THE 1895 Cup kicks-off this weekend, but one of the coaches involved in the preliminary round believes the competition has been devalued by the loss of a Wembley final.
Since its introduction in 2019, the trophy for lower-league teams has been decided alongside the Challenge Cup final either at Wembley or, in 2022, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But this season the Rugby Football League removed it from the Cup Finals Day schedule, and it will be played as a standalone fixture at another, to-be-confirmed venue on Monday, August 31.
Craig Lingard, who reached the 2023 final with Batley Bulldogs and now coaches inaugural 1895 Cup winners Sheffield, has described that decision as “short-sighted”.
“It was a big carrot to try and get to the final at Wembley,” he told League Express.
“That’s now been taken away, and my personal opinion is that it’s a bit short-sighted that we don’t give that opportunity to players outside Super League to play in those showpiece events.
“It takes the gloss off the actual event. They’ve not even decided where it’s going to be, which itself shows the competition has been devalued.”
Sheffield are the only past winners involved in this year’s competition and face Swinton Lions away on Sunday for the right to travel to Rochdale Hornets in round one.
Lingard added: “As a coaching staff we’ve spoken about planning for the game and we’ve got several players in our squad who haven’t had any game time this year, so we’re potentially looking at playing some of them in that game to give them that.
“Would we be doing that if we knew the carrot (of Wembley) was going to be there at the end of the year? I don’t know, it’s a difficult one to answer.”
Also on Sunday, favourites London Broncos host Barrow Raiders at Richmond Athletic Ground and Workington Town welcome Newcastle Thunder.
The three winners will progress to the first round, involving the other Championship clubs minus Halifax Panthers, on the weekend of April 18-19.
Quarter-finals follow on May 16-17 with the semi-finals on June 13-14.