Tetley’s Challenge Cup semi-final details confirmed

[League Express]

The semi-finals of the 2013 Tetley’s Challenge Cup will be screened live on BBC2 over the weekend of Saturday July 27 and Sunday July 28 as four clubs aim to book their place in the final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday August 24 (3.00pm).

The first semi-final will see London Broncos take on the winners of tonight’s Wigan Warriors v Widnes Vikings quarter-final tie at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday July 27 (5.00pm). Holders Warrington Wolves will be hoping to reach the final for the fourth time in five years when they take on Hull FC at the John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield on Sunday July 28 (6.00pm).

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[Manx RL]

Good choices of venues. A nice direct train to Leigh should be easy to sort out for London fans.

[gingerjon]

Bravo!

 

*falls off chair laughing*

[Dave T]

Inspiring. 

 

I assume these are tucked away on BBC 2 again.

[keighley]

The semi-finals of the 2013 Tetley’s Challenge Cup will be screened live on BBC2 over the weekend of Saturday July 27 and Sunday July 28 as four clubs aim to book their place in the final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday August 24 (3.00pm).

The first semi-final will see London Broncos take on the winners of tonight’s Wigan Warriors v Widnes Vikings quarter-final tie at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday July 27 (5.00pm). Holders Warrington Wolves will be hoping to reach the final for the fourth time in five years when they take on Hull FC at the John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield on Sunday July 28 (6.00pm).

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Seeing as how Leigh is practically a suburb of Wigan and Wigan average somewhere near 14,000 then it is a sad commentary of the decline of the challenge Cup that a 10,000 capacity stadium is deemed to be big enough.

 

On a secondary note, London will be massive underdogs and handing Wigan what amounts to a home game is a little less than fair

 

Of course if Widnes beat Wigan then all of that speculation and comment is moot.

[YCKonstantine]

6pm? On a Sunday?

[Lobbygobbler]

Good choices of venues. A nice direct train to Leigh should be easy to sort out for London fans.

Was it too much trouble for the RFL to find somewhere in between? An absolute bonkers decision.

You going up for it Manx?

[Lobbygobbler]

Can London at least have the "home" terrace?

[stevereed100]

Disgraceful decision . Insult to the many London fans who are spread over the south of England and therefore will find a little town beyond Manchester expensive and difficult to get to. A virtual home tie for Wigan and insufficient capacity if these fantastic Wigan fans bother to turn up. Leeds would have been a good choice for transport connections and Walsall FC a good compromise location wise and capacity considerations.

Another example of RFL incompetence...they shouldn't try to fix the odds just because they want to see Wigan at Wembley.

Conspiracy theorists will see a desire to guide Hull through as the Wires fans are tiring of Wembley and Hull fans are desperate.

[gingerjon]

The more I think about it the more I'm thinking they should just lose the pretence of a neutral venue and play it at either Widnes or Wigan's ground.  They're easier to get to from London after all.

[Viking Warrior]

the city of salford stadium would have been a better choice, the LSV for a semi final. there is no rail access to the town and the approach roads are insufficient to cope with the volume of traffic.

[Dave T]

There is no conspiracy to get Wigan through, unfortunately I do think that this is a little bit of the fans own making.

 

We haven't turned up in decent numbers for years, we can blame the RFL all we want, but there have been very very few sellouts inthe semis, and those that have tend to be at the last minute.

 

Wigan's 14k average is irrelevant, the last time they played against Wire at Widnes they didn't even sell out their allocation of around 6k so lets not make out they will now get 14k turning up for a semi.

 

Of course they have also turned out in numbers for games too, I think they got over 10k at Huddersfield against London years back, but quite simply RL fans don't just have this free income to go to any games. It is only finals that drag the whole town out.

 

I'd love them to be ambitious and be staging a double header at Coventry, but the reality is you'd probably get 5k each from Wire, Wigan and Hull and 700 from London meaning that a double header would have a lower crowd than two separate events.

[shrek]

The more I think about it the more I'm thinking they should just lose the pretence of a neutral venue and play it at either Widnes or Wigan's ground.  They're easier to get to from London after all.

