Sod that! Alright it throws up some batterings but I stil love the Challenge Cup, I'd like them still play it in April/May though as they us to.

On the game - thought we tried to do too much once we got a big lead on, then we calmed down and played out the clock. Not the greatest spectacle in the world but ATEOTD we're in the hat , hopefully dodging Leeds, Cas and Wire in the next round

it needs to be radically changed in it present format it will never grow and only decline. Lower teams next year will get a good shot at super league clubs and then there will be no need for the challenge cup. Just retire it to Wigan and all will be happy. Mid season ashes series or a 9's Festival.

They are changing it, Super League clubs are going in at round 5, which means most seasons we probably won't play a none-SL team at all

Dodge Wire? They would do for me fine. I doubt Wane would fancy a trip to the i-pitch.

You are talking nonsense. The Challenge Cup Final is one of the major sporting events of the year and you want to swap it for a Nines competition? Bonkers. It attracts interest, national TV coverage and generates publicity.

It is also worth a lot of money to the clubs who get to the final. More than the GF I believe.

The fact odd fixtures through up results and games like today's is no reason to scrap the competition or change it for a nines tournament.

It was poor form us in the 2nd half and Hunslet never gave up. We ended up playing one man rugby and coughed up a lot of errors. Unlike when we played Bradford we were just not clinical enough to carry on as we started and to be fair Hunslet didn't capitulate like Bradford did.

It was quite a reserve team for a lot of the game despite the initial line up looking quite strong and ultimately it was disappointing to see such a disjointed performance from us.

While people moan about blow out scores comparing the Bradford and Hunslet games is interesting because whatever your views on the level of the opposition and what the score says about the game in general Wigan approached the Bradford game far better than they did the Hunslet game in terms of being clinical and technically on the ball.

I agree with Cruncher that some players out of the 2nd string didn't enhance their chances of a long term future but it was so disjointed at times compared to how we played v Bradford I am not entirely sure it was their fault. Players like Hughes and Gelling looked poor but didn't get a whole lot of help form those around them either.

Manfredi looked good and nice to see Crosby back but most of the players put in pretty forgettable performances.

so we just forget about the 5 matches of poo before it? Also i think most 7 events generate more publicity and money than the challenge cup final does. yes teams get more money from it than the grand final but at the end of the day in modern day sport it still generates peanuts. 200k isn't something to get all touchy about.

Just because we had an easy run last year doesn't mean the cup is always 5 matches of 'poo' before the final (it's 4 games before the final anyway btw). Look at 2011, we played Barrow, Bradford (who were better than they are now, it ended 26-22), Warrington, St Helens and Leeds. Four out of those five were brilliant televised games of knockout rugby which provided a great spectacle for both fans like me who go to the games and a great advert for the game for neutrals and fans such as yourself who listen on the radio/watch on tv. Aside from that, a big part of the cup to me is the fun away days it throws up such as Fev and Sheffield in recent years rather than us playing the same old teams every single week

as opposed to Barrow H rd 4 2011 att 8026
saints H QF 2012 12,864
workington? would be lucky to be 8,000 now
Swinton? what happened to them?
Finals...last 2 we went to got a tad over 78,000

nobodies going to convince me the games not in decline.
Thanks for all the memories of the good old days.

one simple change would be to rename the early rounds as "preliminary rounds". Sounds slightly better having SL clubs entering at round 3 ?

I can remember being at Swinton with about 30,000 on there. Billy B was deemed in touch which lost us the game. That linesman Arnold Bagnall later became a relative of ours, though my old dad never forgave him.

not enough promotion and community work being done, with plenty of other hobbies to do these days its more important that people are taught league at an early age in school.
We seriously fail when it comes to playing rugby in Schools, teachers just don't care and don't have time to do it so clubs and the RFL should pick up the slack.

12 SL teams entering from 5R, compressing the competition to remove the long gaps between rounds and moving the final to end of May to move it away from the GF would all improve on what we currently have IMO.

There was a similar discussion on the VT last week and I posted this:

"The fixture calendar could very easily be structured around something like:

CC 4R - February
CC 5R - March
CC QF - April
CC SF - Beginning of May
CC F - End of May/beginning of June
MW - July (after the league split)

Playoffs - September
GF - October

Don't the 12 SL teams enter the CC from the 5R from next season? If so it's even easier to compress the cup and play the final earlier in the season. I guess the stumbling blocks are Wembley's availability and what the BBC want."

It is in the world our sport operates in.

And where on earth do you get the idea "most 7 events generate more publicity and money than the challenge cup final does"? If you are referring to 7's in RU that is no comparison because what you would have to be sure of is an RL nines competition would generate more interest than the RL CC final. I can guarantee it won't. Look at the magic weekend if you want to see an example of how a made up concept ranks in terms of interest and publicity. Now the novelty of the idea has worn off it just doesn't compare and neither would a nines competition which would be seen as a low prestige break from the regular season. Not a competition steeped in history which starts in January for the amateur sides and now even includes University teams.

And while some SL sides will eventually end up playing weaker opposition some do not when there are all SL ties and they are great games for the neutral and are invariably the televised matches.

There were also several coach loads of Hunslet fans there yesterday who were under no illusions as to the final result but had a great time. When they scored their first try we had 30 points on the board and they started singing "Easy, easy!" and when they scored again the chant was "One more than Bradford!".

Hunslet also get a share of the gate receipts and John Kear at Batley was recently reported as saying around 2,500 SL fans turning up for a CC game keeps Batley going for a month.

I think you have a very limited view of just how much money and interest the CC generates and the idea a nines competition could or should replace it is as I said bonkers.

We'll know the RFL really have well and truly lost the plot if they get rid of the Challenge Cup!