ONE OF the problems with writing a regular column is that you can present your opinions, you can point out organisational faults that you would like to see eliminated, you can believe that your arguments are convincing, and you can even think you have some influence on those who run rugby league.

But then you discover that nothing changes, despite all your efforts to persuade the decision-makers round to your point of view.

It’s fortunate that I’m not easily frustrated or deterred.

For example, a couple of years ago in League Express I wrote an article about the Challenge Cup competition and how it might be revived.

My focus was largely on the Challenge Cup Final.

I’m sure this year’s Challenge Cup Final between Wigan and Hull KR will be a wonderful game and I’m looking forward to it immensely.

But I’m less confident that the game will attract a crowd worthy of the occasion, which would obviously be a full house.

I hope I’m wrong, but the days when we could do that are unfortunately long in the past.

And there is one worrying issue that has been at the back of my mind.

This year’s Challenge Cup Final could be the penultimate year in which it is held at Wembley.

The current contract between the FA, which owns Wembley, and the RFL runs until 2027. If the final is to remain at Wembley beyond that date, then a new contract will have to be agreed and the FA is likely to want more money than they are currently receiving.

Given that the Challenge Cup can only fill about two-thirds of the capacity of the stadium, there will be some pressure to move the final away from Wembley to another, smaller stadium that would be easier to fill.

The obvious candidates for that role would be Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which staged the final in 2022, Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, which staged a World Cup semi-final in 2022, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, which staged the Cup Final from 2003 to 2005 when Wembley was being rebuilt, and Newcastle’s St James’ Park, which has successfully staged Magic Weekend on many occasions.

All of those are fine venues and I have a preference for Cardiff or Newcastle, simply because those stadiums are located right in the middle of those cities.

Despite that, however, I would urge the RFL to think long and hard before moving the Challenge Cup Final away from Wembley.

For most of its history, the great attraction of the Cup was that the final is played at Wembley and rugby league supporters from far and wide can have a great day out or weekend away in London.

And it isn’t just the fans for whom Wembley is a great attraction.

Talk to any rugby league player and you will discover that one of his ambitions is to play in a Challenge Cup Final at Wembley.

If we take Wembley permanently away from the Challenge Cup, then I’m afraid the competition loses some of its mystique.

Rather than accepting that we can never fill Wembley, my feeling has always been that we should be able to find a way to achieve that objective.

In my League Express article that I referred to earlier, I presented a ten-point plan to restore the fortunes of the competition.

The article can still be found on the totalrl.com website.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, several people involved in the game said that the piece contained some great ideas, and yet nothing has changed.

And that is probably because there is no one at the RFL whose specific responsibility is the Challenge Cup.

We will soon be learning the name of the new chief executive of the RFL (if it hasn’t already been announced by the time you read this).

My advice to whoever gets the job is to re-read my original article and then appoint a Commissioner whose sole responsibility is to organise and promote the Challenge Cup.

If such a person were to be appointed, I would suggest that he or she should be offered a considerable bonus related to how many tickets are sold for the Cup Final.

For far too long we have drifted along, making superficial changes to the format of the competition and changing the date of the final, bringing it forward to the end of May this year, for example, when at one time the Challenge Cup Final was part of the climax to the season as a whole.

If a Commissioner were to be appointed, he or she would have to find a way to bring the whole rugby league family together again for what should be one of its biggest days of the year, if not the biggest.

It won’t be easy, but the payoff could be massive, both for that individual and for the game as a whole.

And the biggest benefit would be that the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final would remain at Wembley, which is its spiritual home.

That is an outcome devoutly to be wished for.

First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 521 (June 2026)