Quote: nottinghamtiger "I think it is rooted in the battle for relegation a few years ago. Wigan looked to be going down and signed Michael Dobson and Stuart Fieldon. They were subsequently punished for a salary-cap related reason (let's not get into the technicalities of it), and many Cas fans therefore feel Wigan cheated to avoid relegation at Cas' expense. For some, it may go back to Wigan tempting our one-time star player Danny Orr away from Cas. PS - our season isn't over. We are not mathematically in the top 8 yet (particularly if Salford's appeal against their points deduction is successful).'" You seem to forget the coward that was Keith Hepworth and the thug that was Dean Sampson. Solomana tried something similar on Ryan Sutton today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6kXCqzLblQ

Quote: nottinghamtiger "I think it is rooted in the battle for relegation a few years ago. Wigan looked to be going down and signed Michael Dobson and Stuart Fieldon. They were subsequently punished for a salary-cap related reason (let's not get into the technicalities of it), and many Cas fans therefore feel Wigan cheated to avoid relegation at Cas' expense. For some, it may go back to Wigan tempting our one-time star player Danny Orr away from Cas. PS - our season isn't over. We are not mathematically in the top 8 yet (particularly if Salford's appeal against their points deduction is successful).'" You seem to forget the coward that was Keith Hepworth and the thug that was Dean Sampson. Solomana tried something similar on Ryan Sutton today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6kXCqzLblQ

As I said

Poor choice of venue no hope of getting there on Friday night unless I swerve work

Having a semi final played on a Friday night is ludicrous but I suppose Dave Wood accepted the 52 weeks free KFC mega bucket from the BBC hence the reason it's on a Friday.

I don't hate wigin, I hate cas, the depth of which is eclipsed only by my hatred of wane.

heck thats a lot of hate in one sentence, maybe hate is too strong a word......yeah.....I only dislike Cas..

I dunno what yawl crying about Donny for, Wakey have to go to bladdy Leigh, with their opponents just having to roll out of bed to be in the ground.
tbf, the wigin hull game should be at craven park

We're not crying about Donny at all. I'm looking forward to it. It's the fact that it's being played on the Friday night when common sense says one game should be played on the Saturday with the other on Sunday.

It's the worst of all worlds; playing away on a Friday means taking a day off work not only for long-distance fans like me, but for Wigan dwellers too.

Still, I'll be there!

Anyway, very disappointing crowd for the Cas game, I don't think I'd ever seen the DW emptier. Were that many people at home watching Gareth Bale on TV?

As we're all 4 games suspect they were watching Wigan not Wales

Didn't Cas get free transport on Saturday, hence the inflated away crowd?
I wonder if that would be an option for Doncaster?

Crowdwise, the Cup's a disaster zone at present.

I simply don't understand this POV that "I've already paid for a season ticket and so I won't pay for Cup games".

If you've only paid for one service, where does this sense of entitlement not to pay for another one come from?

And it's not like people don't want to go to Wembley. It's still a great prize at the end of the tournament.

Very strange and frustrating.

Well, duh! I kinda forgot it was on the telly!

But for me, that doesn't really factor in at all. I want the live atmosphere. Plus, it's a weekend away in Wigan which I always enjoy. So if it's a promising fixture, and not a Thursday, I'll try to go.

No brainer for me. Put season ticket prices up by about £10 and include any home cup games on it. We might get drawn away all the way to the semi's (the whole of 2 games i think) then the club makes money. We get drawn at home... The club loses nothing effectively and the fans can possibly watch 2 games at a fiver a piece. It's Russian roulette for both the club and fans, we could draw Saints at home and then Warrington at home then the club loses out on potential revenue but on the other hand we could draw Keighley and Wakefield at home and no bugger would turn up anyway. Well they would but it looks silly in a 25,000 stadium. If we had a smaller stadium, 15,000 say then it would be full or look full every week but we need that capacity for the money spinners like Saints etc. I think some logic needs to be applied by the powers that be here. The Challenge Cup is the most prestigious trophy in RL and it has been seriously de-valued for about 10 years, the last 5 without a shadow of a doubt. Does anybody remember the 2 hour build up before kick off on the BBC, a real occasion and the pinnacle of the season. Now it is just a 2 hour show from start to finish with no enthusiasm any more. We need to bring the excitement back into the competition and start SL sides off in a lower round because it is just tedious and boring now and is effectively a 4 game knock out.... boring.