Quote af="af"Be that as it may, calling off the game on the day is a disgrace, and a quite separate issue to Halifax's failings and punishment. If the rule is there it should be enforced systematically, not on the fly as and when a helpful member of the public does the RFL's job for them.'"
The Operational Rule that comes into effect states that if found guilty Halifax have to be disqualified from the Challenge Cup and that their most recent opponent (and only the most recent opponent) must be reinstated in their place even if they met in an earlier round.
Although an inconvenience for Batley the tie would have been postponed to prevent Batley becoming the most recent opponent. The Batley game being postponed means that the club that the alleged offence occurred against (Swinton) will be able to be reinstated if Fax are disqualified rather than Batley gaining a bye. The incident however late it was discovered, was discovered
before Halifax had played another tie in the cup. To not postpone their tie with Batley would have opened up a can of worms as it would have meant slamming the door on Swinton in terms of the cup whilst virtually assuring Batley a place in the QFs.