12 replies to this topic

[DiddyDave]

Having seen some of the cricket score results (76-0,98-4,68-6,72-6,72-4,etc)over the last two rounds after Super League clubs came into the comp,it makes you wonder why the lower tier sides like Hornets bother. I know this has been discussed before,that it is very much frowned upon by the powers that be if teams don`t play in the Challenge Cup,but what`s the point if part timers are going out and getting smashed by their full time professional opponents and what is worse,the clubs don`t even get decent pay days for the privilege any more. It just emphasises the massive gulf in the game now and it`s not good,though no doubt the likes of Stevo and Co still insist that there`s nothing wrong with the game. Yeah right.

[Pugwash]

I couldn't agree more DD, I've said the same myself on many occasions and feel that if all the Championship clubs got together and refused to enter the RFL would have to listen.

We are served up for a beating in the same way the Christians were for the Romans and all we get are injuries and suspensions and good hidings in front of very few fans.

Of course the RFL don't want us to do this as it would leave them with no competition because with 14 clubs they would have to do something like this;

First round - Two clubs get a bye and 12 play leaving 8 teams for the quater finals and then play the semis and final. I suppose they would have the byes in turn or you would get the old two in the oven trick and Wigan getting a bye every year.

Let them have their cup I say and we'll have our own which would be more interesting and could be played a lot closer to home and cost less to attend!!!

The trouble is the chairmen will not front up to the RFL as they are petrified of them.

Pugwash.

[Keith T]

SL clubs don't want the Challenge Cup games against lower league teams and certainly their fans don't really want to pay good money for these games as they did in years gone by. Lower league clubs have gaps in their fixture lists for Challenge Cup matches when there isn't any (or 1 as this weekend) of their league teams playing. We have gaps later in the season for the NR Cup Qtr and semi finals which don't go down at all well with our club supporters.

The Yorkshire and Lancashire Cups are laying idle in some cupboard at the RFL, so why don't they resurrect them for none SL clubs. After all they wouldn't have time to fit games in, would they?

Edited by Keith T, 30 April 2012 - 04:38 PM.

[Anita Bath]

I couldn't agree more DD, I've said the same myself on many occasions and feel that if all the Championship clubs got together and refused to enter the RFL would have to listen.

We are served up for a beating in the same way the Christians were for the Romans and all we get are injuries and suspensions and good hidings in front of very few fans.

Of course the RFL don't want us to do this as it would leave them with no competition because with 14 clubs they would have to do something like this;

First round - Two clubs get a bye and 12 play leaving 8 teams for the quater finals and then play the semis and final. I suppose they would have the byes in turn or you would get the old two in the oven trick and Wigan getting a bye every year.

Let them have their cup I say and we'll have our own which would be more interesting and could be played a lot closer to home and cost less to attend!!!

The trouble is the chairmen will not front up to the RFL as they are petrified of them.

Pugwash.

Its time votes at the RFL were made public so we could see which club chairmen are kow towing. Championship clubs are being used byb SL, you might well say abused.

[StarfireHypervixen]

I think you'll find there are financial penalties for not taking part in the farce that is the challenge cup.

It is a flawed competition.

The yorks/lancs cups is a nice idea, but what about the cumbrians? and gateshead? and our cambrian friends. Not to forget London.

Call it all you want, but there needs to be a realistic plan to replace the challenge cup, unless we simply dismiss it.

[Mad Mal the Mauler]

East v West!

[Keith T]

The yorks/lancs cups is a nice idea, but what about the cumbrians? and gateshead? and our cambrian friends. Not to forget London.

In the late 1970's Workington Town (from Cumbria) played in 4 consecutive Lancashire Cup Finals, winning it once in 1977!!!!

[StarfireHypervixen]

I was a baby in the 70's a lot has changed since then.

East v West might work, or even, with the addition of the new CC1 teams next year, a North v South Challenge could be a solution.

