the send off today was on sky sports news this afternoon

Yes,as i mentioned a few days ago in another thread ,the promotion for the final has been abysmal...i suppose in one way you can understand BBC not wanting to overly promote a sport that another broadcaster profits from for the rest of the season but , on the other hand the BBC must still regard it as a jewel in their sporting crown ,still keeping a tight grip on the CC, & should advertise it better.I am surprised the RFL haven't insisted on better publicity from the BBC for the whole CC competition.

The good news though...we all know about the Paralympics & the Wallace & Grommit Proms Concert !

I expect this topic will come up again in 12 months time.

...and yet on the back page of the Daily Mail today the main sport story is about some goalkeeper (never heard of him) having a rant at the QPR coaching staff. So, who in the UK wants to read about that? Who considers that to be sporting news?

Six pages in is one column inch of Rugby League news, and that relates to the Wembley statue rather than the forthcoming Challenge Cup Final. Shameful, sack the Editor or move him north to media city.

They'll more than likely be a lot mnore coverage in tomorrows papers.. 2010 had plenty of coverage, i remeber reading them on the coach down

Again, i remember a lot of coverage on both the BBC and Granada toinight about the previous 2 finals..

We'll have to stop getting to the final.. I guess its rather boring for the press...

The RFL, Super League, the clubs, they are all guilty of failing to publicise the sport. There are a few things against this final, it's a repeat of a recent final, the outcome is relatively obvious (Warrington win), the Olympics has been on, the Premier League is just starting (I don't remember it being this close in previous seasons), the news is full of doomsday stories about the weather at the weekend and the Paralympics is just beginning so will take a lot of the non-football additional sports slots up in the news and feature spots on radio.

Having the Cup final so late in August is just stupid. Everyone in the sport is focusing on the playoffs and Grand Final now and everyone outside the sport has a plethora of more important sporting events to focus on so the Cup has nothing like the profile it should have.

As much as I can't wait for tomorrow, I totally agree with you. There shouldn't be that huge gap between rounds (I think it's quarters to semi's?). They should narrow that gap and therefore bring the final forward three or four weeks.

Granted the Olympics were in this year but they wont be again and the footy season wont have started by then in future years.

But as I say, still can't wait for tomorrow!