any idea how we got on? how are we doing after 2 games? missed 1st home match - seem to have got a bit of a pasting. reckon we will get better with a sterner test this season?

game postponed as Carlisle couldn't raise a team i believe

Combination of a wedding, injuries and a union semi-final I believe. If we were the only club to have scratched this season I would be concerned, but we are one of quite a few to be honest - which begs other questions...

With regard to 1st home match, Wizards were especially strong in the half-backs and we are weakened by George Graham having union commitments to complete. With him we wouldn't have won, but we may have had the guile to cause them a few more problems and not had to resort to wild passes which led inevitably to more Warrington chances.

Such as?

4 games scratched out of 10 due suggests that the ambitiously early start is proving problematic for some clubs that don't have the depth of player availability that Bramley have.

Speaking purely personally I think there is a lot to be said for a longer season, but perhaps we should look at compulsory Sunday matches at the start or other measures to alleviate the difficulties clubs like ourselves are finding. I've seen Phil's e-mail, and understand his concern, but this was not unforseeable and ambition that threatens the credibility of the competition is not a sensible way forward IMHO.

we have started this early for the past 3 seasons!!!!

some of us have started in February the last few years.

I take your points gentlemen, but you are both in the midst of hundreds (if not thousands of RL players within 30 miles of your pitch, you have away games that are 1-2 hours closer to you than they are to us. There are inbuilt advantages that you have that we do not. We would prefer to never cancel another match, but I have said that before (about a month ago

). I can only out forward those aspects that I feel do us no favours and have stated that I personally can see long-term benefits in a longer season, but I can also see short-term problems for us (and apparently 3 other sides!!!)

The thing is they need to either have a short season to fit in the RU and BARLA off season or a long season with RU and BARLA players banned. Having teams full of players that play in winter playing in a competition that overlaps with the winter season is clearly not going to work

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The other major problem the Centurions have is there is no junior RL played in the city, none of the schools play RL and that includes the school where the son of the Cent's chairman teaches. There was a junior team a couple of seasons ago but they seem to have disappeared.

RL has died a slow death in the city since the old Border Raiders left and merged(sic) with Barrow. There are now no open age teams in the city in the Cumberland League. The nearest CL team being Cockermouth over 20 miles away.

Hopefully this will start to change with the recent appointment of a RL development officer.