Leyther_Matt

Neither of whom conduct any power compared to the NRL, Super League or RFL!

Is it any wonder that Leigh fans get defensive? Plenty of positive angles to be had, but of course there's only one thing to be interested in here, isn't there? Even to the extent of ignoring the existence of half a dozen clubs (who's figures I'd actually be interested as a fan of the game)

The one benefit of us having so many Monday games is that Halifax and now yourselves have only charged us a tenner! In Edinburgh this weekend but travelling back early to make sure we're back in time to get across for the game. Looking forward to it! Forgive the intrusion Roger, but if you bought another ticket then Batley would have to pay 20% VAT on it. They'd be better off if you just donated the tenner (or even spent it on food & drink if the 5% VAT is still a thing?)

That option becomes a non-starter when considering you'll only know the finalists the week before. It's proving to be expensive enough trying to get travel to London at 3 weeks notice.

Rhyl have actually got 1,700 seats. Does that put them in SL standard territory?

Yes I did consider that. Is there still some amateur RL activity in Rhyl? Again, not sure on the pitch dimensions, but the football ground there is licensed to UEFA standard which sets it apart somewhat from the rest.

Colwyn Bay FC would probably tick a lot of boxes tbf, but I seem to recall the pitch was fairly tight? I’m sure Bangor council would snap your hand off to make use of the stadium there but I suppose you’d lose most of your M62 players there, and isn’t particularly accessible to any fans from Wrexham or Colwyn.

Couldn’t agree with terms with Chris Hamilton and ended up donating to Waterhead (I think?)

And to think the name was only coined to alliterate with a stadium name (that is no longer its name!)

Because Wrexham FC had already turfed them out (pun a happy accident - if you know, you know)

On that front, it all sounds very 1996.

Personally feel the 1895 Final would be better as a standalone event as was the case with the (comparatively successful) Northern Rail Cup. Play the Women's Challenge Cup before the men's one, and make an effort to engage with the different demographic of that fanbase if we're interesting in boosting the crowd for the men's game.

You have just won the internet for the day

Saves me buying a new couch if I'm never there to sit on it

Leigh fans and Wigan fans are both in the South Stand, yes. As this is the 'safe standing' end, maybe that was a factor in some way? That will depend on how this on-site brewery lark goes!

Booked our trains 6 weeks ago, you should have had some faith D (Paid £80 return for two of us from Wigan. Yes, Leigh fans can use trains).

They will do for the final on the back of beating Saints and probably being favourites in the final. Nowt like the smell of silver polish to bring out the Ellgren shellsuits.

Magic was effectively created off the back of Cardiff's tourism boost for the cup finals

Just wait until the final now that Huddersfield are there.

Atmosphere sounded really good. The empty sections opposite the cameras weren’t great but I thought it carried over pretty well all considered. I’d certainly prefer two separate semi finals in 20k-25k stadiums though. Would have been bouncing at Bolton today (and closing West Upper lends itself well to the TV arc)

I was talking about Challenge Cup semi finals. The RFL reserved venues every year up until 2019 when the first triple header was held. Even then, it was quite a late confirmation of the event.

A number of venues get pre-booked for semi finals and planned accordingly and then the final selection is made once the semi finalists are confirmed. This was the case literally up to 2019 so no reason why they can’t be done other than taking EFL play offs in to consideration (but they’ll probably move the final date again anyway next year )

2002 play off semi against Leigh. Opening try of the game, I think (Leigh went on to win and play Huddersfield in the final). I used to always stand on the front row behind the sticks around that time so if you look carefully on the window I'm probably making a similar gesture to the Saints ball boy in the Offiah video. I was also at the Warrington v Wigan game when Nat Wood went in to the concourse and nobody around us had a clue what was going on! I'm not sure Wood would have necessarily made the same choice again had he realised he was jumping in to the away end!

Absolutely, yes. I actually went to that one (Warrington v Hull, Saints v Halifax) as a neutral (one box ticked) and stayed for both games (two boxes ticked, I'm a unicorn on this theme). Traffic was a nightmare - lower crowd than a BWFC game but it took me over an hour to travel 7 miles rather than the usual 15 minutes - and bar queues weren't much better. Ended up missing the first 15 minutes of the second half of the first game because, having started queuing just before half-time, I was determined to get my flat pint and lukewarm pie! It was very noticeable how each section of the stadium filled/emptied in relation to which team was playing. For a showpiece game like a semi final, they really should be given a stage of their own to be the only game that matters that day. I'd offer the same argument to the 1895 Cup (RIP Northern Rail Cup) but that's another topic altogether.

Not relevant other than pure pedantry, but the last triple header was at Leigh last year. And I think the same crowd was ‘attached’ to each game (albeit hugely reduced for social distancing so clearly no records were going to be broken).