Final round of the Championship season today and although four clubs have already been relegated (Barrow, Swinton, Rochdale and North Wales) the fifth and final relegation spot is still wide open! Any one of 'Haven, Batley, Keighley and Workington could go down depending on the different results today. Current League table - www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... ship/table Todays Fixtures - www.sportinglife.com/rugby-league/fixtures So who do you reckon is going to survive and who is going to take the final relegation spot? I think, sadly, Batley will go down. Can't see them taking anything from a strong Doncaster side and I think 'Haven will beat Swinton quite comfortably.

Final round of the Championship season today and although four clubs have already been relegated (Barrow, Swinton, Rochdale and North Wales) the fifth and final relegation spot is still wide open! Any one of 'Haven, Batley, Keighley and Workington could go down depending on the different results today. Current League table - www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... ship/table Todays Fixtures - www.sportinglife.com/rugby-league/fixtures So who do you reckon is going to survive and who is going to take the final relegation spot? I think, sadly, Batley will go down. Can't see them taking anything from a strong Doncaster side and I think 'Haven will beat Swinton quite comfortably.

Am I right in hearing Keighley were relegated by an 80th minute Featherstone try this afternoon?

Finished 26-24 - wouldn't want to be a Keighley fan tonight. Fair play to Batley for a good win at Doncaster.

Yes they did

Correct.

How much more pain can Cougar fans take?

The bottom end shed was bouncing when Cougars went 24 14 up with 20 to go. But Fev sneaked a last minute try in the corner. Cougars were the better team on the day.

Leaves a bitter taste when Batley survive by a point after cheating, failing to accept fair punishment and then getting away with it. Even more so when they'll probably now try to come and cherry pick two or three of our best players for next season!

Any aspiring lawyers out there fancy taking a case for compensation to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on a no win no fee basis along the lines of Sheffield United v West Ham when West Ham played ineligible Tevez and then stayed up at the expense of Sheffield? Understand Sheffield won £30m compensation from West Ham.

But it wasn't 'fair' punishment. Our chairman was well within his rights to appeal on the grounds of precedent. The RFL have admitted that five or six clubs broke the same rule last season and went unpunished despite them being aware. Why should we have accepted a points deduction when other clubs were allowed to get away with the same offence in 2013?

No. it was in the 75th minute...

and the club that were relegated were not guilty of any DR offence in either 2013 or 2014 !!! Tell me seriously how you think that is fair ??"

You misunderstand my post. I stated that it wasn't 'fair' to punish Batley when other clubs were allowed to get away with the very same offence.
As it happens, both York AND Hunslet were named as having breached the rule in 2013. That's not to condone this season's RFL-led farce - just to correct your factual inaccuracy.

Last year's breaches of DR regs were in different circumstances. The regs were new and there was no impact on promotion, relegation or future funding. Eg York were already relegated and Whitehaven were safe from Relegation before the breach. RFL entitled to judge a quiet caution sufficient. Very different this season. The regs were clearly included in the published RFL rules and the impact of clubs failing to adhere to the rules clearly much greater. In all the circumstances, the RFL CLEARLY ENTITLED TO APPLY A DIFFERENT SANCTION THIS YEAR.

An additional course (after getting an interim suspension award from the Court of arbitration for Sport) to pursue justice, would be for all championship clubs (except Batley and Doncaster) to get together and put a motion forward to be voted on by ALL clubs at the next full rugby league Council meeting such that the central funding each club outside super league gets in 2015 is based on what the final championship table would have been in 2014 IF BATLEY AND DONCASTER HAD BEEN DEDUCTED THE 3 points each.

Keighley have asked for an explanation from the RFL and basically been fobbed off.

They are gathering evidence with view to appeal with some legal backing.

It ain't over yet!

But

I have no faith in the rfl to willingly backtrack and show themselves to be a bunch of clowns. They'll continue into the playoffs and hope it all goes away or claim it's gone to far to do anything. Keighley will be offered a paltry compensation, a break up of their side and an unknown period in the wastelands.

