understand, officially informed – I often get the feeling that our Armed Forces teams operate in a secretive manner which, in a wider and more important sense, is no bad thing) and at Chiswick RUFC, where the designated pitch was unfit for the clash of London Chargers and Oulton Raiders.
My early reaction was that the postponement seemed odd when linked to the fact that the other match at the ground, between Hammersmith Hills Hoists and Siddal, was listed as going ahead despite it having a kick-off time of 5.00pm, as compared to 2.30pm for the Chargers-Raiders affair.
Cluskey quickly came back with the explanation that London’s and Oulton’s pitch was grass, while the Hoists and Siddal had been allocated a 4G pitch which was previously being used for a rugby union fixture (explaining why the Chargers and the Raiders couldn’t use it).
Anyway, 28 teams will try again this weekend but, however those matches pan out, the first round of the 2025 Challenge Cup will be especially remembered by me for Ince Rose Bridge’s herculean pre-game effort.
On a wider theme, perhaps the format for the early rounds of the Challenge Cup should be reviewed by the RFL (I suspect that our governing body does just that as a matter of course).
We never really know in this country just how the weather will be at this time of the year (or at any other time for that matter) but there is obviously a chance of low or sub-zero temperatures.
If the inclement weather hits again next weekend (which I think at the time of writing is unlikely as temperatures are forecast to rise significantly) than the Challenge Cup as a whole could be thrown into disarray given that the second round, when Betfred League One sides become involved, is set for the last weekend of January.
It’s a pity, in my opinion, that we moved away from the system where just two amateur teams (county cup winners, usually) joined the 30 professional clubs in the first round.
While I say it’s a pity, that format could no longer work.
For one thing we now have rather more professional teams, so the mathematics wouldn’t stack up.
And for another, since the launch of Super League, there’s a huge imbalance in standards within the professional ranks, never mind between the professionals and the amateurs.
It’s yet another instance in which I can’t help lamenting the loss of how things once were, but we have to deal with the reality of how things are now.
Reality, while were on that subject, was behind the decision of Wath Brow Hornets to pull out of the Challenge Cup (and hearty congratulations to Cutsyke Raiders for stepping up in the Cumbrians’ place to take on West Bowling in a game ironically postponed to this Saturday).
You might ask why taking part in the first round is such a problem for Wath Brow and not for Cutsyke.
The simple answer is that the Raiders are very much in-season as the Pennine League leaders – and, for that matter, were very impressive in the recent BARLA Yorkshire Cup final defeat at the hands of Sharlston Rovers.
Wath Brow, as a NCL club, are out of season and, furthermore, had little or no opportunity to arrange friendlies in the build-up to the game at West Bowling with, possibly, a trip to Betfred Championship big guns Sheffield Eagles beckoning in the second round.
Clearly a match against the professionals of Sheffield, who I believe would have played a warm-up game by then, wasn’t really ‘on’ for Wath Brow if player welfare means anything.
It’s telling that West Bowling (whose coach John Williams expressed similar concerns) and the coaches at several other NCL clubs effectively backed Hornets’ stance.
Wath Brow are a club that, like so many others in the NCL, simply do not concede fixtures and are universally recognised as having the highest standards, both on and off the field.
The only possible criticism of them is that they didn’t announce that they were pulling out until a few days before the first round was due to take place.
I really can see, though, where they were coming from. Hornets – who, as I say, are sticklers for meeting their obligations – must have wrestled long and hard with their decision but, ultimately, the welfare of their players had to prevail.
In the light of that, their decision was the right and honourable one.
The episode reminds me (although only a little, as the parallels are not at all exact) of how a CMS Yorkshire League committeeman – who I won’t name – who was concerned about clubs crying off on the day of games asked that secretaries should make decisions on Thursday evenings and call fixtures off if they were struggling for player numbers.
I remember thinking at the time that the bloke in question was in an ivory tower. Many clubs, especially at that level, don’t really know until Saturday lunchtime, when players begin to drift into the clubhouse or pub for that afternoon’s game, whether they’ll have a full side out or not.
On that basis, Thursday is too soon to make a decision and therefore it’s one I never made. Having said that, there were subsequent occasions when I had to make the dreaded call to the opposition’s secretary only an hour or two before the designated kick-off time. And there were just as many occasions when the situation was reversed.
But I digress. In all the circumstances, Wath Brow Hornets did the right thing, in my opinion, in withdrawing from the Challenge Cup, and acted with honour and integrity. I hope that they will not be punished or sanctioned in any way.
