You just want the game awarded to Batley.



Actually, if someone from the club could confirm yay or nay whether our Challenge Cup world is about to come crashing down i can make alternative arrangements for tomorrow before i make the 80 mile round trip.

ta.

It was a joke my fellow championship fans.

I wonder why your 2 directors have left the club in a sudden manner, business whatever, game carn't go ahead tomorrow, its simple, a rule is broken.

So, the Football Director (whose job, amongst others, is to ensure this kind of thing doesn't happen) remains and two "un-connected" directors walk. I don't think the things are linked.

But you are dying for the tie to be awarded - i can sense the frothing mouth in your post

Ive emailed the RFL too. They confirmed that Ostick will be allowed to play tomorrow

The office is shut. It's the weekend. Or do you have Nigel's Blackberry number?

Question - are Rochdale a "member" club of the RFL? Were they granted this status after going bust and ressurected last year? If they arent a full member club, then its fine that Ostick played for them and now plays for us.

B4:11 Only players who are not on the Register of a Member Club and who are bona fide players of
the Club concerned may play for a Non Member Club in the Cup. For UK based Non Member
Clubs only players who have been registered at Rugby League Services are eligible in this
respect.
B4:12 A player who plays for a Non Member Club in the Cup cannot in the same Season play for
another Non Member Club in the Cup. A player who has played for a Non Member Club in the
Cup may play for a Member Club in a later round or rounds of the Cup provided that he is on
the Register of that Club at the time set out in B4:9 above.

Ive got him on Facebook. He uses a false alias in order to steer clear of abuse from fans of most clubs in the game of rugby league

The RFL still lists Rochdale Hornets as a member club, but the list seems to be out-of-date. Rochdale went bust and were resurrected as "Hornets Rugby League" in January 2009. It would be good to know for sure, but from what I can gather, if we have broken the rules the last club we played would benefit from our expulsion - so Swinton before tomorrow's game, and Batley afterwards. I've ignored the "Batley beat us" situation, as it's all rather irrelevant then!

"Hornets Rugby League" might be their trading name, but they are still trading as Rochdale Hornets. If it listed the trading names of all of the clubs then I can guarantee there would be some unfamiliar names!

Would guess a non-member club would be Aussie clubs etc, and maybe BARLA-affiliated clubs, though not 100% on that one.

They can't give Nigel a Blackberry, he'd put it in a pie and eat it!

Rochdale are clearly the common denominator here.

The RFL should throw the book at them.

I normally take what I read on here with a pinch of salt however the ostick thread does concern me. What do people really think. Are the resignations of clay and posner linked to this. If it does prove to be correct and we have made a massive error and the club knows about it surely they have a moral obligation to let fans know . I ,for one , do not want to go to a game , pay my £15 , buy a pint etc only to discover 2 days later that we have been chucked out of the cup. Legally where would the club stand. If they knew what was coming and there is a problem would they refund the fans who went - without tickets how canyou prove you went. Perhaps I am making a mountain out of a molehill - I hope I am but I am concerned

As the available facts stand - it looks worrying. The only thing not clear is the punishment - that hasn't been specified by the RFL. It could be another Hull-Thackeray and all the accusations of cheating that comes with it. Or, it could be a fine, a ban and an example being made. After all, we're not a Super League club like Hull. They tend to hand out the heavy stuff to the poor sods "below stairs" - that'll be us!

You could end up with the same rediculous situation that happened at Durham CCC in the 20/20 cup when the game against Yorkshire was called off, with both teams and supporters in the ground waiting for play to begin, because Yorkshire had played an illegible player in an earlier game

Jesus Christ I hope this aint true. Theres no way wed knowingly take a risk like tha surely, especially against a team like Swinton.
If we do suffer some form of consequence then it would have been a massive mistake. However being labelled 'cheats' would be ridiculous.

The RFL came out with a statement after the Thackery incident saying that in future any team breaking the rule would be thrown out. Don't look hood but maybe there is some logical explanation.

If we are guilty we deserve to be thrown out, it made a mockery of the sport when Hull were allowed to continue. However, because we have not heard anything since and especially in the immediate aftermath of the Swinton game I have a bit of faith that we must have obeyed the rules and that my earlier post about Cup registration dates is true.

Althought I did have a bit of a nightmare last night though. I dreamt that I went on the Courier website on Monday to look at the match report of todays game and it said - "FAX BANNED FROM CUP. Fax were today chucked out of the game's oldest and most prestigious competition because they fielded an ineligble player in an earlier round against Swinton. The RFL decided to act after a sleuth on an Internet Fans Forum picked up on the potential violation of the selection of Michael Ostick who had played in the 3rd round for Rochdale Hornets."

I hope my dreams don't come true in this instance

Completely agree - if we have broken the rules we should be thrown out. However, what makes me think we will be ok, is the fact that the Swinton game was last month, and to have any credibility the RFL should have picked this up, if we have played him when we shouldnt have.

Bit of a silly statement that. If I was to go out tonight and beat someone to death, would I be let off if the police took more than a few months to catch me?

No you missed the point - I mean ok, as in we are fine to play him and the RFL know about it.

Ahh, apologies for getting my wires-crossed!
However, this is the RFL we're talking about. They couldn't organise an orgy in a brothel, let alone pick up the involvement of a cup-tied player in a CC game!

See the Batley Chairmen has confirmed that the game is going ahead.