Re: The elephant in the room. : Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:08 pm  

Leaguefan wrote:

They were not good enough and the coaching not good enough.

You have a valid point. I take it you listened to Paul March on pulse radio and borrowed "elephant in the room" from show presenter Robbie Paul. Paul March admitted that he and the team had not been good enough when it counted, he used no excuses. But then you would expect the coach to stick to his job and leave any discussion of legal action to the directors.

Leaguefan wrote:

This is the truth.
..........all this claptrap about, rules, invalid players,clutching at straws etc would not have been necessary.That is the reason why the club has been relegated.
Anything else is irrelevant

This, on the other, hand is complete nonsense.

Are you suggesting for one minute, that a team that broke the rules and in so doing gained three points, has not influenced the final league position?

Are you suggesting that when punished it was ok for them to appeal and get let off scot free, but not for us to appeal to have the punishment reinstated?

Are you suggesting Batley did not break the rules and we, an innocent team, are not suffering as a consequence?

Are you even suggesting the administration of the RFL has not been incompetent?

I think your the one clutching at the straws of irrelevance

Re: The elephant in the room. : Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:19 pm  

jeronimo wrote:

I now live in Devon and get to one cougar match every couple of years.

That could change if the RFL continue with the nonsensical management of the game. I'm sure Oxford, Hemel, Cheltenham, Maesteg and London are easier commutes than Featherstone, Halifax, Batley and Dewsbury!

In all seriousness though, get that petition signed. Personally, I think they'll just give us compensation on top of the parachute payments and keep us down but if Marchy, Whitey, Jonesy & Tiger are staying in League One, imagine who else we can get to play in red and green next term?

Re: The elephant in the room. : Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:27 pm  

jeronimo wrote:

This is the truth...

Batley fielded an illegible player in one of their matches this season, a player who went on to score a vital try in a game they won, if that player wasn't playing that day it wouldn't have mattered but he did, therefore Batley broke the rules by which our great game is governed. Rules are everywhere, I have rules at work that if I turn up late for work three times I get a disciplinary, if I overstay on my car parking ticket I get a fine and if I run on the pitch after the challenge cup final I'll get thrown out or arrested.

Therefore if I break rules and have to face consequences, why shouldn't Batley? Apart from a reason of not punishing clubs from a previous season,which isn't a justifiable reason at all, as that tells any club they can play an illegible player and they wont be punished.

Therefore Batley should have their proper punishment reinstated and Keighley should stay up. I now live in Devon and get to one cougar match every couple of years, so cant comment on the efforts of the coaches and the players this season, yes I am sure they could have done better this season but had the original ruling against Batley stood and we were now facing play off rugby I am sure you wouldn't be sat on your bums slating the team.

So for gods sake, why dont all Keighley fans pull together in one direction and realise that rules were broken and should be punished instead of looking to criticise the player, coaches and whoever else. I for one have signed the petition and hope common sense prevails in two ways.

i) The RFL see the error of their ways
ii) Cougar SUPPORTERS actually support the cougars and not seemingly back the RFL!!

Are you the guy we met in France a few years ago?

Re: The elephant in the room. : Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:48 pm  

Certainly am

Re: The elephant in the room. : Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:58 pm  

Hello Trouble! wrote:

Personally, I think they'll just give us compensation on top of the parachute payments and keep us down but if Marchy, Whitey, Jonesy & Tiger are staying in League One, imagine who else we can get to play in red and green next term?

We are going to need compensation. To make up for the very small amount of away fans.

Re: The elephant in the room. : Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:00 pm  

Hello Trouble! wrote:

.........Personally, I think they'll just give us compensation on top of the parachute payments and keep us down .......

That simply is not good enough.

The RFL cannot be allowed to take the easy, brush it under the carpet, option. I hope the club aren't going to play along with this to get some cash.

We are innocent and should be reinstated, it's up-to the RFL to sort out their own collateral damage.

No if's, no buts, no excuses.

Re: The elephant in the room. : Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:31 pm  

guess who wrote:

We are going to need compensation. To make up for the very small amount of away fans.

Taking into account the huge derby against Bulls, and the well attended games against Halifax, Fev and Leigh, plus the other games are all better than the lower division, it would need to be at least £75,000 + bar takings

Re: The elephant in the room. : Thu Sep 11, 2014 7:03 am  

We cannot say with an certainty that Batley only won the game because of Fairbank's try. If he wasn't in the team how do we know they would not have won anyway, we don't so that's all if's and buts and people IMO need to move on. The argument is that we have been penalised and suffered relegation because rules were broken whether innocent or not. Those rule breakers have not been punished causing Keighley to be relegated. Had the rules not been broken we would be relegated fair and square so we have not been relegated because of Batley. We got relegated because over the course of the season we didn't finish high enough, nor did we play well enough consistently. That is fact.

I think we have a strong case for reinstatement but this case could run and run. If the Cougars are reinstated and Batley relegated I am sure they will start a legal case. I could be wrong, but the DR breaches last season did not affect the relegation places so this season it's a different case. If we are reinstated will that mean that Sheffield and Whitehaven start proceedings. I think the RFL has to be very careful.

I would suggest that they won't have the balls to relegate Batley. Therefore, what about this scenario;

Reinstate Keighley as we should be.
Take 3 points off Batley and Donny, scrap DR.
Reduce relegation to 4 teams and adjust the Championship structure accordingly.
That way, Donny and Batley will be punished accordingly but other teams do not suffer. If Donny and Batley lose money, tough luck. Call it a fine.

I think this is the only way it can get concluded without being very messy. In my eyes Batley should be relegated for the breach, but feel the RFL are on dodgy ground regarding DR so this would seem a sensible solution.

Re: The elephant in the room. : Thu Sep 11, 2014 7:59 am  

Dominance wrote:

Take 3 points off Batley and Donny, scrap DR.

This would cause problems with the playoffs, Doncaster are presently planning for a match away to Leigh, and Sheffield are preparing to meet Batley. If the points are removed then Sheffield need to go to Leigh and Doncaster to play Whitehaven.

Re: The elephant in the room. : Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:12 am  

Why should it?

As we know to our expense, we were forced to play four games in 14 days, three of which we could have won:

Sunday June 1 Halifax
Thursday June 5 Widnes
Tuesday June 10 Whitehaven
Sunday June 15 Batley Bulldogs

All that the RFL need to do, sorry should do, is postpone the games which are affected and then state that the subsequent Rounds must be played on dates that they decide in order to ensure that the final is played on the date for which it has been fixed.

After all, they did it to us.