Everyone in the amateur game will, I’m sure, be getting behind Lock Lane when they host Rochdale Hornets at the weekend in the third round of the Betfred Challenge Cup.
The Castleford outfit’s tremendous victory at Oldham last week certainly got the pulses racing and the Lane’s chairman Mick Wildey summed it all up when he told me that it was the club’s best result in his four decades of involvement.
That’s saying something. Lock Lane have long been one of the biggest amateur clubs around and have enjoyed notable success in the Challenge Cup down the years. There was a spell, not too long ago, when they regularly made significant progress in the competition, while I retain vivid memories of how they missed out to Doncaster in a tie played at the Jungle, largely through what seemed to me to have been a questionable try awarded to the visitors at a crucial stage.
The Lane’s game at Oldham was, of course, played on the Sunday evening, far too late for me to comment in last Monday’s Talking Grass Roots. I’m delighted to do so now, though, and I’m sure they’ll go into their tie with Rochdale Hornets brimming with confidence.
Last Tuesday’s draw has thrown up some interesting pairings, for sure, with Lock Lane v Rochdale Hornets high among them. Another is the tie between my club Hunslet, whose young players really shone in the second round win over Keighley Cougars, and Siddal. The Parksiders’ players are fully aware of Siddal’s outstanding pedigree, and of the fact that the Halifax outfit are among the favourites to lift the 2022 National Conference League title. Hunslet will have to be fully focused in a game against a very well-organised outfit that seems to be carrying on much as before under new head coach Richard Knight. A cup classic is, I think, on the agenda, and it’s no surprise that the BBC has chosen the tie for live coverage. Get to the match if you can – the South Leeds Stadium is a tremendous venue – but if you can’t, tune in to watch Hunslet’s exciting and mainly young side under head coach Alan ‘Killer’ Kilshaw take on a team that has long ridden high at the grassroots.
Hunslet’s neighbours Hunslet Club Parkside, who are very similar to Siddal in standing, travel to London Skolars and will be far from without hope against a club that I’ve had a real fondness for ever since they themselves were in the National Conference League. Rochdale Mayfield, meanwhile, pulled off a stunning win at West Hull nine days ago and will be in buoyant mood for the visit of Doncaster.
The only all-amateur tie involves the Royal Navy and visitors York Acorn. The Navy impressed everyone with the nature of their win last week over the British Army and I reckon that the NCL Premiers have a real job on their hands. All in all, it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if several amateur teams feature in the fourth round at the end of this month.
Meanwhile, I had an interesting email last week from Michael Wray, who had followed up concerns I expressed recently about plastic pitches in an age in which plastic is increasingly being seen as a huge environmental worry. Michael wrote: “I read a reader’s letter on the subject in the ‘Non-League Paper’ (soccer) last year. The writer stated that there’s only one company that recycles plastic pitches in the whole of Europe. It’s situated in Denmark (Herning, to be precise – I looked it up) and at the time of writing was operating at full capacity.”
That’s very concerning. I hope the Rugby Football League is fully on-speed on this issue (I rather expect it is). And I hope that, unless proper recycling facilities are established, the use of plastic pitches will be shelved, or at least curtailed.
Finally, the funeral of Peter Richardson, who was well known in amateur circles in Leeds and who was a team-mate of mine at the Middleton Arms, will be held next Tuesday (15 February) at St Mary’s Parish Church, Town Street, Beeston, Leeds LS11 8PN at 1.45pm, followed by cremation at nearby Cottingley Crematorium (2.30pm). As I wrote recently, Peter will be – in fact, already is – badly missed.
The above content is also available in the regular weekly edition of League Express, on newsstands every Monday in the UK and as a digital download. Click here for more details.
