Bury Broncos V Ecclestion Lions
Chorley Panthers V St Helens Wild Boar
Rochdale Cobras V Hindley
Waterhead V Newton Storm
Westhoughton Lions V Bolton Mets

Were going to have to improve 10 fold to give hindley a game, 9 lads back this week though so fingers crossed



If Ecclestion keep that team and intensity can’t see em losing many from here on in...Good side!

…oh Hindley players/supporters we will be having a raffle after the game for one of our players…He got hurt over at Wild Boars (hospital pass off T)…..8 weeks off work and will never play again, his début too!!!!! prob the best stand off we could get hold of….gutted for him (and us).

sorry to hear about your player mate hope he is ok. just signed up to this so ill be poating on here now. good win for us on saturday against waterhead we played well. hopw u beat hindley saturday give us a bit of a chance finish in the top 2. good luck boys

Yeah ta m8....even if we both beat Hindley they will still finish top...i feel, unless u do em twice!!!!!, think Cobras, Wild boars and Waterhead are all playing for 2nd!!!! three very even teams tho so who knows...good end to the season either way...better like this!

i think they will finish top 2 like u say un-less we do em twice u never say never tho. it will be a cracking end to the season hope we play like we did saturday for the rest of the season we had a good game back 2 full strength aswell no more injuries fingers crossed!!!

Sorry to hear about your team mate. Sure most (if not all) will be buying raffle tickets!

Also, heard Hindley v Wildboars may be turned into a 4-pointer as we are running out of weekends!

Awful news about your lad Ben, if you want to hold a raffle or something when you visit us next (if it ever happens!), I'm sure Mike will be happy to help.

Bury Broncos V Eccleston Lions
Chorley Panthers V St Helens Wild Boar
Rochdale Cobras V Hindley
Waterhead V Newton Storm
Westhoughton Lions V Bolton Mets

Sorry Ben, think Hindley will have too much for your lads, they've been firing on all cylinders and the Cobras have had a bit of a blip recently. The rest seem fairly straightforward, though of course we at Bury will be taking it to Eccleston as our first game back after an absolutely fcking dire performance against Bolton 3 weeks ago.

Fingers crossed it doesn't rain/freeze between now and Saturday...

"Fingers crossed it doesn't rain/freeze between now and Saturday...

"

weather on firgrove is awful...the wind coming off the Pennines is just wrong, training on Tuesday was the coldest ive ever been too, coach sent injured lads watching home, we were very happy when we only did 50 mins.

we have been bob last two games, even Newton game was a bit e!!! Hindley are defo favs...but we like it that way!!!!!!! plus big T is back and the fijains are training....but who knows with them, they only like the sun (which is great in Rochdale). BUT think coach may go with 2nd team lads who stepped up to play eccleston last week....tis only fair.

Tuesday night was fcking baltic - as you say, probably the coldest training I can remember, and it's probably colder up at Firgrove! We didn't bother with 'proper' training but played full tackle for about 80 mins just to keep warm, the ground was thick mud, not frozen but the wind and snow made everything ice cold to touch.

Thought big T was buggering off back to Aus?? And haven't that full-back and another Fijian gone to Hornets?

Or can't T tear himself away from the strippers at the Flying Horse?

T has got to wait for some papers from OZ....good for us, and adam didnt want to go hornets??? and Masi just went on a walk about (no , just went!!??) turned up on tuesday like he aint been anywere calling plays we dont do any more??? Not sure he will play, as ive said coach will have last say, awsome player but no comitment!?!

How's your pitch looking for tomorrow mate?

Was good yesterday but it's been raining solid all day today, we'll be checking it at 9am.

Apparently our club sec has spoken with someone at Eccleston and the ref and if it's swamped by tomorrow morning we're good to switch to your place (as long as yours is ok!).

Should be game on!

typical, leave something to me.

same attitude on the pitch. "I won't tackle - Mike will do it"

We'll do something Ben, just drop me a text - the way this season is going it'll probably be mid-summer before we play you (so maybe a BBQ) but I think Cronus has just volunteered to do an extra raffle tomorrow...

Pretty confident of it being played in Bury. Pitch looked really good apart from having to destroy a snowman that was surviving on the pitch (what sort of psycho stands in the middle of a school field, at 9pm at night, with a camping lamp, hacking a snowman to pieces?). Obviously damp in places but I'll check on it again first thing in the morning just in case. Want the game so happy to move it to Eccleston if required. Referee had a St. Helens number so shouldnt see him being bothered if we need to change...

Have you got my number Mike?

