Anyone know if NWC have cancelled the fixturees for this weekend? A few decent games on the Saturday, Includinng Wigan v Saints. I've been bought a ticket for the saturday for xmas so I wont be able to play on the Saturday, and im sure there will be a few more in the same boat.

Wish I'd listened at the NWC meeting the other week as something was mentioned!!

Can't really see it been given a free weekend due to have far behind the fixtures are, however dependent on who you are playing you may be able to play it on a different date.

no doubt fixtures will be played that weekend throughout most regional leagues and the ncl leagues. the rfl will then be wondering why theres not a sell out at the milenium. theres never any thoughts given to amateur players wanting to go to these events.

Think I remember Ron saying at a meeting at the start of the season that no free dates would be given throughout the season and magic weekend was specifically mentioned as was grand final.

Of course there will be fixtures played that weekend. BARLA and NWC only allow free dates for the Challenge Cup final for the few teams that have only just started their season. We wonder why internationals and other major events (bar the CC final) don't sell out, its because the winter amateur set up doesn't pull its weight in helping the game succeed.

Doubt it, anymore cancelled fixtures will lead to a huge fixture pile up. I know at Ashton the idea of playing twice in a week for a while has already being mooted around.

Tuesday: Training
Wednesday: Game
Thursday: Training
Saturday: Game

No thankyou!

There are NO free weekends allowed this season. It was announced at the start of the season and included both the Grand Final weekend and Millenium weekend. Bit harsh really as we've a wedding within the club coming up and can't get a free for the stag weekend or the wedding weekend...

Maybe if the RFL helped the amateur scene a bit more (money etc etc) they would get support. The RFL are a take take take organisation and don't give a stuff about lower amateur rugby.

I actually hope BARLA split from the RFL

Sorry, I will clarify. I know of a lad who is a secretary of a football team. Guess how much their club got off the FA last season??? £8000. This heavily subsidised their winter training (which a lot of rugby clubs are also vying for but don't have the cash up front to secure block bookings) I know the gulf between wendyball and us is big, but £400 compared to £8000...come on!!

The £400 cash back was an example. rlOutward Grange Academy got £2000 back from the rafflerl so substantial amounts can be made. And like I said, there are other way of getting money from the RFL like rlhererl if you apply. Your not on your own, if you ask for help your more than likely going to get it.

I doubt any football club gets a regular £8,000 from its governing body! maybe a one off project grant (£8k sounds like an Awards for All grant) but its up to clubs themselves to define their project and apply for those type of funds...and funnily enough, the RFL would help ant RL club do that. but its an open competition and clubs have to be pro-active. Sportmatch ran out of money in November for example, I'm already looking at bids for when next years money starts being given out (April).

since inception, Bury Broncos (a 30 person club) have taken advantage of the RFL schemes as much as possible...

we took 33 people to Grand final in 2008, 50% cashback earned us c. £350
we took 36 people to 3 four nations games in 2009, cashback deal earned us c. £800
just 10 to the grand final in 2009 (as we'd just done the other trip so lower numbers) = £100
around 30 to last years grand final, higher priced tickets, 50% cashback = £496

on top of that. probably around £400 from community raffle receipts over two years.

we could get similar deals for Challenge Cup and Millenium Magic. So when NWC says you must play Grand Final day its a trade off bewteen playing or GF and £500 in the bank...and for a developing club (hopefully with juniors soon) I'm going to be very interested in the money if I'm honest!!!

i've been amazed at how few clubs bother with these schemes. if we can turn over that return from 30 members imagine what is available to other clubs...!!!

We've not missed a game for any of these events. We kicked off early on 2010 Grand Final day (no thanks to the NWC) to make the trip, and as far as I recall there were no games scheduled for the 2008 Grand Final, the 2009 4-Nations or the 2009 Grand Final. Things only changed for 2010/11 when the NWC decided NO FREE WEEKENDS whatsoever. What a truly intelligent decision from the forward-thinking, adaptable and reasonable NWC.