The unique university match of the rugby league, now almost completely ignored-total rugby League

Congratulations to Oxford and the income to Cambridge.

The Dark Blues prevailed in the university match on Friday in a great achievement, even if we accept that neither Oxford nor Cambridge are near the highlight of the student Rugby League, at least in terms of game standards.

However, both universities have more than a certain cache and it remains the case, as was the case at the first start of the university game in the early 1980s that the match is or should be an important element in the rugby league calendar.

Not that you would think that, in view of the lack of advertising for the device under construction.

Nothing came in my way from the Rugby Football League and the game and results agency GameDay, which tends to be sketchy in terms of the upcoming games, did not even list the match in its regular e -mails on Friday.

As far as I can see, the result is not on the RFL website.

For these reasons, I could not offer the readers of League Express before the preview in the edition last Monday, which I am certainly not happy about, or to record the score or a report in today's copy.

In fact, I only happened to find out by the game when Michael O'Hare, who regularly contributed to our mailbag, sent me by e -mail last Thursday and mentioned in his son Thomas.

Congratulations to Thomas, but it is complained that I had to inform something about the game in this way.

The Varsity -Match now feels neglected for a shadow, which was certainly not the case when a stable west was treated so tirelessly with all aspects of the administration and when the New Zealand Dick McConnell and Barla Mogul Maurice Oldroyd together with the first game with Craven Cottage from Fulhams Craven Cottage in 1981 together in 1981 Have enjoyed recording.

From 2013 to 2018, the game in the heart of the City of London was played at the honorable artillery company, and if it hadn't been for Friday (when I was particularly busy with League Express Work) was the regular slot, which I would certainly have been a multi -year participant.

Perhaps the letter on the wall was when the decision was made in the light of Oxford's dominance in 2019 to create the concept of a neutral event location and to play it alternately at one of the two universities.

In my opinion, it has never been completely recovered, and now it seems to have been reported to the rugby football league itself, although I hope that I will be corrected about it.

Perhaps there was a (possibly) long-standing factor that came to me a few years ago in terms of good authority that boys who regularly turned out for at least one of the universities throughout the season were shot together on the big day, with so-called better players in the rugby union team.

If that was actually true, it was no way to lead a team to some level in a sport. In this sense, the chickens may have come home to burden themselves.

In a similar way, towards the end of the last week, I found the tireless Andrea Murray of the RFL that the grand finale of College Rugby League will be played this Wednesday between Castleford Tigers and Hopwood Hall in Rochdale Mayfield.

It is a start of 3:30 p.m. and my advice is to get there if you can, although there is a large counter-attraction in the Midlands in Loughborough, a double-head supporter includes two large university finals.

Liverpool John Moores competes in the final of the National Trophy against Nottingham at 3:00 p.m. and at 7 p.m. (there is quite a gap that I was the case last year) concerns the final of the national championship Leed's Beckett and Northumbria, which deal with heads.

I suspect our readers will find it difficult to decide which one should decide in which they should take part. But at least they are now really aware that the games are taking place for which GameDay is not at all grateful, but thanks to Andrea Murray, who will certainly be very interested in the fact that a healthy number of players for a button training unit for the women's team at Newcastle University have appeared, which I will become real next season.

In the meantime, I was undoubtedly that the English universities were fully aware of Adam Houston and Mark Sloan on Wednesday and that this is possible if it is possible to monitor the talent, especially when they named their squad for this year's representative action at the end of last week.

At the beginning of the week, however, I learned the sad news that Bob Wickles died on Monday morning for a magic of sick health after reaching the 80 years of 80 years in the early this month.

I knew Bob well, especially with his participation in the former player association of Hunslet RL ex-Parkide.

Membership in this corporation is based when he played for the club before the sale of the Parkide floor in 1973, but Bob, who was a good Torkicker, also played for New Hunslet-The Association, which was immediately started at the death of Hunslet by Geoff Gunney and Gordon Murray-and he was the first player when he was a goal against the club with a goal of the club Club-U-Urright goal scored.

Bob is a very clear student in the rugby league and was not just a good scout for Bradford Northern and Leeds (most recently rhinos).

He was also an experienced trainer in whom I had an insight when he had a season as a player with us at the Middleton Arms.

I was the full-back and Bob, who played at stand-off, I told me that I should just run on his passports at Scrums and take the ball, follow the centers. And lo and behold, we had an overlap every time. It was so simple – so easy that it was brilliant.

The things that Bob said to me tended to come to mind, and here is another one (which I think I mentioned in this column). With regard to the professional game, he believed that the reduction of the number of substitutes from four to two would reduce the wage invoices in such a way that they finance “A” teams.

I had to agree with the additional bonus that coaches could not pack their benches with props to the detriment of the creative halfbacks.

Bob Pickles are badly missing. I will make funeral arrangements as soon as they are known.