Rugby League

Challenge Cup 2nd Round

Sunday 25th January 2026

Kick Off 14.00

London Broncos 86 Wests Warriors 0, attendance 600

@ Richmond R.U.F.C.

Richmond Athletic Ground

Twickenham Road (A316)

Richmond upon Thames

TW9 2SF

£8 Admission

No Programme (free team sheet available).

The attraction of this game was that it was being played at the home ground of Richmond R.U.F.C. rather than Broncos normal home ground of Wimbledon F.C. It is easily reached by car, being on the left hand side of the A316 when heading in towards London from the M3. Parking is available on site, but only payable by App (there appeared to be three different ones!), so I parked in the next road on the left instead, about 50 yards away, where there were no restrictions on a Sunday. There’s an impressive old stand here, with 9 rows of bench seating and an old pavilion adjacent, whilst the pitch is fully railed with spectator access on all four sides. When looking from the stand, there appeared to be a crowd well into four figures, but when viewing from the other side (and studying the photos) it became apparent the crowd just about reached 600….perhaps that’s why no official figure has been released, as it’s well down on the near 2,500 crowd Broncos got for their opening league match against Widnes Vikings.

As expected, it was an absolute thrashing, which is all too common in this competition when professional sides play the amateurs. The only attraction for me was that it was played at unusual venue and it was only about 45 minutes drive from home. Even better, I appeared to have been charged the concession rate (£2 cheaper), which I only realised once inside the ground. As a contest, it was all over once Broncos scored their second try of the day. By halftime it was 28-0, but far more one sided than the score suggests. The second half was embarrassing, with Broncos scoring at will and despite this now being their record ever win, they’ll probably be disappointed not to have reached three figures. Alex Max bagged himself four tries and Liam Tindall got a hattrick, whilst Gairo Voro and Morea Morea got two each. Broncos should face a stiffer test in the next round when they host Bradford Bulls.

Today saw a number of other ridiculous scores, where the amateurs never managed a single point. The 86 points here was beaten by both Midlands Hurricanes and North Wales Crusaders, both amassing a whopping 110 points and Halifax who managed 88 and two other amateurs lost their matches by 76-0 and 58-0.

Rugby League

Challenge Cup 1st Round

Sunday 11th January 2026

14.30 Kick Off

Bedford Tigers 36 Medway Dragons 6, attendance 292

@ Bedford Athletic R.U.F.C.

Wentworth Drive

Putnoe

Bedford

MK41 8QA

£3 Admission

£1 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.

When I last visited Bedford Tigers (0-42 versus West London Sharks in a Conference Southern Premier match in June 2009) they were playing on an outside pitch at Bedford International Athletics Stadium. These days they’re based at the ground of Bedford Athletic R.U.F.C. where they have use of the main pitch, which is a floodlit 3G. It runs widthways in front of the clubhouse and is fully railed and has a pair of dugouts on the far side.

Bedford Tigers still play in the Southern Conference League and were making their third appearance in the Challenge Cup, with this being the first time they’d had a home draw. Medway Dragons, who are based in Brompton, Kent, midway between Chatham and Gillingham, play in the London & South East League, which is one level below Bedford.

The hosts opened the scoring with a try in the corner after eight minutes, but were unable to convert the kick. Three minutes later a diagonal run in from the right saw a try for Medway under the posts, which they converted to lead 4-6 and it was very much game on. Unfortunately, it was to be the only points the visitors would score and Bedford edged back in front and despite having a man sin binned late on in the half, went in leading 14-6 at the break. They were still a man light when they added their fourth try of the game, breaking through the centre for a try easily converted under the posts and there was no way back for the visitors with Bedford soon back at full strength. They added three more tries, all converted, going over in the corner with six minutes left to round off a 36-6 win. They now visit tier two side North Wales Crusaders in Round 2.

Speedway

British Speedway League Championship

Friday 25th July 2025

Tapes Up 19.30

Glasgow Tigers 47 Berwick Bandits 43, attendance 600

@ Ashfield Stadium

404 Hawthorn Street

Possil Park

Glasgow

G22 6RU

£20 Admission

£3.50 Programme, 36 Pages.

