Challenge Cup suffers major blow as club withdraws from competition

Leading amateur club Wath Brow Hornets have withdrawn from this year’s Challenge Cup days before the opening round of the 2025 competition.

The Cumbrian club were due to travel to Bradford this weekend to face fellow National Conference side West Bowling in an intriguing-looking Round One tie.

However, Wath Brow have now told the Rugby Football League that they will not be able to fulfil the fixture. Love Rugby League has had confirmation from the governing body that the club have pulled out of the tie against West Bowling, with concerns over player safety believed to be behind the decision according to League Express.

It is a blow for the competition and creates a real headache for the RFL in the week the competition is due to begin.

Love Rugby League understands all options will now be considered about what happens next. That could include drafting in alternative opposition who were not initially entered into the Challenge Cup this year to face Bowling, though it remains unclear who that would be.

The more straightforward – and likely – option would be Bowling getting a walkover and a bye through to the Second Round. They would then face Championship heavyweights Sheffield Eagles.

Wath Brow made it all the way to the Fourth Round in 2024, before losing out to fellow amateur club York Acorn and missing out on a tie against Halifax Panthers in the Fifth Round.

But their participation in the cup this year is over before it has even begun, after they informed the RFL over the weekend they would not be fulfilling their tie in the sport’s most prestigious competition.

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