{"id":374465,"date":"2026-01-17T03:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T03:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374465\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T03:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T03:10:13","slug":"club-forfeits-challenge-cup-tie-with-statement-posted-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374465\/","title":{"rendered":"Club forfeits Challenge Cup tie with statement posted online"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260110_133952-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"Challenge Cup\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>A Challenge Cup tie scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled after one of the teams withdrew from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league\/challenge-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">RAF were due to travel to York-based National Conference side Heworth on Saturday. They have now forfeited, so Heworth will play host to Keighley Cougars in a second round clash on January 24\/25 with the winners going on to face Midlands Hurricanes or Aberavon Fighting Irish at home in round three two weeks later.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Heworth\u2019s tie against RAF should have been played last Saturday, but was postponed around an hour before kick-off because of a frozen pitch.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The York outfit had earlier declared the game on and the RAF squad, who had travelled separately from different parts of the country, were at the ground when the decision was made.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The game was rearranged for tomorrow, but a\u00a0statement on social media today (Friday) said: \u201cThe RAF Rugby League Association has reluctantly withdrawn from this year\u2019s Challenge Cup round one fixture.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cLast week\u2019s postponement, combined with short-notice operational demands, has left us unable to field a squad that reflects the standards and traditions of the competition.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cDespite exhausting every option, several players are deployed, committed to essential operational duties or unable to be released at short notice.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWe remain immensely proud of our Challenge Cup heritage and appreciate the understanding of the rugby league community as we navigate these operational pressures. We look forward to returning stronger in future competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show on <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qYpC2b94Sbw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">our YouTube channel here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768085712_213_srl-logo.png\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Challenge Cup tie scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled after one of the teams withdrew from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-374465","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}