Am I the only one thinking that in a certain other sport somewhat similar to ours the University teams would be heralded for their great courage in the face of adversity and how the plucky David’s took on the Goliath’s of professional teams and how this demonstrates the unity and nobleness of the sport

In our sport, the fans say – kick them out of the competition

Says it all really

is it even safe to have amateur under 21's playing against semi-professional athletes? if they had drawn Widnes, they would have effectively been playing against professional athletes, which could have been pretty dangerous IMO.

Okay they got a right hammering as it turned out but this tie to the Northumbria University lads would have been just as big a deal as it was for Gateshead playing St Helens a couple of years back and Blackpool playing Leeds last year. The memory of 132-0 will fade but having had the opportunity to earn and then earning the right to have a shot at a team that gets paid to play RL and plays just 1 level below the elite competition and having played against them in a famous old competition like the Challenge Cup will not fade so easily.

Getting such chances will appeal to young lads at university and should encourage more to try and stick with RL. If we stopped clubs being able to have a shot against a bigger club we may avoid blowout scores but we would also lose the opportunity for results like Siddal beating Doncaster or Barrow beating Castleford. These types of score are very rare and altering the structure because of one or two games in one season would have 'knee-jerk reaction' written all over it.

The only semi-serious injury incurred by Leeds Met players yesterday against Sheffield was when two of them ran into each other

The top Uni sides train 3 times a week and have additional gym and weight sessions, making them pretty similar to most semi-pro sides. Some of them are also over 21, being post-grads or going on scholarships after having done other courses or having worked in the interim.

Leed Met did lose heavily but last year the Eagles beat Thatto Heath 56-0. Thatto are now top of the NCL Premier with pretty much the same squad.

Why?

This is RL, not boxing.

Sometimes RL is just boxing with bigger teams


At this kind of level, it's OK. Uni sides probably train more than most semi pro sides anyway. If it were SL 1st teamers vs amateurs, that would be something else.

I'm not suggesting anything other than when this type of thing happens , it should be investigated , especially if as I have pointed out it is potentially a team consisting of relatively young players

Which fans have suggested this ?

Glad it isn't just me that can see this

So stop knock-out competitions. Never let amateurs play semi-pros or semi-pros play full-time pros. Have 3 stages of the CC: Stage 1 for amateurs - but no matter how well they do, never let them get to Stage 2, where only semi-pro clubs from the championships will play, but no matter how well they do, never let them get to stage 3, which will be for professional Super League clubs only. Of course, only those clubs in Stage 3 will be allowed to go on and actually win it.

So what exactly [i[sizeDO[/size[/i you want?

Or are you just complaining for the sake of it?

What I am suggesting is that we seem to have a system in place that artificially allows a team that is totally unsuitable and unprepared , to reach the stage of a competition that could even prove dangerous to the team members , RL is not like most other sports , it is sold as the hardest , toughest game on the planet , it is not something that you should mess about with , IMO of course

But, coming back to the original post, Thorman hasn't actually broken the all-time record anyway - so George West of Hull KR still stands on the top of the pile.