This was only spotted during the day and as it was only 20 minutes from our overnight hotel, then it would have been rude not to go. It was my first speedway meeting since visiting Newcastle Diamonds in 2017 and only my second in more than 30 years. These days Glasgow Tigers ride at Ashfield Stadium, where I’d previously visited for football, having seen Ashfield beat Newmains United 4-2 there, back in August 2006.

General admission was £20, or an extra £2 if you wanted a seat. Rather than risk street parking, we paid £5 to park in the secure parking at the stadium, with allowed a surprisingly swift getaway afterwards. The match day programme, which doubles as a scorecard, was £3.50 and looks like there’s plenty of reading, but I’ll probably never look at it again. There was a good variety of food and drink available, which wasn’t the greatest quality, but was cheap enough.

Chris Harris and Villads Nagel got Tigers off to a perfect start, giving them a 5-1 lead after the first heat, with the fastest heat of the night, dead on 58 seconds. The same two took first and second again in heat 6, this time Nagels winning, which opened up a 21-15 lead and they completed a 1-2 hattrick again in heat 10, which saw Tigers increase their lead to 37-23 and Bandits looked to be too far back to recover from this, although they did take four of the next five heats to only lose by a respectable 47-43 in the end.

Chris Harris top scored for Tigers with 11 points (+2 bonus) with Villads Nagel backing him up with 10 points (+1 bonus), whilst both were outdone by the top two riders for Berwick, with Jonas Jeppesen getting 13 points (+2 bonus) and Drew Kemp 12 points.

Rugby League

National Conference League

Division 2

Saturday 14th June 2025

Kick Off 14.30

Clock Face Miners 16 Pilkington Recs 16, attendance 210

@ Clock Face Miners Recreation Club

Crawford Street

Clock Face

WA9 4XL

£3 Admission

£1 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.

This was the big game in this division today, with 3rd hosting 4th in the league table, with both teams fighting for a promotion place behind leaders East Leeds, who top the table with a 100% winning record. With the clubs only five miles apart, it was good to see a crowd in excess of 200 here. The ground itself is a little disappointing, although the clubhouse was serving hot food and drinks. The clubhouse side of the pitch is fenced off, doubling as a barrier from the car park, whilst the opposite side is chain linked through wooden posts, with both ends being totally open and there’s no cover whatsoever, although as it remained dry, it wasn’t a problem.

Clock Face went in front after twelve minutes, forcing themselves over the line from a yard out, but were unable to convert the kick. Pilks were level midway through the half, when a high kick was fumbled by a defender and touched down on the dead ball line and they added the kick to lead 4-6. Pilks had a man sin binned on twenty nine minutes and three minutes later, following a brawl in the centre of the pitch, had a man sent off, with Clock Face also suffering a sin bin, so we were now left with 12 v 11 for the majority of what time was left in the half. Just before the break the eleven men went over in the corner to increase their lead to 4-10, but were unable to add the conversion. An easy try down the right saw Clock Face pull it back to 8-10 just minutes into the second half and they added the conversion to level the scores at 10-10. Five minutes later Pilks scored again under the posts, again converting, to lead 10-16 and despite being a man short, put up some great defence as they tried to hang onto their lead and still looked dangerous on the break. They were finally broken with seven minutes left, as an overlap on the left saw Clock Face go over on the corner and they added conversion was kicked to level the scores at 16-16. In the last minute Pilks missed a drop goal attempt to win it, quickly followed by one for Clock Face at the other end and right on the whistle the hosts saw a second one go wide of the posts, so we ended all square. Probably a fair result overall.

A good day out and not too bad traffic wise. The usual M25 queue from J9 towards the roadworks at J10, despite the latter exit/entry being closed and a diversion via the Black Country Route to avoid congestion at the M5/M6 intersection as I headed through the West Midlands. The return home saw the SatNav take me via a road I hadn’t realised even existed, the A533 Mersey Gateway Bridge, a new toll route, leading onto the M56 and avoiding Thelwall Viaduct if I’d taken the normal route via the M62 onto the M6.

