First conspiracy theory of the season.
Challenge cup draw
Wigan v Hull fc
Warrington v Catalan

Why should the home fixture with Catalans be changed to the away fixture? How does the club benefit from this apart from not travelling mid week?

I doubt Adam Pearson would want the club to lose the income stream of crowd on weekend for a crowd on a mid week, nor should it.

Not as easy as just swapping, still think best solution is the Exiles weekend or midweek at neutral venue in UK.

Beziers was a disaster because of the timing - slap bang in the middle of a big festival - any other time would have been fine,but to choose that weekend was yet another example of incompetant french organising !

why should the 10000 Catalan fans be punished ?

I never said they should did I? I just said what the I thought would be the best solution purely for logistical reasons.
To play a midweek game sandwiched between two weekends with games would be bad enough for any team but then to expect them to have to travel the distance required to go back means you miss at least 2 days prep time as a team.

It going to be very difficult to re arrange which is why my first suggestion is the Exiles weekend with no players from Hull or Catalans being selected for England or Exiles.

No easy solution really.

so the Exiles weekend is the obvious solution ?

the effects of spending a couple of hours on a plane to France twice isn't exactly gruelling is it ? can't imagine jet lag from Hull to Perpignan...
logistically it isn't a major problem,no different to driving down from Hull to The Stoop in fact, probably less gruelling !
Catalans are at fault due to the incompetance of a council gardiner - but even without this incompetance the game could have been called off at short nootice due to bad weather etc but the officials still don't have the flexibility to call off the game more than 24 hours before the game so trip could have been a waste of time anyway ? Just like any other game...
Last weekends NRC clash between Skolars v Toulouse due for sunday was called off on the friday to stop unnecessary travelling etc - now that's what you call being flexible so why can't the RFL apply the same rules to the SL ?

why, if it's going to be at the KC then they won't want that, and nor will FC fans......

If they organise some decent flights i don't see the difference between flying to France and sitting on a coach to Saints from a logistical point of view.

That match in Beziers was part of the festival, which had a very Catalan flavour. It was a brilliant weekend (apart from the result and Yeamo's injury). The Dragons even had a beer stall in the square, promoting the club.

I thought the Bezier one was rubbish to be honest too late kick off so couldn't get a train. 2 hours there on a bus and over an hour back arriving back in Perpignan at midnight. Narbonne now that was a different story brillian weekend decent kickoff time and 45 mins on a train. Back in time to have a good night in Perpignan

EMA to CCN flights on a Monday start from March, so no real problems.

Maybe if the KC became unavailabe on the 12 August, due to a wedding fayre or a 5th birthday party or summat



Then we could play that weekend in France and rebook the home game....

Come on AP!

All depends on flight times in and out. If they travelled by coach to Saints as the example given once the game is finished they can get back on the coach and be back that night ready to start the next day as normal. Taking into account the usual flight times, travel time to airport etc then this isnt possible and the team would lose in affect 2 days of preparation time.

Unless someone charters a plane direct to and from Humberside of course.

yes it was - a great weekend of festivities - a good game but bad news for travelling fans regarding availability of hotels & travelling etc
I enjoyed it and managed to book early at a hotel in Narbonne - hundreds of other fans were not so lucky - as I said,great day but bad planning IMO,Narbonne or Montpellier would have been a better venue for that weekend,again IMO

Disagree, Catalans at home in August is likely to be our lowest gate of the season with many families likely to be away on holiday, re-arranged midweek outside of school holidays would likely draw a bigger crowd. Midweek away in France would be bad news for the team and travelling fans.

If as being rumoured the Exiles game is to be held at the KC then I think that weekend would also be ruled out, so we are left with the option of a date if both teams get knocked out of the CC, an option we don't want to have but semi final weekend in July might work......no easy solutions, but I'm against midweek in France.

2nd conspiracy theory
CC Draw
Catalan v Hull FC
them play re-arranged game tues / wed

who will the die-hard FC fans follow - England or FC ?

maybe the Cats v FC game could be shown on the big screen at the KC to keep everyone happy ?

that would be the perfect solution

East Midlands is an hour, someone else flies ahead with luggage etc. Players arrive 30 minutes before flight, flight is 11:15am, arrive CCN at 14:15 (local time), at somewhere to train on the Monday evening by 7pm, train Tuesday, game Wednesday night, Thursday am flight back, next game Sunday.

losing 2 days is just not going to happen,1 day max (half day for each flight)

Only an hour to EMA??? Thats some going even by motorbike. Even on a good day in my car it takes on average about 1.40hrs so around 2hours on coach. I do a run 2 to 3 times a week which passes EMA and I have a heavy right foot & I'd struggle to do it in an hour with clear roads.

The point I'm getting at is that it really breaks up the week and all the planned training structures they will now doubt be working to under Gentle. In reality no matter how you do it, it will not be far off losing the equivalent of 2 full days training.

I dont know what the perfect solution is as quite honestly there isn't one.

Why is the KC an issue if the Exiles game is to be held there? As I thought the whole point was for Hull FC to play Catalans the same weekend, which would be played in France??? The only issue is that no Hull or Catalans Players can be picked for England, Exiles, Knights or France.

That is for me the better and fairest solution.

It was. I can just about remember drinking sangria scooped from the bottom of an ice cream freezer at about 1am before trying to remember where we were staying in French for the taxi.

beziers was a terrible choice for the majority of away fans, we couldn't even get close to the town, even with catalan sports tours! therefore we went straight to the stadium and had nearly a 3 hour wait for kick off, luckily we found a camponile restaurant close by for a meal

were you the one in a drunken stupour with the sombrero and false moustache dancing on the table ?

same problem for the 'home' fans travelling from the Perpignan area - they simply picked the wrong weekend for Beziers - anywhere else would have been fine

have u rung hull and told them this ??????