This season’s Cumbria County Cup has been abandoned with a semi-final still to be played.
Kendal were through to the final after Keswick withdrew, but Aspatria and Penrith had not been able to arrange a date for their semi-final.
Competitions committee chairman Brian Mitchelhill said: “We decided that it was the best course of action because of the backlog in league games which had affected a number of clubs.
“It’s unfortunate that the competition couldn’t be completed but we look forward to a well-supported County Cup next season.”
Mitchelhill, who will take over as Cumbria RFU President in July, is hopeful that a sponsor will be found for the competition which was first played 140 years ago.
It was first introduced during the 1882-83 season when it was known as the Cumberland Challenge Cup and the inaugural winners were Aspatria.
Originally it was open only to club sides in Cumberland but in 1974, as a result of the 1972 Local Government Act, Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness merged to form what we now know as Cumbria.
The competition was renamed the Cumbria Cup, although the Westmorland and Furness Cup continued intermittently up until 2008.
More recently the competition has only been contested by the top eight club sides in the county but that is set to change with open invitations to all senior first teams in Cumbria.
“The County Cup is a prestigious competition and we want to make it even more prestigious moving forward.
“With the planned restructure of the leagues by the RFU, it will free up more weekends in which to fit in the County Cup.
“We expect the plans for restructuring to be announced by the end of the month and next season’s league fixtures to be public by June.
“After that, we plan to make an open draw, without seeding, for the Cumbria Cup which will be fitted into the fixture list,” said Mitchelhill.
