www.rugby-league.com/article/403 ... stponement A slap on the wrist for the World Champions.

www.rugby-league.com/article/403 ... stponement A slap on the wrist for the World Champions.

What resolution were you hoping for?

Something more than just 'don't do it again'

Can you imagine what may have happened if one of the smaller clubs had done the same or, if this had happened against Wigan ??

We should be kicked out of the league for this, not just a reprimand, ridiculous!!!

Did Wigan go about things in the wrong way? - Yes
Was the match still played on the same date & time? - Yes
Did Wigan gain any competitive advantage from the situation? - No

Independent tribunal made the right decision IMO. But someone will still blame the RFL somehow.

IIRC, the game was only played on the same day because Widnes were "ready to go" and it was hastily rearranged on that basis ??

A game was played on the same date and time but, it was the reverse fixture.

Had Widnes not been able to scramble arrangements and insist that the game went ahead, all of your 3 points would be a No.

It would be interesting to know if the attendance was down on the previous season and if so, perhaps Wigan should have compensated Widnes for any deficit.

a smaller club would have been made an example of, that word consistency springs to mind.

And "If my auntie had nuts......."

Like the INDEPENDENT tribunal concluded - the only infringements were technical.

Nothing to see here.... Move along.

The reason for highlighting the "independent" but above is that if Wigan had left it to the RFL, they may well have attempted to make something out of nothing.

The only disappointment for me is that Wigan had to pay £2k to the RFL - I would rather that money be awarded to Widnes as a(nother) bonus for being accommodating.

What I get from this is Lenegan/Wigan taking issue with either RFL, Sky or stadium owners/WAFC re fixture problems. Wigan asking for an independant tribunal shows they are either untrusting of the RFL or wanting other clubs not to be able to point fingers (although some still find that hard to understand) at either party.
The INDEPENDANT tribunal says any wrong on the clubs part is small the advice is to set up comunication for TEAMS that share facilities. Wigan pay costs for tribunal which without knowing which of the above parties this was aimed at from Wigans point of view is about right.
Just to be clear this was a third party brought in from outside to sort this out to avoid any bias whichever side of the pro/anti Wigan fence you may sit.

I'm not particularly bothered that the RFL were again gutless and powerless to enforce their own rules on this issue. But it does open up a wider problem for me in that Wigan have absolutely no say over their own fixtures and stadium.

If a game is scheduled at the DW, it can be changed at a minutes notice by the football team. If there is a wedding booking, they have to move the game to another day.

It's embarrassing for the sport and for it's once flagship club to be in such a needy position says it all about Super League as a competition and the RFL as an organisation.

The very least the RFL could do is clarify a proper punishment if this happens again in the future.

I'm sorry, but I can't agree. It says nothing about the RFL or the sport, and says everything about the Wigan Warriors. If they are in such a poor position that they have to agree to such an arrangement, then that is on them and it shouldn't be deflected to Red Hall.

Quite frankly, it's incredibly tiring to see all of the games ills pinned on the RFL, when the clubs themselves are the biggest problem within this sport.

the only thing thats embarrassing is this thread

2016 attendance was 6219
Rearranged 2017 fixture was 6561

Damn those statistics

I totally agree with that part of your post; Widnes should be recognised in some way for the inconvenience and their flexibility in finding a way for this fixture to go ahead. Whether 2k is the appropriate sum or not, I don't know, but it should have gone to Widnes, not the RFL.

I thought Wigan made a (financial) arrangement with Widnes regarding the ticketing of the hastely rearranged game and their following meeting?

No problem with the fixture being moved to Widnes' ground, but should've still been the Wigan home game.

With this and the Saints - Hudds game, seems that teams can just play the games when they game when they want, where they want, to avoid any inconvenience.

That's the rumour.

It's not rumour, IL said it:

"The Wigan Club will make a significant financial contribution to compensate Widnes for the short notice of the staging of this game and our sincere thanks go to Widnes CEO James Rule who has worked tirelessly with us to get this fixture on."

Maybe we should have surprise fixtures on a more regular basis then


They could come under the heading of "RL innovation"

The attendance was 300 UP on the corresponding fixture in 2016!!!

No point in comparing attendances, as the hastley rearranged fixture just charged a flat £10 admission fee, noting an arrangement between the clubs that Wigan would cover any financial losses.