Focus On - Challenge Cup Semi's and Final Venues

Focus On - Challenge Cup Semi's and Final Venues

There’s been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the venues chosen for the two Challenge Cup Semi Finals and, even before that, whether the Final should be moved away from Wembley Stadium and London.  This is something I’ve thought about and would like to give my two penn’orth.

I must admit I was a little bit surprised when the venue for the Leeds v Hull match was announced, which I went to (please see blog posted last weekend!), as the RFL opted for a venue which seated 15,000 spectators.  At first I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get tickets for this game and social media was rife with complaints and raised eyebrows from both sets of fans thinking they wouldn’t be able to get tickets.

I get that it was probably the only all-seater, neutral venue between the two clubs available that weekend, but surely they knew that Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium could have been comfortably filled by each set of supporters?

Even the other Semi Final venue, Warrington’s Halliwell Jones Stadium, can only seat around 15,000 spectators, but that seemed less of a problem as only 10,796 spectators attended from both clubs.

One side of the Halliwell Jones is all standing anyway so that answers the opinion that we don’t need all-seater stadiums even at this stage of the competition.

So why don’t the RFL look elsewhere for their venues.  Maybe for the Leeds v Hull match, Huddersfield’s John Smith’s Stadium, which holds just under £25,000 spectators, which meant more fans from either club being able to buy tickets for the match.

I suppose it all depends on who’s using the stadium that weekend, particularly if it’s council owned or shared with a football club, which the John Smith’s is.  And they would have to wait to see which clubs got through to each semi before confirming the venues.

Another, bigger stadium that could have held the Wigan v Salford semi is St Helens’ Totally Wicked Stadium and that is only a bit further down the road from Warrington.

Last season the Leigh Sports Village was used for the semi between Warrington and Wakefield which raised a number of disgruntled voices about the RFL choosing a venue in a town that has no train station so more people had to drive there.

My point in all this is that if the RFL were able to search out and use bigger venues then maybe any Challenge Cup magic that might be slipping away could be rekindled.

Elland Road in Leeds has been used in the past for Challenge Cup semi finals and there’s the option of Anfield or Goodison Park in Liverpool for the ‘Lancashire’ venue, all of which hold between 37,000 and 54, 000.

As the current timing of the semi finals is outside of the football season maybe the RFL could look at hosting semi final double-headers in a larger stadium in cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield or Leeds.  Don’t all shoot me at once but at a push they could even be taken outside of the heartlands!  Now I think a double header would be brilliant and fans would make a real weekend of it, particularly neutral fans who may opt to watch both matches.

The down side to that is that some fans may feel disgruntled by having to pay out for another weekend away considering we already have the Magic Weekend in Newcastle and the cup final weekend in London.

On the other matter I would just like to say to the RFL “PLEASE DON’T MOVE THE FINAL AWAY FROM LONDON OR WEMBLEY?!?!”  The Wembley weekend is engrained into the rugby league psyche and has been for decades.  During the early years of this century many supporters agreed that having the final outside of London was just not the same, even if we did find a decent alternative in Cardiff.

There is no other stadium in Britain that can hold as many people as Wembley Stadium.  Yeah, it might not get filled to capacity, what with having to make room for the big screen and allowing spaces for neutral fans.  Last season’s final attracted a crowd of 76,235, but I wouldn’t bet against this years’ being an 80,000+ sell-out as Hull and Wigan are two very well-supported clubs.

When the Challenge Cup came back to London in 2008 it was a fantastic atmosphere and you could tell supporters were delighted to be back in the capital.  Since then it has been a regular fixture with fans of all clubs enjoying their annual pilgrimage down south every August bank holiday, regardless of whether they supported either of the competing teams.

And you only have to look at the Hull FC fans last year after they finally broke their hoodoo and won the final at Wembley.  There were tears of joy and disbelief all around me and that’s what it means to every supporter.

Even I get emotional when I think about my home town club, Barrow Raiders, finally reaching Wembley and playing in the Challenge Cup Final.  Admittedly, that unfortunately won’t happen any time soon but it’s good to dream isn’t it?  And that goes for any supporter across the country from Workington to Toulouse – everyone dreams of reaching Wembley!

I would put the Challenge Cup alongside other sports’ major knock-out tournaments such as the FA Cup and Wimbledon, which always have those you-had-to-be-there moments, and for me it just wouldn’t work anywhere other than at Wembley.

So, as I said above, please keep the Final at Wembley for years to come.  The shine might have gone off the competition’s early rounds in recent years but it’s probably the biggest, most anticipated, match in the rugby league calendar and it needs to stay where it is.

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