most of the people complaining about it obviously havent really experience the cup,
why get rid or change something that has been around for donkeys, brings loads of money in, brings loads of good games,
promotes the chances for the kids, i bet loads of teams played more kids than they would do normally.
the cc is the best thing about rl, i dont like the grand final or the concept, it should be a league, a cup, and (imo) a state of origin series.

According to Ian Lenagan this is very true. Depending on how we progress in the CC, the club will make between £75,000 & £200,000 at the end of the season.

A club makes more from CC games than the the play-offs.

Its the biggest competition in the wrold of rugby league.
all the aussies know it, they all want to play in the cc

In which case it's criminal that it isn't treated with more respect by the BBC, Sky and the RFL.

If it's our flagship tournament (which I once would have agreed with wholeheartedly), then it needs to be promoted far more than it currently is.

rugby league is run by a bunch of spinless mice, who wont fight for the game if it needs it,
the main fella made his name in tennis for god sake.

The support for the CC is there, though. Union fanboys often accuse League of being a sport no-one's interested in, obviously they're not happy when you point out that the Challenge Cup Final attracts more spectators than their all-time attendance record... which is nowhere near the RL all-time attendance record.

If the SL Grand Final wants to be the premier event, it needs a bigger stadium.

I remember back in the early 90's when the draw was being made. There was always an air of excitement and fear. If you drew Wigan it was pretty much curtains however secretly that was the tie that everybody wanted especially at home. These days there doesn't seem to be that same excitement. I don't think the tournament should be changed at all, I just think it needs a spark. Whether it'd be a giant killing, a Wigan style cup run, a classic final or a big name Aussie flying over just for the final it just needs that little something.

It's still IMO the biggest and best knock out tournament in world rugby league and there is no need to change something that has worked well for over 100 years.

I disagree there - I think that's the attitude that has prevailed in RL in general for the last 100 years, which is why we're in such a state now. The reason SL has overtaken the cup is precisely because it has been brave enough to begin to move with the times, where the Cup hasn't.

sl hasnt taken over the cup,
just in ur mind it has

This reall made me laugh.

So let me get this right you and others (wire fans mostly) are saying winning the CC is bigger than winning the GF and being CHAMPIONS?

Out of all the stupid things posted on here this is the most laughable of all of them.

Being the champs is the be all and end all in RL simple as.

no because being champions for me is winning the league, not the grand final,
and when you win the challenge cup are you not the challenge cup champions?

Only if you're a Wire.

Only if you're a person trying to market a game for as much profit as possible you mean.

The flaw in that argument is that, while I have a real soft spot for the Cup and I admire anyone who can finish top of the league, winning the Grand Final really is the ultimate test of a team. There are no flukes or lucky draws to help you reach a Grand Final. The intensity of the play-offs is amazing - and in practise has been far too much for most SL teams - and that only comes AFTER you've striven hard for a reasonably good finishing spot in the table.

My original question was how to regenerate interest in the Cup, when it so clearly has been superceded in terms of importance by the play-offs and the Grand Final?

What about making the CC competition a handicap format? ie the team that finishes the last superleague season top starts every cc round with one point and the team that finishes bottom of championship 1 starts with 35 points and so on. We used the same system in Amateur RL and it gave the lower teams a better chance / incentive and stopped big clubs fielding weaker teams.