Rugby League

Super League

Sunday 4th May 2025

Kick Off 15.15

Wigan Warriors 22 Warrington Wolves 20, attendance 32,862

@ Newcastle United F.C.

St. James’ Park

Leazes Terrace

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE1 4ST

£30 Admission (Day ticket covering 3 games) + £1 Booking Fee, Print at Home Ticket

£5 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.

With the gap between the first game and this, which for me, was the main one I’d come for, was about 45 minutes. To be honest, if this had been up first, then I’d be heading off home by now. Not because of the standard of the games, but the fact that it was absolutely freezing cold and impossible to get out of the wind. I can’t remember being this cold at an evening game during winter, let alone an afternoon game in May!

Wigan came into the game third in the league table, a point behind second placed Leigh Leopards and a further three adrift of leaders Hull Kingston Rovers, but with this game in hand. Warrington were down in tenth place, but a win here could see them move up to fifth. These two had played each other in Las Vegas earlier this season, with Wigan coming out with a 48-24 win, having led 42-0 before Warrington got on the scoreboard. Today it looked to be heading for another thrashing, when tries from Jai Field and Bevan French, both converted, saw Wigan race into a 12-0 lead, but a try in the corner by Jake Thewlis saw Warrington pull it back to 12-4 midway through the half and it remained this way until halftime. An early second half try from Rodrick Tai was then converted, which saw Warrington close the gap to two points, before Wigan hit back with tries of their own, from Abbas Miski and Adam Keighran to extend their lead to 22-10. A Joe Philbin try, then converted, saw Warrington back in the game with seven minutes left and when Thewlis went over for his second try just a couple of minutes later, the unlikely looking comeback was very much on. Unfortunately, Stefan Ratchford was unable to add the two points and Wigan hung on to their slender two point advantage. If there’d been another few minutes on the clock, then Warrington would have probably won it. Even though their team lost, the Warrington fans certainly won the ‘best of the day’ award. They were by far the loudest of the four teams in the matches I saw, with tremendous backing from start to finish.

After the game I had about a five minute wait for a Metro and was soon back at the car. Home via A1 and M25 saw me arrive back just before 23.00, certainly helped by a lack of roadworks, although just as I was one junction from home, the two outside lanes were beginning to be coned off.

Rugby League

Super League

Sunday 4th May 2025

Kick Off 13.00 (advertised as 13.15 on match ticket)

Huddersfield Giants 12 Hull 10, attendance 32,862

@ Newcastle United F.C.

St. James’ Park

Leazes Terrace

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE1 4ST

£30 Admission (Day ticket covering 3 games) + £1 Booking Fee, Print at Home Ticket

£5 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.

This was the eighth time Newcastle United have hosted the ‘Magic Weekend’ and with doubts/rumours that it may be the last time here, I finally got round to ticking off St. James’ Park for rugby league. I’d been here for football, way back on New Years Day 1990, to see Newcastle United host Wolverhampton Wanderers in a Football League Division 2 match, a game that Wolves won 4-1, with Steve Bull scoring all four goals for the visitors in front of a crowd of 22,054. The ground has changed beyond all recognition since then, now having an all seated capacity of 52,305, with one end and one side totally dwarfing the rest of the ground. I opted for an unreserved seat in the Gallowgate End (the small end behind the goal) which covered all three games today. I’d travelled up from my games in Cambridgeshire yesterday, staying overnight in Newton Aycliffe. A 30 minute drive up the A1 saw me arrive at Felling, just east of Gateshead, where I opted to catch the Newcastle Metro in to the ground. Street parking was not restricted around the station on a Sunday and it was only four stops (including changing at Monument for one stop to St. James station). Buying a one day travel card (£5.60) worked out to be the marginally cheaper than two singles (no return option) and the inward train only had a wait of a couple of minutes. You emerge from the Metro right behind the Gallowgate End, which was perfect as far as I was concerned.

