What are we going to do about the Challenge Cup?
As a traditionalist in these matters, it pains me to even have to ask
the question, but the fact is that the game's oldest competition is
becoming a bit of a sideshow.
There wasn't much magic about the fourth round. Not a whiff of an upset, unless you count Dewsbury winning at Batley, some inadequate performances from the French and some lousy crowds.
The two televised ties - and bear in mind that this is the first live RL most viewers will have seen this year - attracted a total of 4,267. Pictures of empty, wind-swept stands and terraces hardly do the image of the game much good.
It isn't a problem unique to the Challenge Cup. Even the FA cup has found its status reduced, although it has recovered some of its magic with the surprise success of various minnows this season.
There is little prospect of that in rugby league. The nature of the game is that 99 per cent of the time the better, stronger side will win. For an illustration of the gap between Super League and the rest, the Salford-Wakefield tie will do as well as any. As Shaun McRae admitted afterwards, the Wildcats were quicker and cleverer in everything they did. In theory, it was the best chance of an upset; in practice, there was never a hope.
To look on the bright side, there will be a cracking tie or two in the fifth round and Wembley will be a richly enjoyable event.
I don't claim to know all the answers to enlivening the early rounds. If you start seeding the draw, it would just turn out like an extra round of Super League, so that's not the answer.
But, for those of us who have great memories, not just of Cup finals, but of the whole competition, there has to be a way of bringing back some of the glamour.
(Photo: Getty Images)
It's getting more expensive to follow your team, Millenium Magic, a trip to France, away matches. Along comes the challenge cup and very few challenges to the SL sides, but a sudden awareness of the cost per match when your a season ticket holder. How much!! I think most of the clubs made some gestures at reducing prices, Leeds had a kid for £1, so the preportion of under 16's was raised, but fewer than a third of season ticket holders came. Are Rl clubs reaching the finacial limit of their supporters? The Gp clubs include cup matches in their season ticket should RL, or give a hefty discount to reward loyalty?
The disparity between SL v NL v Amateurs has, as you say , been greater in rugby than other sports so the days of shocks are reduced but being sport never extinguished.
Posted by: Alcabiades | 24 April 2008 at 04:52 PM