Its 2 hours from Euston to Wigan on the train, I'll give you a lift from Wigan North Western to LSV and back, job done, couldn't be easier, you booked your ticket yet? 

 

Got room for 7 more of your Broncos mates as well!

[gingerjon]

Its 2 hours from Euston to Wigan on the train, I'll give you a lift from Wigan North Western to LSV and back, job done, couldn't be easier, you booked your ticket yet? 

 

Got room for 7 more of your Broncos mates as well!

 

 Last train back is 8.15, I believe.  That do-able?

 

(Although it is hypothetical.  I have a family thing I can't get out of, even for a once-every-14-years semi final appearance.  If it had been more midlands it might have worked ...)

[Quinskolar]

If Wigan win tonight they have been 'given' a home semi (Leigh is in the Borough of Wigan). We knew we would have to travel but this is a poor joke. No rail station and poor approach roads to the stadium. Can I ask all neutral fans to a) complain to the RFL as this is a mockery of neutral ground and support the Broncos in the semi to give the 'impartial' people at Red Hall a reminder that this game is about the fans not 'fixing it' for the powerful.

[shrek]

 Last train back is 8.15, I believe.  That do-able?

 

(Although it is hypothetical.  I have a family thing I can't get out of, even for a once-every-14-years semi final appearance.  If it had been more midlands it might have worked ...)

Not having your eye for detail I've only just clocked the kick off times!

 

Although I'm sure your fellow Broncos fans could make the most of Wigans 24hr cafe culture and catch the first train back Sunday morning! 

[Just to be clear]

I assume these are tucked away on BBC 2 again.

Just to be clear, they will both be tucked away live on the UK's third most watched TV channel, which is more than can be claimed by any other domestic cup except for one of the FA Cup semi-finals which is on ITV.

[amm]

watch out for the kamikaze roundabout roadworks

 

I hope London find a miraculous game plan and say stuff you to whoever the decision makers are

[nadera78]

Of all the venues they could have chosen, they go with the LSV. For a probable WIgan semi-final (no offence Widnes fans). Come off it!

[Bomballey]

It's at times like this when the people who run our game really let themselves down. This is why most of us lack confidence in them.

Get out of the office and explain why:

1. They've chosen a venue that is not big enough (it would have to be a fantastic explanation by the way)

2. It's 10 minutes from Wigan and 5 hours from London & has awful travel links. This would have been a chance to give London some tangible (and low cost) support and have it at Doncaster.

It's a total disgrace and it kicks every London fan in the teeth. Has anyone got the decency to stand up and explain it......??

[Rascal Bongo Stork]

a laughable venue choice. The logic of course is to get as many people as possible into the ground - the RFL have decided that London dont have any fans so have put it in a place where Wigan (sorry Widnes) can get as many fans without it actually being at the Whelandome. As we can see that a neutral ground isnt any consideration in these matters they should have stuck it in a small ground in London and actually tried to help the game in London - nah, where's the future in that?

[Bomballey]

Leigh will not sell out. The thinking is that it will at least be full and look good on tv. But it won't.

I'm not buying that.

For arguments sake lets say that that Widnes win tonight (& my fiver @ 10-1 comes in...!!) and the RL rethink the plan and decide to change the semi final venue to Barnet FC. How will all the Chemics fans feel about that?

It's wrong & it shows a lack of intelligence & common sense to choose LSV

[Bomballey]

Leigh will not sell out. The thinking is that it will at least be full and look good on tv. But it won't.

My last response wasn't a dig at you by the way.

In football terms it's like a Man U v Fulham FA cup semi being played at Preston - no disrespect to Leigh or Preston

[archibald]

If London got 12k every game I'd have sympathy. They don't. I won't.

[Dave T]

Just to be clear, they will both be tucked away live on the UK's third most watched TV channel, which is more than can be claimed by any other domestic cup except for one of the FA Cup semi-finals which is on ITV.

We have had these games on BBC1 previously. Putting games on BBC will adversely affect viewing figures.

 

If we have made the decision that we want to keep this tournament on terrestrial TV, we should be looking for maximum exposure.

 

6pm on a Sunday evening on BBC 2 is not prime time.