First game up was bottom of the table Huddersfield Giants against Hull, who were fifth. Giants had lost all nine games they’ve played so far, but were well deserved winners here. A George Flanagan penalty put them ahead, before a Leroy Cudjoe try, converted by Flanagan, saw them open up an 8-0 lead. A Herman Ese’ese try, converted by Aidan Sezer saw Hull reduce the lead to 8-6, but they then had Liam Knight sent off right on halftime, following a shoulder charge on Sam Hewitt. Giants extended their lead after fifty six minutes with a try from Jacob Gagai, but failed to convert, so led 12-6. Within five minutes a Lewis Martin try (conversion missed) saw the twelve men pull it back to 12-10, but playing with an extra man meant Giants were able to hang on for their first win.

Rugby League

League 1

Sunday 23rd March 2025

Kick Off 15.00

Goole Vikings 6 North Wales Crusaders 28, attendance 447

@ Goole R.U.F.C.

Westfield Banks

Westfield Lane

Goole

DN14 5PW

£15 Admission

No Programme.

Goole Vikings are new into the league this season, as part of the R.F.L.’s expansion plan in an effort to spread the game. It’s hardly groundbreaking though, with Goole being situated along the established M62 corridor, right between a handful of well established professional clubs, with Doncaster and Castleford to the south west/west and Hull and Hull Kingston Rovers to the east. They’ve gained entry with the intention of staging their home games at Victoria Pleasure Ground, home of Goole A.F.C., but with that undergoing redevelopment, they will be unable to play at ‘home’ for the next four months, with this game switched here to Goole R.U.F.C. to enable those works to get underway as soon as possible.

The ‘welcome’ at the entrance was far from friendly and not a great first impression of the club. You are met with the compulsory £5 car park charge and threatened with having your car removed if you choose to park in the lane leading to the ground, despite there being no restriction signs or yellow lines. The ground itself is poor for this level. It is fully railed and has floodlights, but has no cover whatsoever. Thankfully, it remained dry, although there was a cool wind for the entirety. Unless you were a ‘hanger on’ there was no access to the clubhouse building, but there were a number of mobile catering vendors doing a range of hot food/drinks and the only toilets available were a few portaloos.

Vikings had lost their opening two league matches, both by narrow margins, whilst North Wales Crusaders had won the only one they’ve played so far. However, the two sides have already met this season, when Goole came out as 26-18 victors in the 1895 Cup in February, which was played at Goole A.F.C. I normally watch matches as a neutral, but having experienced the frosty welcome today, I was very much hoping for a NWC win. It only took the visitors four minutes to get their first try, which was converted and followed it up midway through the half with their second, but they missed the conversion. Just before halftime Vikings got their only try of the match, which they converted, to go in only trailing 6-8 at the break and set things up perfectly for the second half. However, NWC added another two tries in the opening twelve minutes of the second half and Vikings never looked like turning it round. Two late tries saw NWC extend their lead to 6-28 and in doing so maintain their 100% winning start to the season, whilst Vikings are one of the three clubs still looking to get their first points on the board. The official attendance was announced over the tannoy as 447, which was almost 100 more than my headcount. There were obviously a lot more ‘hangers on’ hiding in the clubhouse than I thought!

With the full weekend closure of the M25 between J10 and J11 in place, SatNav took me via the Dartford Crossing, M11, A1 route, with no traffic problems whatsoever in either direction. I hope everything goes as smoothly when I return to see a game at their redeveloped ground later in the season.

Rugby League

Challenge Cup 1st Round

Sunday 19th January 2025

Kick Off 13.30 Actual 13.32

Great Britain Police 4 York Acorn 52, attendance 146

@ Portico Vine A.R.L.F.C

Scholes Lane

Eccleston

St. Helens

WA10 3PD

No Admission or Programme.

