Mini rogue didn't go as he was working and preferred to use a dys holiday for a more competitive game.
Mrs. Rogue didn't go as she had a previously arranged function to attend.
Both would have gone had the game been on Friday.

I'm a season ticket holder and didn't attend. I would have done if it was on Friday or Saturday or a more competitive game but I chose to spend a bit of free time with my girlfriend instead.
I know there's that great flag that says 'My wife said it was Wigan rugby or her, I'll miss her' or something to that effect, but I'm playing it smart. I miss a not very competitive game, tell her it's a massive game and get in her good books making her more likely to agree to marry me. Once that's done with I can go to every single game and ignore her all I want, whilst she's free to spend more time with friends/see the family/have an affair. It's all planned out.

Okay then, here goes...I live in Bury, dont drive, and couldnt be bothered getting a bus to Bolton and a train then to Wigan for a guarenteed 50+ point win.

It's a combination of things.

Super League started and got weekly coverage. 20 years ago, only the cup competitions were televised, so they were special.

Then the Grand Final was introduced, which I love, but given that winning the GF is the culmination of a whole season's hard work, puts that ahead in terms of it being an achievement. To win the Challenge Cup, for instance, you only have to win five or six games, against the 20-odd it takes to win Super League.

Moving the whole sport to Summer didn't help the Challenge Cup either. For several years it was effectively a pre-season tournament, as opposed to something which took place to pretty much cap the end of the season.

Then, Wembley closed. The CC was about Wembley - it's as simple as that. Yes, we have the new Wembley, and it's technically better, but it's not the old Wembley, is it? Be honest - winning the CC at Murrayfield was great, but not as great as if we'd have won it at the old Wembley, is it?

In a nutshell, the whole sport has changed, but the CC hasn't, really. I rather fancy that only a damn good marketing campaign, sustained over several YEARS with Wembley as the focal point of it, along with it remaining on free-to-air TV, will stop the decline.

I think people's perception of the cup will change once we get to Wembley again and have a day out there. You cant not get excited over a Wigan v Saints/Warrington final at a sold out Wembley. I agree that it is now second best to the league and playoffs, but it has been 13 years now since we have been to Wembley. Add to the fact that final was embarassing and since then its been held all over place (Cardiff, Edinburgh) the magic has been lost.

But once we win it this year, Wigan fans will want to return to Wembley every year!

That's an excellent summing up. I'd add that televised sport has changed, but the BBC hasn't, as well. Much as we all moan about the SKY muppets, they put the Beeb to shame.

I only went because it was free. (I live in Wigan). I wouldn’t have paid. My Dad’s on holiday and I couldn’t give his ticket away. It was pretty boring tbh (apart from the pigeons). The lack of competitiveness was the reason.

I still love the excitement of the cup though. I rushed home to turn the TV on and watched the draw. I guess nowadays shocks are far and few between, which is sad but true and thus the ‘romance’ is in decline.

Don’t know if the cup is ‘dying’. It would be interesting to see if say we play Saints in the quarters at home (if we both win) what the crowd would be. Would it sell out like the league game on Good Friday – probably not, but I reckon we’d be pushing 18-20k, or is that overly optimistic?

I think an important argument is the bit about how hard it is to reach and win the Grand Final compared to how hard it is to win at Wembley.

It really is monumentally difficult to win the Grand Final. It's not just the consistency required during the season, it's the intensity of the play-offs, which is perhaps only matched in the Challenge up at semi-final stage. I reckon most of us are aware of this, and inevitably now think winning at Wembley is much less of an achievement - which it is.

But the other thing is surely the razzamatazz that surrounds these different tournaments

During the Super League period, while there's been no concerted effort to downplay the Challenge Cup, the absence of Wembley and the change to summer did coincide with an era during which the game's controlling forces - i.e. Sky - were doing everything in their power to enhance their own competition. (The proof of the importance of this is surely the lack of respect with which winning the Minor Premiership is held - finishing top of the league is actually an immense achievement, but Sky never want to highlight it because it may detract from the other trophy).

In the old days, 'Cup Fever' was magnified by the attention that the BBC and others gave to the contest. Now, those with the power to promote have less of a vested interest in the Challenge Cup. Maybe we need look no further than that?

It hasn't lost its romance, I just genuinley believe that people have better things to do than sit and watch a training session for 80 minutes, a home tie with Barrow it not appealing at all and you know before you attend, that, basically your going to be bored half to death.

(And before Rogues or twosevenzero chirp up, yes, I do go watching Liverpool)

No disrespect intended, but that sounds a bit self-contradictory to me.

If it's still romantic, how can you call the first round an 80 minute training session and say you have better things to do?

To me, the romance of the Cup was the chance it gave these smaller teams to test themselves against the bigger teams. It was the possiblity - no matter how remote - that David might do Goliath.

What you just said there seems to prove to me that the romance (call it innocence of another era, maybe) has gone.

The semi is 3 weeks before the final. That gives the teams in the final knockout footy pretty much week in and week out for August and september. This makes it very difficult for any team to win both.

Yes I agree.

We all used to 'go down to that London' in May. To be honest, I have no idea now when the Final is held.

The TV companies have also helped trash the Challenge cup.

SKY can't cover it and the BBC now only have a few matches per year on TV.

Last weekend we had the situation of the BBC changing the channel of Saturdays match at half time ! Would they have done that with Union ?

I do think Sky would add an element of glamour, it gets no mention during the weekly rounds and Eddie and Stevo dont even acknowledge it as a trophy tbh - its 100% about winning the SL. Having said that Clare Balding is a great presenter, a credit to the sport

Sky don't care and the BBC don't do any publicity until the week before.