True - or the club were just hoping know one knew. Disgusting, how can they have the cheek to put out a statement saying that our SL bid is on track, when the board or the coach dont know when a player is cup tied or not.

Time to stop running the club like a tuck shop. The boards committment isn't at fault but the professionalism certainly is of the directors and the coaching staff. Players not knowing they only had to draw v Hunslet, Hall naffs off to France for a month mid season to sort his "holiday home" out, Aizues visa and now Ostick. I am sat here in disbelief wondering how we find ourselves in this $hit.

I really don't get this. Fax have screwed up - a fact largely accepted by all on this forum!
IF the RFL have made a cock up, then that is another issue to be addressed. However, it's your disproportionate response I'm struggling with! How is this mess 'entirely the fault of the RFL' as in your first post??
You demand the sacking of officials and lambast them as if it were them that didn't do due dilligence to the legibility of players and suggest the removal en masse of everyone at the RFL after suggesting that it's them that is responsible for ruining the day.
Sorry on this one. The responsibility is YOUR CLUB - like most of the posters on here agree. The RFL response time may be questionable, and in turn may need questions answered, but get this in proportion. It's NOT the RFLs fault. This is a Fax screw up! Some pretty poor admin at the club for this to happen. When the crusaders went into 'visagate' we had a field day! This is similar.

Those who know me will know I'm not trolling either. I genuinely feel for the fans - if it were fev I'd be gutted.
You may get chucked out, but hey ho - build from it, learn from it. Move on. Not easy but you've experienced worse.
Want glory - old trafford can always take on more "fans"! This is Championship RL we support. It's never easy.

This is a real shame. It's not as if we were desperate for players enough to play Ostick against Swinton. I'm shocked no-one at the club picked up on this before that game, and for the RFL to leave it this long, then postpone the game on the day is shambolic.

Jon Wilkin & Ian Millward have just said on BBC Challenge Cup Coverage that they think Halifax will be dealt with more severely than Hull back in 2005 as the RFL have tweaked the rules a little bit to make sure this never happens again. Trust it to be Halifax.

There are plenty to point the finger at, it'll be interesting to find out what the RFL come up with here. Why they have to Investigate I do not know...we played an ineligable player, investigation over. Let's get this sorted quickly and either continue our CC campaign or concentrate on the Championship. I hope our SL chances aren't affected by this.

Just read the bit in Sporting Life:

"The RFL tightened up the rules on Challenge Cup eligibility two years ago after Hull were fined £100,000 - £40,000 of it suspended - for playing Jamie Thackray in ties against Rochdale and Widnes when he was not on the Cup register"

Wow there is a "Cup Register"!!!!!

Do the RFL send this to member clubs saying these are your eligible players? Do they check teams when they are sent to them by the refs straight after games?

If so this game should have been called off weeks ago. Everyone would not have endured the expense and disappointment of today.

I agree Halifax should have known that a player had already played in the Cup but if there is a register then surely someone should actually see this for themselves. There is no excuse for this taking so lone to materialise.





Very very disappointing.

Hall and Calland should be sacked for serious breach of conduct. The Board are all we have-who else will step in? The Board are guilty but Hall is responsible for signing and players etc and calland should know if his players are OK to play.

And the RFL have done nothing and not learnt any lessons as obviously it has happened again and has only been found out atthe last minute and not by the RFL!

You horrid little squirt! (Just to make you feel at home with the level of argument).

It is not the RFL's job to check your selections on match day - that is the club's responsibility and no-one elses.

The RFL subsequently have to deal with breaches by clubs'. Yes they should have spotted it earlier, but they are not to blame in any way for Fax playing someone who shouldn't have played.

If the RFL realised immediately upon seeing the teamsheet, it would not have changed a thing - Fax would still be guilty of playing an ineligible player.

Why are you trying to blame others for your clubs cock-up?

RE the cup register - that doesn't dictate to, or inform clubs, of who they can and can't play; it is supposedly used by the RFL to monitor who plays for who. As such, they should have picked this up earlier - no-one is arguing that point.

What is the actual process and chain of events which take place when a player signs for a club?

Surely, we make contact with player, do the deal, sign a contract. Then we submit registration paperwork to the RFL registering the player. Is it too much to expect that when the RFL give confirmation of said registration they can notify the club of any possible restrictions, cup-tied etc etc.

This does not in anyway remove blame from the club, who ultimately must take 100% responsibilty for this situation.

3 things to check when you sign a player;

1. his he fit? got any injuries you should be aware of
2. Has he got a working VISA?
3. Is the player cup tied?

All these checks can be done quite quickly, We (the club) have got 2 of the 3 wrong this season



Even amateur RU and RL get these checks right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely nothing to do with the RFL, they assume you have the BASIC admin in place.

I have said its Fax who messed up and should be kicked out.Hall and calland should be sacked for me for this. But at the end of the day the RFL have also made a right mess of things as per usual when there was no need. First why did they not know until hours before the next round? Surely the RFL should check all players are OK to have played in the last round and not broken the rules? Why did the RFL postpone the game and not let Batley know until after Noon? They are suppossed to be running the game and have not learnt from the Hull Fiasco. They cant be running the game that well when clubs twice in 4 years clubs have played cup tied players and nobody has noticed until its too late. Clubs also have registered players who have the wrong visa paperwork. I honestly have no faith in the people running our game, they are just so useless and never llearn. I have no faith in the people running my club. But running a club is completely different to running a game. My point is yes Fax is poorly run. But so is the organization that is responsible for running the game and they make our game a laughing stock!

