Rugby League Fans and the Away Games

 

For Rugby League fans, it is a cold and desolate wait for the new season. The 2025 Super League season ended with the Grand Final on Saturday 11th October 2025, with the Challenge Cup 3rd Round starting on the weekend of 7th/8th February 2026, a total of 119 days, with only Christmas and New Year to brighten the wait. The result of the waiting is the need to attend Friendlies and Testimonials. The first such event is the annual pilgrimage to the Halliwell Jones stadium, the home of the Warrington Wolves, on Friday, 30th January 2026. Personally, this is the nearest Super League to my home, at 3.3 miles, it is actually walkable at an estimated 1 hour and 10 minutes. This, compared to the home games at the LSV, is an absolute doddle.

Every year I always attend at least one away game (Warrington) plus a special trip. This started:

• 2021 – Magic Weekend Newcastle
• 2022 – 1895 Cup & (Challenge Cup final was a bonus) also included Featherstone, York, Bradford, Sheffield, Widnes and Halifax
• 2023 – Challenge Cup final Wakefield
• 2024 – London Broncos
• 2025 – Perpignon and St Helens (semi-final Challenge Cup)
• 2026 – York, Colwyn Bay and Magic Weekend (Everton)

2022 was a great year in the Championship, with most games being played on a Sunday, which allows the travelling supporter to be able to get across the Pennines without worrying too much about traffic on the M62. The other years are all Super League years, Wigan and St Helens have always been slightly more intimidating places to go, and until 2025, wins against the local rivals were as rare as hen's teeth, hopefully that will change now the hoodoo has been broken.

Round 3 of the Challenge Cup sees the Super League teams join the competition. All top-flight teams are supposed to play away, although Hull KR and Warrington think they are exempt from this ruling (I think that I will save that rant for another time). Leigh has drawn North Wales Crusaders on the 7th February 2026, and having been starved of Rugby League during the dark nights, it was decided to buy tickets for the short trip to Colwyn Bay (63 miles away). I appear not to be the only person with the same idea, and The Stadiwm CSM (see photo above), appears to be heading for a sell-out. 

A big part of these trips away is to have a weekend away or, at the very least, a nice meal. I will be looking forward to visiting Porth Eireas (Michelin Bib Gourmand) for something fishy before heading to the ground. The Stadiwm CSM looks like a nice stadium, but suffering the misfortune of having an athletics track around the pitch. Opera glasses might be the order of the day. Still only two more days until I hear the roar of the Halliwell Jones Stadium, and enjoy a curry with a cold pint of Cobra.