Anyone seen today's League Express? Some quite scathing criticism of the RFL in there. Mark Aston's views are particularly strong and his team isn't even affected. The L/E requested a comment from the RFL - would anyone be really surprised to hear that they declined to provide one...?
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Aston - 'The whole thing has been an absolute farce...'
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'We are becoming a laughing stock...'
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'I'm embarrassed to be involved with the sport at the moment...'
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'They are making us look like a set of thick Northerners...'
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He calls for a vote of no confidence in the RFL. I think plenty of us in Keighley would like to add our vote to that!

I agree with that, no confidence in the RFL.

With Mark on this one. No Confidence.

Ill do my stat things and the facts going into the final game and the possible outcomes of the final table

7 Workington 25 11 1 13 444 520 -76 10 45
8 Keighley 25 12 0 13 563 575 -12 7 43
9 Batley Bulldogs 25 11 1 13 548 563 -15 7 42
10 Whitehaven RLFC 25 12 0 13 548 648 -100 6 42

That is how it looks now and the fixtures are these ----

Doncaster v Batley 15:00
Keighley v Featherstone 15:00
Swinton v Whitehaven 15:00
Workington v Dewsbury 15:00


So actually from what accurs from a Keighley point of view we can come as high as 7th or as low as 10th

Looking at the positive spin a win this week first and foremost GUARUNTEES safety that is the simple fact of the matter, a bonus of a Guaranteed play off spot with 8th being the lowest we can come also there is chance of 7th if Workington lose by any margin to Dewsbury we will get 7th should we win. That there will make the season look so much better than it has and my by understanding more money too than finishing 8th or 9th, Ive read somewhere the league has a real sliding scale cant remember the exact figures but a few extra grand will be a boost.

In the event of a loss its out of our hands and we are relying on other results -

Firstly lets get this straight Workington are not safe like its been stated, If Workington lose by more than 12 points, We win, Batley win and Whitehaven win by enough points to overturn a 24 point deflict. Probably the least likely scenario but possible

Back on us a bonus point loss will be enough if either Batley or Whitehaven fail to win to keep us up

Whitehaven are the most Vulnerable even with the easiest fixture, if they lose they are down the points difference between them and batley is too great. However they have Swinton and would be expected to win simply if they win and we lose which will be what the bookies predict they WILL come above us, A bonus point loss probably wont be enough as even if fev beat us comfortably I don't see us being that bad to let them score 80 odd points more than us. However Whitehaven are faves for this game so we have to predict a Whitehaven win.

Batley have a hard match like we have but if they win and we lose we come below them and equally if we lose and they get a bonus point they come above us

Favours : Ok favours maybe needed in terms of us winning and battling for 7th Dewsbury will get 5th Over Sheffield if Sheffield lose their game so presume theyd be up for beating Workington - But more importantly Doncaster are our allies and indeed we are theirs, If Donny win and we win Donny somehow get that converted second and the mass of money with it - But that's probably Donnys bonus award they will presumably be looking at holding onto 3rd which again will be a great achievement for them only a win will guarantee them that a losing bonus point probably wont be enough as Halifax should beat Barrow and Fax's points difference is far superior.



Ultimately its in ours win and play offs here we come but Should we fail in what our task is its all on Donny in my eyes.



Obviously ive not taken account of any draws as it complicates things further but one thing is if we draw with Fev we are practically safe the only way a draw would relegate us is if Batley win by more than 3 points and Whitehaven win by more than 88 points, So baring Swinton practically not turning up a draw would be ok

Very good that is the best analysis of this I've seen. One other scenario. Batley could get a bonus point and Cougars lose and Cougars stay up ; say Batley lose 12-0 to get a bonus point, Cougars would stay up if they lose by no more than 14 points.
Cougars can win if everybody concerned from chairman, staff, players, fans are all up for it. Hope the tannoy man is instructed to play loud inspiring music right from when Cougars come out to warm up, cut out the cackle and birthday requests etc until half time.

Warzone ? Why would I expect that ?
I'm sure all the festival goers are normal decent people ,
I was talking about things that could cause any player a great deal
Of damage with things like sliding takles .You know , bottle caps coins that sort of thing.
If showing concern for the players over that is wrong then fair do s , I'm wrong.
Not mad either , just well addled after years of uber strong opiods

The pitch has been gone over with a metal detector today (Nice one Lawkholme Len ) and all tent pegs, bottle tops and other detrius has been removed

Oh Mr Hicks , school yard name calling now ?
Can't you manage better than that ?
My comments are not negativity , just my own thoughts and views
Which I may add is what forums are for.
If you are gonna start throwing insults then at least do it to my face instead
Of hiding behind a keyboard
I'm not hard to find on matchdays.

So you come by taxi?

Will some people please step back from the keyboard.
Stop the threats.
Lets stop the name calling. Lets cut out using #@$ that sort of thing to try and disguise words.
We all want whats best for the club.
We just have different views on how it should be done.

A bit dramatic there GW, I don't recall seeing any threats, just annoyed and anguished fans seeing their club throw it all away and blow off steam against each other. But you are right, it ends up going too far. I'm pretty good at pushing the boundaries myself sometimes

To be fair some fans do go on a bit about the coach and chairman but they do have a right to do that, in the same way that others can argue they think they are wrong.

I think Burley had a point about the playing surface, it is poop.

The rules have been on the RFL website for anyone to see all year,. Dewsbury, who were also investigated, certainly knew about the 3 games/£20k rule and indeed checked up with both Bradford and the RFL before playing the player concerned - they even kept this quiet so as not to embarrass their neighbours at Batley who hadn't even bothered to check what the rules on DR were! Their original defence of 'we didn't know the rules' is, quite frankly, laughable and shambolic for a supposedly professional outfit.

Those in the relevent positions at any club HAVE to be held to account for their mistakes. It matters not whether they are volunteers or full time staff.