QUEENS!

Last weekend saw some rather unsavoury incidents take place at a Challenge Cup Round 3 tie between Doncaster (of National League 1) and amateur side Queens (of the CMS Unison Premier Division).

Queens originally drew Doncaster at home and the game should have been played at their home ground at Bus Vale. However, Doncaster were having none of that and they whinged and whined their guts out to the spineless RFL, managing to get the game switched to the Keepmoat Stadium, citing reasons such as better safety and security measures in place there. One could be forgiven for thinking that the real reason was they didn't fancy the trip to Bus Vale in Meanwood and fancied a more comfortable home tie instead. This hardly suited Queens since they weren't even going to get a share of the gate money.

Anyhow, to cut a long story short, Queens turned up at Doncaster and gave the NL1 side quite a scare. With Doncaster only leading 16-12 after 63 minutes of play, the game was in the balance. At that point, a brawl among the spectators took place and the game ended up being abandoned due to crowd trouble. The irony of Doncaster's claim for a home tie that they had superior safety and security measures in place is not lost on me. Someone at the club actually had to phone the police to turn up in order to sort the crowd trouble out!

There's been ample claims and counter-claims put forward as to who caused the trouble in the first place, mostly by people who didn't even attend the game, so how could they know? Apparently, the propaganda line on numerous RL chat boards was that it was either all Queens fault, or mostly Queens fault. Their team and their supporters are aggressive... they are intimidating... they were pissed... they were hell bent on causing trouble... they have a track record of causing trouble... they caused trouble because their team were behind on the scoreboard... there were Leeds Utd supporters among their ranks who couldn't afford the soccer trip down to Bristol that afternoon, so they fancied a ruck in Doncaster instead... they are animals, etc.

Queens countered all the flak aimed in their direction by claiming that some of their players and supporters were subjected to racial abuse from Doncaster fans. Or were they local amateur supporters from Moorends who had played Queens the previous week, without any incidents I might add? Who knows what happened, I don't know what happened or what caused it because I wasn't there.

Suffice to say it was a disappointing end to Queens run in the Challenge Cup, and it came as no surprise to me that the tie was awarded in Doncaster's favour, courtesy of a RFL ruling which states that any tie abandoned after more than 60 minutes duration can be awarded to the team who was in front on the scoreboard at the time. Well that just conveniently happened to be Doncaster, so they were awarded the game. Would Queens have been awarded the game had they been leading by a miserly 16-12 with 17 minutes to go instead? Would it bollox!

What really hacks me off about the way the game of RL is administered is how different rules apply to the bigger clubs and their star players. It's almost like there's a Caste System in place to secure the privileges of the rich at the expense of the poor and poorer. Hull last season fielded an ineligble player (Jamie Thackray) in the Challenge Cup. A lower-profile club from outside of Super League would have been kicked out of the competition for blatant infringement of the rules. Instead Hull were allowed to continue, reach the Final itself and pocket all the dosh. If a Keiron Cunningham gets busted for taking HCG, or a Keith Senior or Ryan Bailey get busted for taking ephedrine, they get a slap on the wrist. Players of a lesser profile or players from the lower leagues would get banned for a year or two. It all stinks!

I turned up at Bus Vale this weekend to watch Queens at home to Hunslet Old Boys in the Leeds & District Cup. It was a magnificent game played in fantastic spirit among players and fans alike, with the Old Boys hanging on at the end to register a deserved 28-22 victory. No trouble and not a hint of trouble either. Nor has there been any hint of trouble at any Queens game I've attended. Strange that, eh?