Wigton will be seriously under-prepared for a big game next weekend – so have organised an in-house match for this Saturday.
The Greens are due to entertain Wetherby on April 20 in the quarter-finals of the Papa John’s Cup with the visitors just missing out on the Yorkshire 1 title by a single point.
Wigton themselves also finished runners-up in Counties 1 Cumbria and were the only team to beat promoted champions Carlisle.
But finding fixtures has been a major problem and coach David Warwick spoke to Cumbria Crack about the issues they have encountered at Wigton.
“It’s been a problem all season for us. We’ve only had one home game this year, and that was in January with just six home games in the whole season in Counties 1 Cumbria.
“With the withdrawal of Medicals it means we haven’t had a competitive first team fixture since February – and we are preparing to face a very good Wetherby side in the quarter final of a national competition.
“I have contacted 25 clubs in the hope of a friendly and thought we’d got one with Carlisle but they gave backword this week.
“So what we are doing is staging an in-house game among ourselves. We have over 30 players and they will roughly split as a type of Origin game – mate against mate – but the lads from the town against those from outlying farming communities.”
When the Papa John’s Cup game with Medicals was announced Wigton organised a special reunion on the day for players who were involved in the Greens’ 1994 County Cup winning side.
“It’s to mark 30 years since the club performed the admirable feat of winning the County Cups for Under-17s, Under-19s, Under-21s and seniors. The first team beat Kendal to lift the trophy.
“They will still be there on Saturday to watch our Colts in action at 1.30pm and then the Origin game, and I’m sure they are going to have a great day reliving those great memories,” said Warwick.
