CLASSIC CUP TIES IN PROSPECT
Talking Grassroots
with PHIL HODGSON ANY NEWS ON AMATEUR RUGBY LEAGUE?
Contact Phil Hodgson on 07786 980909 or email: philhodgson2@aol.co.uk
THE 2025 BARLA National Cup reaches its quarter-finals stage on Saturday.
All four ties could be classics, including the two involving last year’s finalists; holders Thatto Heath Crusaders are at King Cross Park, of Halifax, and runners-up Orrell St James take on Cumbrian big guns Wath Brow Hornets.
The other two games feature clubs with strong pedigrees. Kippax Welfare are at home to Brighouse Rangers and Sharlston Rovers, who are no strangers at all to National Cup Finals or Champion of Champions deciders (how I miss that latter competition) entertain Woolston Rovers, who once bestrode the National Conference League.
It’s an opportunity for some of the most venerated names in grassroots Rugby League to reach the penultimate stage of one of amateur Rugby League’s most important competitions, and at this stage it’s very difficult to tip who the finalists will be when the National Cup reaches its conclusion in early November, at a venue to be announced.
A couple of District Leagues are also in the limelight on Friday evening. The Barrow ARL’s Barton Townley Cup Final will be hosted by the town’s professional club and I’m sure that a big crowd will convene at Craven Park for the clash of Dalton and Millom. The Huddersfield ARL, meanwhile, will hold its Holliday Cup Final the same night, when Almondbury Lions and Newsome Panthers will go head-to-head at Launds Hill.