Richard Agar

Very rarely do you see a match abandoned with 7 minutes to go let alone at all, but in the Castleford v Wakefield clash, that is exactly what happened – after an electrical problem with a floodlight above one of the stands, resulted in fans being evacuated and the match being abandoned as it neared full-time.

At the time, it was the Wakefield Wildcats leading 37-16, with Richard Agar, the Wildcats coach, believing his side should be awarded the two points regardless.

“I think the rule from the RFL is that the result can stand if it goes past 60 minutes but it’s at their discretion,” Agar said.

“Myself and Ian spoke on the sideline in consultation with the match officials and everybody’s safety is paramount.

“We didn’t know how long it was going to be before we could get the game going again so, with seven minutes to go, we felt the sensible thing was to let the result stand, especially with four scores in it at that point.”

Although the result itself will have to be officially ratified by the RFL, Castleford coach Ian Millward says he would have no problem with the Wildcats being awarded the two points for the clash.

“I felt they won fairly and squarely,” he said.

“Any problems with regard to stadium safety comes first.

“I was very happy to stop the game. There was no way we were going to win the game from there and we haven’t taken too much time off the spectators. We think it was handled very well.”

There was another incident to come out of the game also, with RFL Match Commissioner Tony Randerson confirming that Wakefield Wildcats fullback Richie Mathers, who had played for Castleford in the past, had hot coffee thrown at him.

“The stewards were summoned and the person involved was ejected from the ground,” Randerson said.

By ricky

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