Batley directors will be guffawing from behind their palms and Nidge will content himself with "higher" matters (where his next pie is coming from).

Only a strong legal case will help Keighley to force the RFLs hand.

Good luck if you get your appeal. I do remember Batleys Chairmans first published words on the breach were that 'they weren't aware of the rule', then suddenly they use breaches last year as defence knowing that 'we didn't know' is no defence. Not sure where they suddenly got that information seeing as nothing was published last year, and if the clubs were party to this information why didn't he just say.

Batley should be down IMO, their breach directly affected their final league position. For once Mark Aston was right in demanding the removal of the points they had won

Batley's best defense intended to be "they didn't know". Doncaster turned up with a boat load of evidence, and Batley stood behind them and said "yeah, what they said"

Keighley definately the fall guys in all this.
Another embarressing episode in rl history and its goverinng body.

Keighley meeting with there solicitors at 4.30 today to find out what action they can take.

I suggest an online fundraising campaign to fund legal expenses. Must be deja vu for the Keighley supporters - I feel for them. But not for their idiot of a coach!

so what was doncasters 'evidence' ? you broke the rules just like Batley.
the reason you got off was breaches the previous season that were not
punished so how can you rubbish batley's case ?
Kevin Nicholas is a solicitor so i would have expected the case he put
forward would have been far more comprehensive and detailed than
Carl Hall's probable "come on bro's, give us a break bro's,eh bro ?

tbh id prefer batley to stay up because I really like going to mount pleasant to watch rugby and for anyone who has tasted their chips, its worth the entrance fee alone

, but in all fairness they should be in championship one. if you break the rules you should be punished .

Not rubbishing anything, just saying what happened. Batley we're asking for more time to put their case together and for the hearing to be postponed until they spoke to doncaster about their intentions.

The 'evidence' was the evidence of the previous years breaches that they had researched and compiled, and the conversation with an RFL staff member who confirmed the player was eligible to play.

Personally I wouldn't have appealed, I said so at the time, I'd have taken the punishment on the chin and moved on.

You do know there are more people involved in doncaster than Carl Hall right? You know, lawyers and that bro?

You'd have thought the top management at the RFL could have come up with some sort of offer pretty quickly to Keighley to avoid them having to resort to legal action. A nil cost option to the RFL might be to compensate Keighley for the detriment resulting from the RFL mess up following Batley (and Doncaster) not being punished for fielding ineligible players.

A fair outcome for both Batley and Keighley (considering Keighley has been relegated as a result of Batley winning the match in which the ineligible player played and scored) would be for both clubs to get the same level of central funding for 2015. Instead of Batley getting £150,000 and Keighley getting £75,000, both should get £112,500.

Should imagine a majority of clubs would support that if it had to be put to a vote.

...and every club in Championship1 - which is where Keighley are going to play, after all - would be howling with outrage. feel sorry for Keighley, but that's not the solution.

Think it could be. A couple of clubs in the Championship getting half a million in 2015 with the majority getting only £150k was pretty easily accepted subject to a bit of chuntering. Even if you think that extra money would get Keighley promoted, there's 2 promotion spots from League 1 to the Championship next season - double this year's. If it's deemed the best of a bad lot of solutions it would get voted through even if the current Championship clubs weren't particularly for it. The detriment suffered by Keighley is partly that they will no doubt have pre-existing contractual and other financial commitments that say Coventry or Oxford and others don't have.

It's the Championship 1 clubs (and probably the other relegated Championship clubs) who would be kicking up a fuss if the RFL tried to change the goalposts after the rules about payments were announced/agreed. The RFL would be out of the frying pan & into the fire with the likes of York/Hunslet (or whoever doesn't get promoted this year) up in arms at a relegated Championship club suddenly being given far more than had been agreed.

Did that happen at the original hearing or the appeal ?