Jury still out on summer play -Saints

RUGBY: OLDHAM St Anne’s secretary Barbara Henderson has evened up the debate on rugby league’s move to summer.

While Waterhead’s former coach Andy Sands is firmly against the idea, Saddleworth Rangers chairman Shane Wilson is broadly for it. National Conference League Division Two outfit St Anne’s is content to sit on the fence at present, as Henderson explained.

“The jury is still out as far as we’re concerned,” she said following last weekend’s clash at Stanningley — for which some Saints players were unavailable.

“Any decisions we make are based on what is best for our club - and to be honest we’ve not been too badly affected by depleted player numbers so far. I know some clubs are losing a lot of players, though, and it is a problem.

“When the idea was put to 30 players initially the result came out 28 to two in favour of summer rugby. I thought it would be a good idea then too, but now it’s here lads are being forced to miss games through holidays, work and other commitments.

“At St Anne’s we’re not too badly off as we always have enough players, but it’s not the same team every weekend and I know other teams on a regular basis.

“Feelings do seem to be a little bit divided on the subject so we’ll have to see where the game goes in the future.”

One definite plus point for Henderson and her fellow St Anne’s officials is the now stress-free Friday nights.

Henderson added: “When we played in the winter, Friday nights were always a worrying time - players generally prefer to be told whether a game is on or off by Friday night, so we were always wondering what the pitch was going to be like.

“At least there’s none of that now that we’re playing in summer.”