Make the Challenge Cup more international

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

1 hour ago, Spidey said:

It used to be a "controlled" draw, so that could be right, now it's an open draw. That said Toronto will give up home advantage for ties I think 

Not sure of results of Russian sides in the past

You can always have an open draw, but say that if a particular pairing comes out, then one of them will be at home, regardless of whether drawn first or second in the pair.  I think that is what happens in La Coupe de France Lord derby, in that if two teams from different divisions are drawn against each other, then the team from the lower division automatically is the home side.  Perhaps Audois or Hvy Wg or Fabou could confirm that.

[Spidey]

38 minutes ago, LeeF said:

no Toronto will play home matches in Manchester.

the Russian sides had to play all their games away

Dave Woods said prior to yesterday's game that If they were drawn at home to Siddal, Siddal would have still hosted. Maybe just for that round?

[bowes]

1 hour ago, deluded pom? said:

Did any of the Russian teams actually win a game? Didn't the international sides have to reach a certain round before being allowed to play at home?

The first season they had Russian teams the runners-up entered at round 2 and the champions at round 3. The runners-up (forget which club) won against an amateur side in round 2. From then onwards both clubs entered round 3 and lost every game.

I'm not convinced that the Challenge Cup is the right place to have an international dimension. Inviting just three or four French League teams was tokenistic when the whole of League 1 and at the time the NCL were invited.

What needs to happen is every NCL club needs to be invited plus a lot more amateur clubs outside the NCL (say four each from the Yorkshire Men's League and North West Men's League, two from the Cumbria league and one from each premier division outside the heartlands)

[Ash Hope]

Interesting you guys say this. There's a piece in Rugby League World where League Express editor Martyn Sadler actually proposes we regionalise the Challenge Cup into group stages. Do be sure to give it a read and send your ideas. It's a great topic to get around. If he's entitled to propose his ideas I think you guys are too.

[Spidey]

We do seem obsessed with tinkering things in RL, will there be a time when everything settles down and each year we're confident we will know what's going to happen?

[Ash Hope]

5 minutes ago, Spidey said:

We do seem obsessed with tinkering things in RL, will there be a time when everything settles down and each year we're confident we will know what's going to happen?

Not least trivial things like the RFL's logo

[bowes]

17 minutes ago, Ash Hope said:

Interesting you guys say this. There's a piece in Rugby League World where League Express editor Martyn Sadler actually proposes we regionalise the Challenge Cup into group stages. Do be sure to give it a read and send your ideas. It's a great topic to get around. If he's entitled to propose his ideas I think you guys are too.

I'd favour regional qualifying rounds, but not keen on the group stage idea. Maybe that would work as a separate competition for when Super 8s are scrapped

[roughyedspud]

Ive floated the idea of adding international teams into the challenge cup in the past..

Id add the likes of serbia,russia and the 'A' teams from france,wales,scotland & ireland

[MatthewWoody]

14 hours ago, JM2010 said:

I put in the original post that the champions would only enter if the could finance themselves.

This could come via sponsors or benefactors.

If the funds aren't in place they don't apply to enter

So no-one will, at the end of the day. 

[damp squib]

8 hours ago, MatthewWoody said:

So no-one will, at the end of the day. 

I think some teams would be capable of raising sponsorship for travel to a game. Certainly from Ireland and France and possibly Serbia as well.

[wackojacko]

45 minutes ago, damp squib said:

I think some teams would be capable of raising sponsorship for travel to a game. Certainly from Ireland and France and possibly Serbia as well.

I think a fair few players might be interested in shelling out themselves to play in the Challenge Cup.

[Sports Prophet]

18 hours ago, roughyedspud said:

Ive floated the idea of adding international teams into the challenge cup in the past..

Id add the likes of serbia,russia and the 'A' teams from france,wales,scotland & ireland

I agree with you Spud. In my opinion though, I would leave out France. 

Rather than actually enter the CC as their national team though, to satisfy criteria they should be entered as a national "club" side. Could be a very marketable split strategy from the international side as well in the individual countries.

It could also apply an open policy, to anyone good enough to be in the team, promoting the opportunities of league in fledgling nations.

A great way to reward those domestic players that tend to miss out of selection when the WC comes around.

[roughyedspud]

6 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

I agree with you Spud. In my opinion though, I would leave out France. 

Rather than actually enter the CC as their national team though, to satisfy criteria they should be entered as a national "club" side. Could be a very marketable split strategy from the international side as well in the individual countries.

It could also apply an open policy, to anyone good enough to be in the team, promoting the opportunities of league in fledgling nations.

A great way to reward those domestic players that tend to miss out of selection when the WC comes around.

Well the "A" teams would be made up from players from the domestic leagues

So france "A" would be frenchmen from the elite one..

Wales,scotland & ireland have well established "A" teams

[Spidey]

3 minutes ago, roughyedspud said:

Well the "A" teams would be made up from players from the domestic leagues

So france "A" would be frenchmen from the elite one..

Wales,scotland & ireland have well established "A" teams

Don't they already have established fixtures? Why would we put more rep teams into a club competition?

[damp squib]

Yeah I'm not sure about that. A France A side could actually go quite far in the cup.

[Sports Prophet]

Yeah, I think the sport is advanced enough to pass on offering a French team of this vein. I welcome entries from additional existing French clubs...

i still think the opportunity for Serbia, Italy, Russia and other potential nations like Holland, Malta and Czech Republic is a great one.

[Tommygilf]

I'd be more in favour of a national club side: ie. Red Star Belgrade for Serbia. Although i think for these teams the challenge cup may be just out of reach atm? Unless they start a qualification process in December. 

[MatthewWoody]

On 28/2/2017 at 7:28 AM, Sports Prophet said:

Yeah, I think the sport is advanced enough to pass on offering a French team of this vein. I welcome entries from additional existing French clubs...

i still think the opportunity for Serbia, Italy, Russia and other potential nations like Holland, Malta and Czech Republic is a great one.

Yes and yes.