Aloha, radio tonight folks…Joining Paul Parkin and myself on the telephone tonight will be Malcolm Alker and Robbie Paul.

We’ll be analysing all the results and happenings from the past seven days as well as looking forward to Friay’s big clash with Widnes Vikings.

So join us at 6pm on 94.4FM Salford City Radio or listen online at www.salfordcityradio.org

Email us your questions to studio@salfordcityradio.org

Paul Highton will be celebrating 10 Years at the Willows this season and Forever Reds are delighted to be helping him towards a healthy, wealthy and well deserved benefit.  Thanks to all who attended the Sportspersons Dinner, earlier this month, but if you could not make the dinner, the next event in Paul’s calander is a race night at the Cock Hotel, Worsley on Tusday 25 March.  The evening starts at 7.30pm with free entry.

Future events for the calander include a fans forum (15 April) and a poker evening (29 April).  Keep checking the bog for further details.

The draw for the last 16 of the Northern Rail Cup competition takes place this Sunday 16^th March 2008 at approximately 5.30pm.  It will be broadcast live on BBC Radio Leeds.  There will also be an open draw for the Quarter Finals and Semi-Finals of the competition.  The full details of all matches in the qualifying stages are set out below: 2008 Northern Rail Cup – Knockout stages27th April                    Last 16 stage25th May                    Quarter finals15th June                    Semi finals6^th July                       2007 Northern Rail Cup Final

Tonight’s guest joing Paul Parkin and myself on the Rugby Roundup will be Aussie starlet Chris Borgese, fresh from last week’s action against the Warrington Wizards.

Show starts at 6PM and can be found locally on 94.4FM or online at www.salfordcityradio.org

Email any questions to studio@salfordcityradio.org

Seeya soon.

This Wednesday I have a very special guest on the radio show in City Reds Chairman John Wilkinson, OBE.

Email any questions you  have for John to me at paul.mcnally@reds.co.uk or on the night of the show to studio@salfordcityradio.org.

John will be joining Paul Parkin and myself on air to talk about the new stadium, licensing,  his work with the Salfordian and basically anything else that crops up.

Rugby Roundup is on air 6pm-7pm every Wednesday and repeated Friday 6-7pm.

Tune in, it’s been good fun so far!

Paul

The draw for the Third round of the 2008 Carnegie Challenge Cup has been made and the Reds have been drawn at home to Warrington Wizards. The game will be played next weekend but day, times and admission prices will be confirmed as soon as possible.

In this round the grass-roots teams that have qualified from the previous matches are joined by professional clubs from The Co-operative National Leagues. The tournament rules are that these clubs must be drawn against amateur or overseas opposition.

There are more Co-operative National League clubs than amateur and overseas clubs and so two National League clubs had to be selected to be included in the latter grouping.

A preliminary draw was made and Halifax and Blackpool Panthers were drawn to join the amateurs, French and Russians.

Also, during the main draw, an additional draw took place to determine whether The Co-operative National League club played at home or away.

All French and Russian clubs play away from home in this round regardless of where they were drawn.

The draw in full is:

Sheffield Eagles v Lezignan XIII

York City Knights v Halifax

Leeds Metropolitan University v Doncaster

Blackpool Panthers v Featherstone Rovers

Wath Brow Hornets v Swinton Lions

Rochdale Hornets v York Acorn

London Skolars v Queens

Bank Quay Bulls v Hunslet Hawks

British Army v Oldham

Leigh Centurions v Featherstone Lions

Batley Bulldogs v East Hull

Wigan St Pats v Workington Town

Keighley Cougars v Toulouse XIII

Gateshead Thunder v SM Pia XIII

Celtic Crusaders v Lokomotiv Moscow

Mayfield v Barrow Raiders

Widnes Vikings v Skirlaugh

Oulton Raiders v Dewsbury Rams

Salford City Reds v Warrington Wizards

Leigh Miners Rangers v Whitehaven

 Salford City Reds will face Swinton this Friday for a Salford Derby at the Willows, which will see the team looking to break the old Salford Leap Year Curse and steal another win from their local rivals. Round five of the Northern Rail Cup falls on Friday 29 February for the Reds and will mark 100 years to the day that the club last won a fixture on the leap year and Fridays team will no doubt look to change the legacy left by their colleagues of yesteryear and alter Reds history. Although the clubs records date back to the leap year of1896, Salford at that time played as a rugby union club, facing Rochdale St Clements in an almost now unheard of 0-0 match in the Lancashire Club Championships.  However in a total of five leap year games played in the last century it was 1908 and a Northern Union Challenge Cup game that saw Salford take the win and beat Widnes 15-2. Club Historian, Graham Morris, commented, “It’s a fascinating statistic and with the club on the brink of a new horizon I believe the club historian of 2108 will be telling a different story. “I’m confident the Reds will break the curse and change the course of history this weekend.”  Tickets are available for Friday’s game prices at £15 for adults and £9 concessions.  Kick off is 8pm. Note to Editor: Salford City Reds Leap Year games in chronological order:1896 Salford V Rochdale St Clements (Lancashire Club Championships)0-0Salford’s last season as a rugby union club. 1908Salford V Widnes (Northern Union Challenge Cup)15-2Northern Union Challenge Cup is now the Carnegie Challenge Cup.1936Salford V Barrow3-6The team played under Manager Lance Todd with Barney Hudson scoring the Salford try 1964Salford V Barrow (RL Challenge Cup – Round 2)4-10Salford had caused an upset in Round one of the competition beating Leeds 10-6 at the Willows. 1976Salford V St Helens (RL Challenge Cup – Round 2)11-17A record attendance at the Willows of 13,023 saw a try from Keith Fielding and 4 goals from David Watkins 2004London Broncos V Salford City Reds (Challenge Cup – Round 4)24-8