AS the weather improves, at least in terms of there being less rain, there should be fewer postponements caused by unfit pitches.
It can therefore be necessary for me to ask why matches are off when GameDay sends its computerised fixture schedule, each Friday evening, for the following day’s programme.
It was disconcerting, early on Saturday morning, to see that the Southern Conference League match between Eastern Rhinos and London Skolars had been called off.
I suspected the worst, and my worries were confirmed when it was verified that the Skolars had been unable to raise a team.
My fervent hope is that London Skolars will turn things around. Certainly, with people like Andrew Jackson around, they have committeemen with the experience and ability to do just that, and I’m sure that other clubs in the Southern Conference League will do everything they can to assist.
The Skolars have certainly struggled since reverting to the SCL from Betfred League One.
Their opening fixture, at home to Bedford midway through last month, finished in a 46-38 defeat but, seven days later, a trip to Brentwood ended in a 68-8 reverse in a match in which time was called early as the depleted visitors’ numbers began to drop even further.
April closed with a 64-12 loss at home to big guns Wests Warriors, and the respite given through the Southern Conference having a ‘rest week’ on the May Bank Holiday weekend clearly didn’t give the Skolars enough time to regroup in time to fulfil the fixture at Colchester, where Eastern Rhinos always present a formidable challenge.
London Skolars’ woes, which I hope will prove to be temporary, can in my opinion be traced back to the fag-end of last season. It so happens that I covered the Betfred League One fixture between Hunslet and the Skolars on Sunday, August 20, and I concluded my interview with the visitors’ coach Joe Mbu by asking how things were looking for their next game, the following Wednesday evening at Rochdale Hornets.
It was obvious, from his reply, that the match was in jeopardy, and I can’t say I was surprised. My memory of the whole episode is that the Skolars were only a few miles away from Rochdale, on the originally designated Sunday date, when news came through that the pitch had been deemed unfit, and that they had to turn back.
In the end, the Rugby Football League insisted that the Skolars had to travel North in midweek, which wasn’t the easiest instruction for a team made up of part-time players to comply with, and the match didn’t go ahead, Skolars subsequently pulling out of League One and joining the Southern Conference League for the first steps in a rebuilding programme.
Things aren’t, so far, going to plan – obviously – but I do hope that the Rugby Football League gives the Skolars every support possible.
That backing, as an outside observer, seemed to be lacking towards the end of last year, when I thought that one of our more established ‘outpost clubs’ (for want of a better term) deserved much better.
It’s a fact that, prior to that, a strong side, at League One level anyway, had been established.
The Skolars had been genuine promotion challengers, a real match for any team in the bottom tier and, importantly, comprised players mainly – perhaps entirely – based in the south of England. Their demise (and let’s hope it’s not coming to that) would be a real loss to the game.
First published in League Express newspaper, Issue 3,430 (May 13, 2024)
Click here to purchase a digital edition of League Express.
Click here to purchase an online edition of League Express through pocketmags.com.
Click here to listen to our new League Express Podcast.
League Express is widely available from local newsagents across the north of England.
