Congestion casting a shadow over cups

Feb 20 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

WITH INCREASING fixture congestion, is there still a place for the Lancashire Cup or, indeed, all county competitions in the professional era?

With an escalating fixture backlog, and the added pressure of professional rugby, it remains to be seen if the Lancashire Cup competitions have a place in the modern game.

The apparent devaluation of the county cups is compounded by the fact that none of the three county competitions have sponsorship this year, which appears to give added kudos to the EDF Energy Cup.

Brian Minor, Honorary secretary for all three county competitions, said: “Everyone still wants to play it.”

Minor did, however, point out that the league inevitably takes precedent over the cup, and on numerous occasions, re-arranged league matches have had to be played over designated cup weekends.

One explanation for so many rearranged fixtures is obviously the weather, which has been worse than in previous years.

Minor did, however, identify an avoidable reason for the fixture backlog, saying: “There could be more give and take from the league secretaries.”

This lack of understanding from the county’s hierarchy hardly helps a situation where some clubs are battling on three fronts.

Who is to blame is now of no concern at Liverpool St Helens who have refused to enter this season’s Trophy competition after what they claim was nothing less than a farce last term.

“We obviously wanted to concentrate on the league last season and that was a problem in itself,” said press officer John Williams. “However the main difficulty was in getting dates agreed to play matches. The end result was that we had to play the final at the end of August, the week before the new season was due to start! In our view that devalued the whole competition and so we decided to withdraw from this season’s campaign.”

In this season’s Plate competition, where the county’s more junior sides compete for honours, the backlog is so bad, that a first-round match, scheduled to have been played over the August Bank Holiday weekend last year, has yet to be decided. This confusion has left a third round draw of Bolton v Littleborough or Orrell Anvils or Bay Horse. This backlog has also cast a shadow over the organisation of the tournament.

Jimmy Williams, head coach of Orrell Anvils, who have still not agreed a date with Lancaster-based Bay Horse, commented: “The situation is ridiculous. Bay Horse are not a league side and draw their players by invitation to play friendly games, mainly on a Sunday. They enter the Plate competition and expect other sides to agree to play on a Sunday.

“Because of our current situation we have problems with Sundays, plus the fact our players do not want to play twice over a weekend.”

The junior sides might not have quite the same worries as the more senior teams in the county, but the fixture backlog has affected every club, including those in the National Leagues.

The Lancashire Cup competition this year is only being contested by eight sides, with defending champions Sedgley Park being joined by Manchester, Fylde, Preston Grasshoppers, West Park, Vale of Lune, Waterloo and Broughton Park.

This meant the cup began at the quarter-final stage, theoretically easing fixture congestion for Lancashire’s bigger club sides.

Yet in that opening round which should have been played on January 5, West Park had a walkover against Vale of Lune who could not field a side.

With Fylde and Preston Grasshoppers still unable to agree a date, the competition is already well behind schedule.

However a contrary view comes from Waterloo President Colin Fisher, whose club is due to play the winners of the Fylde v PGH tie.

He said: “There are problems but generally we are very supportive of the competition and in an age when fixtures take us from Blaydon to Redruth the Lancashire Cup, is a way of keeping in touch with clubs and friends who were part of our traditional fixture list from a more ‘gentler’ age.”