FINAL GAMES OF THE SEASON 

NATIONAL CUP RESULTS

NORTH WEST COUNTIES WIN ALL THREE MAJOR FINALS

Under 14s Halton Farnworth Hornets 28 Castleford Lock Lane 10

Under 16s Wigan St Judes 6 Wigan St Patricks 11

Under 18s Pilkington Regs 16 wigan St Patricks 12

Well done to all teams, for being there and representing North West Counties and getting to the final.

I hope you all enjoyed your day.

The Annual General Meeting held on 13 June has made several small changes to its rules.  the committee is also pleased to see that we shall have a larger under 17s league this season.  Hopefully the trend will continue as the years roll by.

At this meeting, several long standing delegates and/or club representatives were given awards as a token of the committee's appreciation of all the hard work they have done over the past few years.   Every league is full of 'unsung heroes' (the new in word) and this league is no exception.   Thank you to everybody who is involved in any way at all with ensuring that the teams in this league get to play their matches on a weekly basis without too much hassle. 

This league will continue to provide fixtures for teams stretching from Warrington in the south to Barrow in the north, Rochdale and Oldham to the east and Blackpool on the west coast and we have seen this season the addition of another Cumbrian team, a couple from the north Lancashire area and a few more from the tradtional areas.   You are very welcome.

The three age groups, under 16s, under 17s and under 18s, play in their own leagues with divisions in each according to ability.   Again, we have representative teams from this league who will be playing in the National Youth League.  We wish them all the best and we will be following their progress all through the season.

Teams are also entered into the BARLA Lancashire and National Cup Competitions.  As from this season, under 12s, under 13s, under 15s and un der 17s will be invited to enter the county cup competitions and the teams at under 14s, under 16s and under 18s will be invited to enter into the national cup competition.   Hopefully this will enable the committee to arrange league competitions during this season.   However, all depends on the weather!  The season for this league extends from the beginning of September to the end of March.   There is an agreement with the RFL that this age group ceases to play competitive rugby on 31 March each year.   This is so that those players who have been signed on professionally are given a brief rest period before their professional contacts begin.     It may be that we will be able to extend out season, without these professional players, to towards the end of April.   All will be revealed as the season progresses.

Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of every month at Wigan St Judes ARLFC club house at 8.30p.m.   Discipline meetings are held from 7.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month.

Good luck and fair play to all for season 2007 - 2008.