does the challenge cup need revamping??


i'm working on a idea to revamp the later stages,from 5th round onwards, the super league clubs would enter at the 5th round stage joining just 2 championship clubs....at the 5th round stage just 1 draw would be made and the teams would be put into a tournament 'bracket' like a tennis tournament....maybe seeded? or a open draw?




what we could do is call all the rounds before the 5th the "challenge cup shield" and have the 2 championship clubs meet in the 5th round and call it the 'challenge cup shield final' the winner of that gets a trophy and a place in the 1/4 finals of the challenge cup??

just throwing ideas about..

discuss

One of the things which makes the Cup what it is is the luck of the draw. You're eliminating that.

thats the worst idea ever, destroying the magic of the cup

what cup magic? its dying on its

we go to hull this weekend...we're gonna get 70pts put on us and our bus fair home...if we're lucky

at least having a comp within a comp (shield & cup) its keep the interest up throughout the whole comp and not just from the 1/4s on...


as for the draw....it takes the most contentious parts of the whole comp out of it..at least this way there can be no issues with bent semi finals....also the chance to exploit the print media by get challenge cup pull outs & wall charts etc...

you could still have a draw. Just in round 5 you need an extra bag for group1 or 2. Could be good. If all the big clubs get put on the same side it would give a smaller club a good chance of getting to the final. I don't like the "know who you have in the next round" bit though. I would stick with a draw. Alternativley have all yorkshire teams in 1 half and lancs in the other and revive the yorkshire cup with the winners the winner of the semi final.

Im still in the dark as to why we still use a bag to pull the numbered balls out, why can't we use a machine similar to the lotto draw??

You can't warm up the Leeds ball in a lotto style draw

Leave it as it is, our best cup run since 1986 was the semi as a NL1 side, Toulon did it as well. We have taken the dreams off small clubs with the formation of SL, lets not pummell them into total isolation by stitching up the cup as well.

it would still be possible for the best championship side to go that far..

no

I suggested on another thread to make the draw local for the first round the super league teams come in.

This would throw up some quality local derbies like Wigan v Saints or some smaller derbies which would draw the fans in at that level but you could also end up with Leigh v Wigan which would be quality.

We see too many poor ties, we need a way of getting more mouthwatering fixtures.

I would consider changing the cup so some super league clubs enter in round 4 and some in round 5, say the top 8 from the previous season in round 5. England could play a 2nd game against the Exiles over the weekend of round 4.

Maybe if it was coupled with the "home teams starts with 1/2 point advantage …" idea ????

thats my thinking

Nah leave the cup as it is. Whilst earlier round cup attendances aren't good they appear to be following a trend that affects other sports in this country too. FA Cup earlier rounds aren't as well attended as regular league games too. I think there has been an increase in season ticket holders compared to "pay on the gate"ers and so if it's not on the season ticket people are reluctant to pay extra since playoff games are generally less attended too.
The semis and final of the cup are doing fine though. The Challenge Cup Final (especially now it's back at Wembley) is still a big draw for people and 80 odd thousand people at the final is good enough for me.

I think a bit of tweaking around ticketing, marketing & ticket prices for the earlier rounds would be beneficial but I wouldn't agree with any major changes.
Although any tweaking is not helped by the dubious attitude the BBC appears to have towards the Challenge Cup.