Cobras Hindley game off......rochdale council are shi1te...waterloged my bum....two big games next week tho...waterhead at home on sat then Higginshaw away on the sunday in the semi final of the standard cup!!!!!....yesssss

Wild Boars 18 - 0 OFF AGAIN

This division is a in joke, why do some teams just out and not bother to play the better teams dont they want to better their game they just ring up an hour before and say no team, i dunno if i can be bothered to lace up my boots again this season overtime and gym now sounds a better alternative on a saturday. If we dont get in to div 4 next season im jacking cause this division is ing terrible top 6 teams or so good wanna play every week they teams like Blackburn, Bury, Chorley giving games all the time against us

I can guarantee you 100% we desperately wanted to play Wild Boars. We've played weakened sides against some of the top sides including Hindley and Waterhead, but both times against you we've somehow ended up with loads missing. Last time against you we had 18 players out - and then I was ill on the day - difficult to find a squad out of less than 30 registered. We train hard and hit the gym just like you and it's maddening when games are called off - we want a hit out, win or lose, like anyone else.

We will never concede a game unless there is no other option, but finding a squad in a non-RL area is tough at the best of times (believe me) and when there's so many missing we're screwed. We had the same problem last year - went 8 weeks with 1 game at one point with teams not turning up and bad pitches.

Can understand the frustration on both counts here but I think part of the problem is the structure of 6 and entry into 5. It's seems a good idea putting all the 'A' teams in this league (6) and then one team clubs in 5 but they are also effectively new start teams. Every new start team needs time to establish & develop itself and playing every week can work against these teams and ultimatley other teams in that league. My preference would be for 6 to be run more on a merit system whereby teams arranged fixtures around their squads ability to field teams, in effect a season of friendlies. That way it would give new start teams time to develop and increase regular squad numbers without the pressure of playing every week. I also think that there would be more fixtures played over a season than there is now where come Xmas time teams start dropping out. Entry into 5 would be by an election system based on the teams proven ability to regularly field a team the previous season(s) and the development it has made during that season. That would ensure more fixture stability for the teams in 5 who would by rights more established squad wise. It's disappointing to hear of the frustration caused by cancelled fixtures and more worringly signs of it driving players away from the game itself.

This is a very good idea!!!





This would be fantastic for our 2nd team!!! It prob seems crazy to all on here that a 18 month old team in div 5 is starting a 2nd team next season but we don’t know what else to do?? We get 40 lads training some days and even then can count 10 lads who are missing. Its just gone mad (possibly new club syndrome)?????

This merit league would be perfect for our 2nds who just want to stay fit for when the 1st team calls them up and in some cases just want a run out and to go on the razz, there are 3 lads who played for Milnrow / newhey last season and would walk into our team but dont want too, just want a laugh in the 2nds!!!!!!

After all if we didn’t have this 2nd team we would have had 12 players for the Eccleston game!!!

And may I add Bury Broncos have never given us a game!!!!!
and even though we have put 186 points up em the last 3 outings they will still play us later this year, they never out...just use their brains....I know if we had no forwards we would not play!!!!!!!!!

think pazzer is just a bit ed off we look forward to playing games on a saturday thats what we train 4 and when the game gets called it es u off as i think u will all agree!!! but hopefully we will go up like pazzer says

Bury Broncos 14 - 12 Eccleston Lions



Good tough game, Eccleston never stopped going but our pack had a belter, our defence was on form and we held out despite a few sets of defence on the line towards the end. Handling from both sides was dodgy, I lost count of the number of knock-ons. We gifted them the first try through a suicidal pass for an interception, but from then I'd say overall we had the better of the game though they ran well at times.

Good excuse for a few cheeky sherbets to celebrate.

we've conceded just two at Bury - just unfortunate that its been wild boars both times. First it was due to having no forwards at all, second time was the mad week when I went from 26 available and wanting to play one week to then having 18 players out! Really couldnt do anything about that. We've been to Cobras and we went to Hindley with a frantically scrambled together team. We havent deliberately called one off just to rest-up.

One thing that does need to change is the penalty for conceding games at the last minute. 3 times last year we got calls after midday on a match-day which meant we lost £80 on pitch hire, ref travelled (£30) and food paid for. It also means that lads who could get extra shifts are buggered! Teams should have a points deduction if they concede on the day of the game...

For our part, I've always told the club at the start of the week if we have an issue - have never waited to see if its off due to the weather or anything, have just been honest with the opposition. We told Wild Boars at the very start of the week when we conceded the first one so that they could let their players know so that they could work etc. - the second time round we realised at Thursday training that we had so many injuries and let Boars know again the next morning rather than wait until Saturday.

well in the bury lads sounds like a good game im always happy 2 hear eccleston have been beat

well im not taking for granted that we would win against these teams that have given us the game i just dont think 18 - 0 is the correct result why not more like 40 - 0 because our points difference isnt the best because we only get to play the better sides we could miss on promotion by a few points

Newton Storm couldn't raise a team.

I've had enough of scraping for a team and sometimes not even raising one week in week out.

It's crap and I'm tired of it.