That said I think if the pitch has become dried out and hard as a rock and the pitch has therefore not been able to absorb the rain or disperse the rain then a substantial proportion of the responsibility lies with Workington Town RLFC and the persons responsible for their pitch.

As they failed to notify Keighley prior to the setting off time I shall expect there shall be a compensation claim made. (Against who and what else this might include other than the coach we will have to wait and see.)

I also doubt as many away fans will be making the journey from Cougar Park on a week day night and probably a fewer number of home fans.

I doubt for one minute anybody at Worky thought or imagined this was for any type of advantage. It will not help them on the pitch and certainly not in money terms. However I imagine they may monitor the condition of there pitch and drainage, and watering a little more closely as a result of this.

As this time of year you need to water the pitch and spike it.

Many of the Worky Fans feel a little embarrassed by this.

Surely both. clubs . should regard this fixture as sufficiently important to rearrange for a Sunday in May; even if it means one of those Rail Cup games being arranged for a midweek?

Wondered why the tea hut was shut and I was stood on my own ......

We just got past Kirby Lonsdale so decided to go to Kendal for the day instead

During the close season some work was done on the pitch at Workington in readiness for the World Cup matches in October. Some new drains were laid in known areas of bad drainage and new turf laid on top. Since this work was completed there has been 6 weeks without any rain and we haven't had any snow of any significance to help the growth. Because of this the ground staff haven't been able to use machinery to spike or slit tine the pitch for fear of ripping it up, and the first rainfall we have had just lay on the top and couldn't get down to the new drains.

The match commissioner made a very hasty decision to call off the game, probably to avoid Keighley and you fans from travelling, but by 10 am the rain stopped and we have had a nice afternoon with a drying wind and although I never saw the pitch I would wager that it would have been perfect for a game of RL this afternoon. The players trained on it yesterday and said it was rock solid then, so with the rain from last night soaking in to the top 2 or 3 inches in the 5 hours of dry weather today it would have made it just about right.

It's not what anyone wanted and lessons will have been learned from this but clubs have no control over match commissioners decisions.

Thank you for the update / explanation.

Do you think if the pitch had been watered during the period when it was dry, then it could have been spiked and this would not have occurred?

Yes I know hindsight is 20/20 but somebody with experience of keeping a pitch in good nick may be able to give an informed view.

At the end of the day, I would be equally annoyed if this had happened at home.

I do remember seeing JD a lot when he was at Cougar Park. He was a man who never rested and would frequently be seen also watering the pitch and looking after it. He knew how important it was to keep it playable.

MICKEY1920, indeed hidsight is a very good thing but at this time of year we expect some rain, or melting snow, etc, but we had neither. It wouldn't have done any good to water and then get a deluge so it's devil and deep blue sea for the ground staff.

Not sure it is right for Yorkshire clubs to have to travel to Cumbria for mid-week games or vice-versa for Cumbrian clubs travelling to Yorkshire. The players are all lads with jobs away from rugby to hold down.

Agreed, but Town have to come to Keighley on a Thursday night later in the season as its on TV, so I suppose Cougars coming to Workington midweek evens it out a bit.

Town were not in a position to inform anyone the game was off until the Match Commissioner had made the decision. As soon as he made it then people were informed straight away.

These things happen - last season Town and their fans travelled over to Gateshead for a game only for it to be called off 15 minutes before kick off.

I suspect if we were not hosting RLWC games later this year then the game would have gone ahead but I think the RFL official was probably under orders to not do anything to jeapordise the pitch.

If i come a 2nd time who will cover my costs from yesterday to even it out?

Why does any re-arranged game need to be mid-week?

OK, I know what the RFL's Rules state, but these were formulated years ago when it was a 'winter game', there was no Super League and there were around 19 'home' league fixtures in a season plus the Yorkshire and Lancashire Cups, BBC Floodlit Cup, Players No. 6 games etc., so there was a real need to avoid fixture backlogs but surely not today?

Almost forgot - the games were regularly played on the basis that on alternate Saturdays you were either at home or away. Now it's far too difficult to ensure that this is the case!

Not wanting to appear to be negative about our game on Sunday, but it does appear that we will have at least one free Sunday in the near future when either the Dewsbury or Workington games could be played thereby helping both the Cougars and our opponents to maximise their gate.

Is it impossible for the clubs to lobby for a change in this particular Rule as we all know that the RFL are incapable of looking outside Super League!

As Derwent has already said it happened to us last season when all our travelling fans actually arrived at Gateshead only to be told the game was off. The game was re-arranged for midweek and we went with half a team and got beat and fans got no recompense. So, as always, it's the fans who lose out.

666 - the rules that refer to this situation (B1.17 of the RFL Operational Rules, General Competition Rules) are dated January 2013 so they are not the ancient rules you speak of. That rule is quite specific that future weekends can only be taken in to account if at the time of the postponement both teams know they have a free weekend or they are both out of the Cup or other competition. Both clubs at the time of the postponement are still in the Cup and there are no free weekends that are not cup tie weekends i.e. Challenge Cup or Northern Rail Cup matches.

I agree though that part-time players should not be expected to travel mid-week when they have jobs outside of the game to consider.

Looks like you win True Brit,unless anyone else knows different. On the upside I do have a full tank of petrol still,on the downside Asda dropped there petrol prices this morning,
Anyone got any news yet on when they will play this fixture,?

On the Workington Website, it says highly unlikely week.

On Keighley's website it says nothing at all about the game.