BBC confirms Challenge Cup games

[gingerjon]

[Tommygilf]

Games are on another network too - the Sportsman?

[Damien]

Good choices.

[Hela Wigmen]

4 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Games are on another network too - the Sportsman?

Yes. The Sportsman (no, I’d not heard of them before either) have Sheffield v York on the Friday night, I believe. Available via Facebook and YouTube. 

[Ramon Rojo]

For a channel that's got minimal quality sport on its schedule you'd hope we'd at least sneak onto BBC2.

[RP London]

7 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

Yes. The Sportsman (no, I’d not heard of them before either) have Sheffield v York on the Friday night, I believe. Available via Facebook and YouTube. 

didnt know that, thats excellent news will see if i can find that for the Sheffield game.. will mean my xmas present shirt will get an airing "in anger"! which will be nice.

[Eddie]

I’ve never watched Union (not because I’m anti it in principle, I just find it dull), so is Gavin Hensen (who tbf is one of about five Union players who haven’t played RL that I could name) really that big a draw that people who wouldn’t usually watch WWR v Widnes will tune in to watch it on iPlayer? If so I really hope it isn’t a one sided mismatch. 

[Hela Wigmen]

5 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I’ve never watched Union (not because I’m anti it in principle, I just find it dull), so is Gavin Hensen (who tbf is one of about five Union players who haven’t played RL that I could name) really that big a draw that people who wouldn’t usually watch WWR v Widnes will tune in to watch it on iPlayer? If so I really hope it isn’t a one sided mismatch. 

I imagine it played a part in the decision to choose that game to stream but also the amount of viewers they’ll get streaming the game, as Widnes are probably one of the better supported sides at that level of the competition. 

[RP London]

4 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I’ve never watched Union (not because I’m anti it in principle, I just find it dull), so is Gavin Hensen (who tbf is one of about five Union players who haven’t played RL that I could name) really that big a draw that people who wouldn’t usually watch WWR v Widnes will tune in to watch it on iPlayer? If so I really hope it isn’t a one sided mismatch. 

If it is advertised widely enough, yes i think it will. He would be known well enough (and divides opinion) that some will watch it to be able to say "RL must be easy, an over the hill player who hasnt played for years can play it", some will watch to hope he gets humiliated and some will watch to hope to see him do something amazing as he has in the past, you'll also get some who will turn it on to watch a potential car crash just because (they are also the annoying idiots who slow down to rubber neck on a motorway when there is a nasty prang)... 

he is the type of person people will tune in to watch, I hope he does ok, but not too well (otherwise the first set of people will have a field day). I also hope the commentators do point out that WWR are a low league team just so that those who do tune in with little knowledge of the game dont, for some reason, think they are a top level outfit signing a player who is old and hasnt played either form of rugby for years.

[Deranged Drunk Guy]

So does this mean we can subscribe to games on ifollow ? 

Like how english soccer clubs offer to their fans over ifollow?

[Hela Wigmen]

2 minutes ago, Deranged Drunk Guy said:

So does this mean we can subscribe to games on ifollow ? 

Like how english soccer clubs offer to their fans over ifollow?

On BBC, no, you’ll need to sign in (for free) and watch. 

[RP London]

11 minutes ago, Deranged Drunk Guy said:

So does this mean we can subscribe to games on ifollow ? 

Like how english soccer clubs offer to their fans over ifollow?

7 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

On BBC, no, you’ll need to sign in (for free) and watch. 

not sure how that works for those abroad though as some of the iplayer stuff is not available outside of the UK.. worth checking. 

 

 

[Hela Wigmen]

12 minutes ago, RP London said:

not sure how that works for those abroad though as some of the iplayer stuff is not available outside of the UK.. worth checking. 

 

 

That’s very true, I didn’t think of that. 

[Tommygilf]

13 minutes ago, RP London said:

not sure how that works for those abroad though as some of the iplayer stuff is not available outside of the UK.. worth checking. 

A friend of a friend of the bloke down the pub once suggested a VPN?

[Man of Kent]

53 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I’ve never watched Union (not because I’m anti it in principle, I just find it dull), so is Gavin Hensen (who tbf is one of about five Union players who haven’t played RL that I could name) really that big a draw that people who wouldn’t usually watch WWR v Widnes will tune in to watch it on iPlayer? If so I really hope it isn’t a one sided mismatch. 

It'll be an interesting watch to see if (1) Henson gets knocked out and (2) if Widnes knock up a ton.

[Futtocks]

2 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

A friend of a friend of the bloke down the pub once suggested a VPN?

Not all VPNs (or VPN servers) work with the BBC's content. It is worth doing a bit of research first, in case the Beeb have made their Cup streams UK-only.

The other option mentioned (The Sportsman) may be easier to access from outside the UK.

[gingerjon]

2 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

It'll be an interesting watch to see if (1) Henson gets knocked out and (2) if Widnes knock up a ton.

I'd love to know what a "good" result to West Wales will be for this game. You have to think that Widnes should get a +60 start with the bookies.

A strong performance, no injuries, score a couple of tries, and keep Widnes to under 50?

[Eddie]

1 minute ago, gingerjon said:

I'd love to know what a "good" result to West Wales will be for this game. You have to think that Widnes should get a +60 start with the bookies.

A strong performance, no injuries, score a couple of tries, and keep Widnes to under 50?

Exactly, that’s why I think it’s a poor choice for the live game, though no surprise that the Union-centric BBC have chosen it. 

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Eddie said:

Exactly, that’s why I think it’s a poor choice for the live game, though no surprise that the Union-centric BBC have chosen it. 

Presuming it's at Stebonheath, they may have chosen it because there's a decent TV-ready set-up there though so it will be quite cheap to do, relatively.

[dkw]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

I'd love to know what a "good" result to West Wales will be for this game. You have to think that Widnes should get a +60 start with the bookies.

A strong performance, no injuries, score a couple of tries, and keep Widnes to under 50?

I think the biggest result for West Wales is that this game is being broadcast on BBC tv.

[RP London]

3 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

A friend of a friend of the bloke down the pub once suggested a VPN?

Quite but personally if that was something i needed to do i would need a bit of time to get my head around it.. (especially as asking a few people down the pub is a little difficult at the moment)

[paulwalker71]

I'm waiting for the complaints to start about the BBC using a 'Yawnion player' to promote Rugby League

[marklaspalmas]

I'm looking forward to the 1973 final repeat

[Futtocks]

3 hours ago, Eddie said:

Exactly, that’s why I think it’s a poor choice for the live game, though no surprise that the Union-centric BBC have chosen it. 

At this stage of the cup, the BBC would usually just stream a single tie per round. That would have been Featherstone v Bradford, but the Henson story means that they've added an extra game this round.

[Eddie]

59 minutes ago, paulwalker71 said:

I'm waiting for the complaints to start about the BBC using a 'Yawnion player' to promote Rugby League

Mores the point they’re using a challenge cup game to promote rugby Union. The whole preview and commentary will be about his Welsh Union career.