The fixtures were out in October and I made my decision to buy my season pass just before New Year based on these fixtures. Requesting a change in Feb after the fixtures have been out 4/5 months should not be allowed to happen and the request should have been denied for that reason alone. That said an immediate yes or no to the request should have been made in Feb, not now!

I understand games will get shifted for Sky and I begrudgingly accept that it may cause me to miss the odd game, but this seems to have been a situation that could have been planned for and avoided a long time ago.

surely all clubs see the fixtures in advance of them being publicly released, so there is no real excuse for any changes once they are published (games moved for SKY TV excepted).

“The RFL has accepted a request from Castleford Tigers to rearrange this fixture and frankly we believe it is a joke to make this ruling so long after the fixtures were released. We received a request to change the fixture in mid-February, which we rejected at the time, and we have been arguing our case for the RFL to overturn their decision ever since.

“As far as we are concerned, the fixtures were signed off by all clubs in October before they were released to supporters and whilst we accept there will be changes during the season due to Sky broadcasting, that is not the reason behind this decision.

“The Tigers are due to face Leeds Rhinos on the Thursday following our game and have sought to reschedule our match on player welfare grounds to allow a longer turnaround. As a club, the safety and welfare of our players is the number one priority but we feel this sets a dangerous precedent for the Super League competition.

“Castleford have known they would be playing Leeds on the Thursday night since mid-October and waited until the middle of February to act, which is totally unfair on our club and our supporters. Sunday afternoon is our traditional kick-off time and to be forced to move away from that in these circumstances leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

“The decision from the RFL has been made on player welfare grounds to allow a minimum of a five-day turnaround between fixtures, yet clubs are asked to play two games in four days over the Easter period. Now that we have progressed through to the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup quarter finals, we will also have to arrange a mid-week fixture against Salford Red Devils. Will the RFL be able to accommodate both clubs the way they have with Castleford? I don’t think so.

“The way this has been handled shows a lack of respect to supporters but the fact of the matter is that we will now play Castleford on Friday, 5th June at 8pm and I’m sure Chris Chester and his side will be doing their utmost to continue their strong home record this season.”

Hull Kingston Rovers CEO Mike Smith

I love faux hysteria. Especially when it's in capital letters.

Whilst the welfare of players is paramount, why was this fixture allowed to be published as is in Oct then?

Had this been a single incident, begrudingly I would accept it, however, they scheduled our home Salford game on a challenge cup weekend, they scheduled this Cas fixture incorrectly and I bet they'll move ANOTHER home fixture to accomodate rest time for the first Salford fixture above. Thats 3 home games or 27% of my season pass moved, not counting others so they can be televised.

We all have a work/home balance and do our best to get to every home game, but setting them up so obviously badly 7 months ago is just unforgivable as the person/team has not carried out their job description anywhere near correctly.

The RFL continue to treat fans with contempt and believe we have no other conflicting commitments that would stop them going on any day. This will also affect away support and leave the club out of pocket as well.

[url=http://www.castigers.com/article.php?id=5046Not The First Change For Castleford[/url

Castleford shouldnt sign off on the fixture list prior to them been announced if they are not happy and just going to request a change during the season when ever they feel like it.
Even worse that the RFL have let them get away with it. Very unproffesional and shows a lack of respect to supporters.
We play our home games on Sundays and we expect to play them on Sundays apart from when it's covered by Sky. Sky actually compensate the home club for loss of revenue when teams appear on sky. What compensation will the RFL offer Hull KR................ NONE!!

Welcome to the world of " We have had the fixture dates since October ( months ago ) but we ( Castleford ) are now giving you 2 weeks notice ( might be less can't be bothered to go back through all the posts ) that we are now changing the date
Yours Castleford Tigers ! if you don't like it tough.
As someone has already said happened before this season, nothing to do with being a Sky match.

As someone who now cannot make this game due to Cas insisting their players need extra rest I hope HKR tell the RFL to shove it when they are asked to try and fit the Salford game in without enough rest sighting 'player welfare' as a reason.
I also hope they tell the RFL to forget it when they ask for us to play 2 games in 3/4 days next Easter sighting the same reason.

Thet never cocked up your fixture with Salford, quite the opposite, it was well planned that those who finished 9-12 last season and would enter the challenge cup early would be chosen to okay each other and not disrupt the other 8.

I see many rovers fans have short memories. The 2012 Easter derby game was due to be at craven park, but got switched at their request due to poor planning on their part regarding the construction work being carried our at cp.

The game was switched to the KC, with only three weeks notice, meaning those Hull fans who had made other arrangements for the Easter holiday could no longer attend a game they had already paid for via their season ticket.

I haven't blamed Cas for any of this. I blame the RFL fixture designer for setting them up incorrectly. Although why they haven't automatically changed ALL similar fixture issues for ALL teams is beyond me or os there somthing special about Cas players that I'm missing?

The derby switch a few years back was a HKR issue because of building delays and was unforseen. These issies were there for all to see back in October so a different issue to our derby switch.

As for the challenge cup and Salford clash I can only assume they expected all four to be knocked out by now. If both Hull teams go through they'll play in the semis. That leaves the only spare weekend the cup final day and I doubt they'll schedule it for then. So what OTHER fixture will have to move to fit in an already moved fixture? Again very bad contingency planning.