Bang on!

I refer you to wereyoutherein1987's post above!!

Look the RFL is run poorly. Yes fax made a mess of things as others have done like Hull. Now what lessons have been learned from the Hull Fiasco by the RFL? NONE! Surely after each round, all players should be quickly checked to see if they had played before for another club and the matter sorted in days. Its taken over 3 weeks and at the last minute before the RFL have noticed and made a right mess of a simple solution. The point is the RFL is first of all poorly run. Its system to check cup tied places is useless. Its system to sort any problems out as fast and smooth as possible is clearly a joke.
When a club makes a cockup it hurts the club and maybe one or 2 other clubs. But when a Organization that is running the game makes a host of cockups- Accepting players not with the correct visas, Forgetting to put teams in a draw, and seeing the same mistake from a couple of years ago happen again with extremely slow process causing the very late cancellation of a game. Well this makes the whole game a laughing stock and you must question the organization and ask is it fit to run the game.

it beggars belief that you choose to fire all your bullets at the RFL!!
It's your clubs responsibility to make due dilligience - not the RFL! The fact it has taken a while to sort maybe needs addressing but the violation here is committed by Halifax!

Maybe the RFL is poorly run, but for heavens sake - get this in proportion! Even your fellow supporters don't see it as you do.

My last post on this. I'm losing the will with this one!!

Sorry disagree. An organization who is running a comp should check to if a club or player has broken any rules. It should not take too long especially with the use of Computers etc these days. Fax should be punished and are responsible for signing and playing any players. If they break any rules then they should be punished.
However the RFL who are responsible for the upholding of the competition rules are responsible for making sure everything is OK and that if any rules are broken then an investigation and announcement are made as soon as possible. Clearly the RFL have failed once again in this regard. So for me halifax are guilty of breaking the rules and making a complete mess of it and shoould be punished. As should individuals at the club.
However the RFL have made the situation in to a real joke and made the game a laughing stock. Why has it taken over 3 weeks before they have noticed? They have ruined the day for thousands due to incompetence at administrating the rules. And this is why I feel that heads should roll at the RFL as well as fax. Its not excusing the role Fax and people at fax have in the mess. But simply stating that the RFL is poorly run and people should be held accountable. And will lessons be learned from this Fiasco as clearly nothing has been learnt from the Hull Fiasco a couple of years ago

I just find the whole thing a bit sad really. Typical Halifax, we finally find a new revenue stream in the East Stand, something we've been waiting for years, then we go an cock up it up elsewhere. Incompetence on the field gets us knocked out of the NL and ruins our moment in the sun when we get trounced by Leigh, incompetence off the field ruins the best chance we have all year to get a SL side at home and give us something to really celebrate. Yes the RFL should have picked this up earlier, but it isn't their fault, it's obvious from Posner and Clay leaving that the club were aware of this that they've tried to hide this all week, hoping that it would be brushed under the carpet, or that the game would go ahead before it was picked up. I don't blame them for walking, it's a complete shambles.

I do worry about the short-term future of the club, surely the revenue from this and the subsequent game (should we have gone though) would have made up for the NR disaster and more, instead I think the unlucky few of us are going to have to watch us struggle through to the end of year, completely disillusioned as possible.

I don't think I've felt this flat since the 2003 season. A dark day for Halifax indeed. Complete and utter incompetence.


P.S. Safe journey home to the bloke who had travelled down from Northumberland to watch the game. Visibly pi-ssed off when he heard the news at the 3 Pigeons.

Perhaps we could get in touch with Swinton Lions and ask to borrow their stocks.

After home games last season, a Swinton player was put in the stocks and fans were invited to throw wet sponges at them. I think it was done on a rota basis. At the final game of the season against the Skolars it was Martin Moana's turn.

At the Fax, though, we would have no need for a rota. The victims are already known by virtue of their actions / inactions and, bar one maybe, they are not the players.

Sadly this whole episode is an indictment of the game in general. It is the best game in the world run by complete idiots and I include the RFL and the majority of BOD's at almost every club in that statement. The sooner the game is professionally run the better IMO. I'm not Fax's biggest fan by any means but I do feel you supporters in this fiasco.

was one guy in the car park that had just arrived from london for the game,,

I just hope we can bring a good solicitor in to try and sort the whole mess out and maybe save us from exclusion.

As much as I blame Fax board for this mess, I have to agree with Karl Harrison who said on Radio Leeds that surely someone from the RFL should have noticed that we'd played an illegible player as it's been over 3 weeks since the Swinton game. To call a game off with less than 3hrs notice is appaling.

A Good club would contact this chap and make a personal apology and offer some sort of red carpet treatment for next match.

A lot of fans bridge building required but not holding my breath!

If it was a televised SL game I think the game wouldn't have been called off!

Give me 3 reasons to support championship rugby because all enjoyment has slipped away

Who said any publicity is good publicity????? Feel embarassed to be a Fax fan today & god knows there have been enough opportunities for me to feel that way in the past!

Reconstruction.......
CALLAND...you are playing in the team tonight Ostick
(OSTICK LOOKS A BIT BEWILDERED)
OSTICK....I think I've played in this competition before Matt;
CALLAND...are you sure?
OSTICK...no not really :
CALLAND... o k get your boots on.

Don't blame the RFL/HALIFAX put the blame at the door of the player.