Fax thrown out of the cup.

Halifax have been thrown out of this year's Challenge Cup, after the Yorkshire club were found to have fielded an ineligible player in their fourth round tie with Swinton.

Halifax fielded Michael Ostick, currently on loan from Roachdale, who the prop forward had already played for against Lezignan in round three.

The misconduct was spotted by a Halifax supporter, who revealed the information on a fans forum. It was only after this revelation that the RFL took action, and postponed Halifax's fourth round tie with Batley on Sunday hours before kick off.

Two things strike me as odd in this scenario.

Number one, why did the player not own up before being selected to play against Swinton knowing full well he had already played for Rochdale? Were the coaching staff not aware there was a possibility Ostick played in the third round?

Number two, why did it take a fan of the guilty club to reveal this information on a fans forum before the RFL acted? Did the RFL not know about the breach in competition rules until this point, and if so, why not?

In my opinion there are two incompetent parties here, the RFL and Halifax RLFC.

Halifax should have done their research and background checks before signing the player on loan and fielding him in the cup. Its completely unacceptable that they did this. Matt Calland, if he is being held responsible, has every right to be suspended pending further investigation as to why this happened.

As for the RFL, they shouldn't have to leave it to a supporter in order to find out breaches in the rules. This should have been checked after the fourth round tie, and not hours before the fifth round was about to kick off. Again, this is unacceptable of what is supposed to be a respectable governing body. Thankfully the information came to light just in time, but in my opinion the RFL's blushes haven't been spared. This should have been checked earlier and punishment have been dealt out a lot sooner.