Having done games in the North East on the last two days, I decided on an overnight stop on the way home (70 mile diversion along the M62) to take in this rearranged Challenge Cup match, that had been postponed last Sunday due to a frozen pitch. GBP had been confident on their social media that the game would go ahead at the second time of asking and so it turned out. It was only a few degrees above freezing, but the pitch was fully in the sun and no problem at all. The ground here at Portico Vine is just an open pitch, taped off on three sides, with a decent clubhouse, serving hot and cold drinks, next to the car park as you enter off Scholes Lane. As with last week at Eastern Rhinos, no admission charge was made, nor any sign of a match day programme having been produced.

As expected, it was a comfortable win for York Acorn, who play in the National Conference League Premier Division. It only took them three minutes to get their first try and by halftime they led 0-18, which would have been a bigger margin had they managed to do better than converting just one from four with their kicking. Another try for Acorn early in the second half killed off any hope of a comeback and it was 0-34 by the time GBP scored their only try of the game after fifty six minutes, which they were unable to convert. Normal service was resumed though and Acorn added another four tries to round off a resounding 4-52 win, where both sides had finished with 12 men, following a double sin bin after an outbreak of fighting with ten minutes left.

Rugby League

Challenge Cup 1st Round

Sunday 12th January 2025

Kick Off 14.30 Actual 14.41

Eastern Rhinos 4 Wests Warriors 66, attendance 170

@ Colchester Sports Park, Artificial Pitch 2

Cuckoo Farm Way

Colchester

CO4 5YZ

No Admission or Programme.

This was a clash between two teams who play in the Southern Conference League, which is Tier 4 of the rugby league pyramid. Rather than switch the game to a borrowed venue, Eastern Rhinos chose to host at their normal home of Colchester Sports Park, across the other side of the A12 from the ground of Colchester United F.C. exiting the dual carriageway at the same roundabout. It is just a 3G cage, but unusually, the only pitch markings were rugby league specific. Although there is no designated spectator area inside the cage, they were able to rope off one side of the pitch, enabling pitch side viewing, or, as quite a few did, watch over the fence, from a couple of concrete steps down towards one corner. Considering it was a national cup game, it was surprising that no admission charge was made, nor match day programme issued, so despite a decent crowd, no money was made from it. Hot food and drinks were available from the adjacent building, which I assume is run by the sports park.

The match itself was a total thrashing. It only took Wests three minutes to get the opening try and they totally overran the hosts from that point. By halftime it was 0-34, with the visitors having added another five tries by then. A minute into the second half Wests added another try and they reached the half century of points just after the hour mark. As with the first half, Wests ran in six tries in the second half too. At least Rhinos managed to finally get a score on the board, going over in the corner right at the death, but were unable to convert, not that it really mattered by then.

Wests will now host the winners of the Army versus R.A.F. match in Round 2.

Rugby League

League 1

Sunday 23rd June 2024

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.04

Newcastle Thunder 4 North Wales Crusaders 42, attendance 220

@ Blaydon R.U.F.C.

Crow Trees Ground

Hexham Road

Swalwell

NE16 3BN

£15 Admission

No Programme.

Due to their normal venue at Gateshead International Stadium being unavailable, this was switched to the ground of Blaydon R.U.F.C. The main pitch has a 3G surface and is fully railed as well as being floodlit. It is a good 200 yards from the clubhouse/changing rooms, across the car park, with a decent stand on the far side that had seven rows of bench seating, flanked by grass banking and a partially raised area in one corner, adjacent to a tea bar.

Newcastle came into this sitting rock bottom in the league table (9th place) having lost all eleven games so far, whilst North Wales Crusaders were sixth and still in with a chance of making the play offs, despite only having won four of their ten games played. As expected, it was a high scoring away win, but Newcastle fought hard right to the end and it must only be a matter of time until they claim that must sought after first win. It was 0-20 at halftime, courtesy of four tries, two of which were converted, whilst the other two attempts both hit the post and bounced wide. Another twenty two unanswered points saw the lead increase to 0-42, before Newcastle rounded off the scoring with a try in the dying seconds.

I’d stayed overnight in County Durham after yesterday’s game at Siddal, so only had an hours drive north for this. It was quite pleasing that the journey home took under six hours, which was better than I’d been expecting, what with the heavy traffic usually encountered on a Sunday evening heading towards the M25.