One thing is certain, a large number a fans are disillusioned with the present format of the competition, the biggest "challenge" in this cup, is finding the will to take it seriously, given its forgone conclusion. As the gap between Super League, and real Rugby League widens further year on year, The Challenge Cup will become increasingly less relevant to those of us who don't like the "Grid-Iron" mentality of the "élite" game.

[Pugwash]

I think you'll find there are financial penalties for not taking part in the farce that is the challenge cup.

Oh yes, I'm certain there would be, but what if we all refused to pay? What are they going to do, start making a big fuss about punishing clubs the media would have a field day and the tossers at the RFL would be exposed as the incompetent morons that they are. Can you imagine the the news saying that they turned down £2.5M for sponsorship to have the clubs names on a bunch or artics!!!! What about sheduling World cup fixtures at non-existent venues? Or fining a coach £1,000 for abuse to an official when others have got away with much worse (Natan Brown) scot free?

I think Anita Bath has the right idea, all fans should demand to know which way the chairmen vote for the various issues and then they can understand who is giving in and who isn't?

The time is upon us we need to do something or the sport outside Super League will whither and die gradually.

To be quite honest if I hadn't invested over 45 years in Rochdale Hornets I would be sorely tempted to jack the lot in because following teams at this level is just a battle one week after the other, wondering whether the money is coming in and will we be able to exist for another season. I am that bloody fed up at the moment!!!

WE NEED TO TAKE BACK OUR GAME!

Pugwash.

[Keith T]

I don't see how we can make it any better Pugwash as the gap between SL and Championship grows every year so does the gap between Championship and Championship 1, so any cup competition these days only goes to the top teams eligible to play in them. The NR Cup invariably is for the top 5 or 6 in the Championship and the Challenge Cup the top 5 or 6 in SL. The rest of us are just making up the numbers.

How did get to this state? Full-time players in SL, yes, but most of the players in our two leagues are part-time. The people who run the game from the RFL don't see the damage being done at our level and that is the sad part. People have walked away from the lower league RL and crowds do back up that statement but yet apparently the game is in a healthy state if we all believe the Sky rhetoric and spin.

[StarfireHypervixen]

Oh yes, I'm certain there would be, but what if we all refused to pay?

Pugwash.

I don't believe it would be a matter of choice.

But prhaps you could bring it up at your AGM? Are you not part of a fan owned, and run club? Those of you who have a say in the future of Hornets, should grasp the nettle. You at least have the joy of voting for your board, and a strong board would inevitably provide a strong chairman.

Things like the Stobart deal, do seem to come under the heading of "Idiotic Ideas," a couple of million in the bank is better than, a Crabtree, on a truck (and personally I'd be very tempted to set fire to the trailer that bears Tomkins' image,)

How did get to this state? Full-time players in SL, yes, but most of the players in our two leagues are part-time. The people who run the game from the RFL don't see the damage being done at our level and that is the sad part. People have walked away from the lower league RL and crowds do back up that statement but yet apparently the game is in a healthy state if we all believe the Sky rhetoric and spin.

I don't think anyone is fooled by the drivel they put out on Sky, and for certain no one at the RFL watches Sky coverage of rugby, or they'd do something about the commentaries, the best of which was about a couple of weeks ago, when the studio had lost sound, and the only things audible were the ref, and the crowd. Best televised game since Eddie retired.

[DiddyDave]

They say that you need to play against better opposition if you`re going to better yourself,but when the gulf is so massive like it is in the Challenge Cup,that goes out of the window. I`ve noticed in the last few years that every time the lads have played top teams and got well and truly thrashed,their league form dips alarmingly and it`s happened again. Just making up the numbers is not good enough anymore,the game has moved a world away from what the Challenge Cup used to be and it`s fast becoming a farce,but when the heirachy are only interested in the Wigans and St.Helens of the game,it`s no wonder. As Puggy says,what would they do if all teams in the lower divisions told them where to stick their overrated cup? Time for a few chairmen to grow some balls methinks.

[Anita Bath]

2500 at the quarter final between super league teams at Huddersfield - a disgrace. Almost as many at Barrow for a third tier league game.

Talk your way out of that one Red Hall!