Challenge Cup semi-final Draw

[Spidey]

6 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Don't think that's entirely true mate, Elland Road will have circa 10k in for Leeds v West Brom and has a capacity of 35-38k (less than 40k being the point). Its only 4k for "smaller outdoor venues" which does make you wonder what the cut off point for that is given the other available RL stadiums the RFL could have gone to (Leeds/Saints/Warrington etc), let alone the larger venues in the region.

yeah, some of it doesn't make sense and isn't consistent.  But a quick comment of we considered venues x,y,z and all had a limit of ??K so we went for the cost effective option wouldn't go amiss sometimes

[phiggins]

13 hours ago, Just Browny said:

It seems very poor not to have had two separate games to maximise attendance. Even if that wasn't an option, Huddersfield would have seemed like a fairer middle-ish point for the four clubs with a much larger capacity. I have sympathy with the Hull fans here.

Huddersfield capacity would be a maximum of 4k, possibly less if distancing requirements are an issue, and don't know if the multiple sets of fans have an influence on capacity in current restrictions. For an extra 350 fans per club, it probably costs a lot more, might not have same facilities for players with current restrictions, and probably isn't even available anyway, given football pitches tend to get relaid at this time of year. 

Not sure what the fuss is about really. If games were allowed to be played in a full house, i'd agree a much bigger venue should be needed, but they're not.

[Clogiron]

15 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

Always thought that Man U may have had some input with the LSV management in protecting the ground for the Ladies, I agree in the lockdown when fans where not allowed to attend, the facilities at the LSV with multiple changing rooms would have been a good choice, and to those in the know the playing surface is as good as anything in the country at any sport.

So we have Wigan, Huddersfield, & Hull who were all supposed to be in joint ventures in their new stadium's beholden to the Football clubs along with Rochdale & Doncaster at a lower level, will York be the same? You can't argue with the money that soccer is awash with but to behind Women's football, which I don't recall being on the agenda of  LSV initially, really does show how far the game has sunk. I thought Wigan was supposed to be a Rugby hotbed, one of the games biggest clubs etc, etc not behind a level three(?) football team. Don't others like Widnes & St Helens host reserve games and then there's Sheffield hoping to use a facility for a women's football team, I wouldn't call it a ground by any stretch of the imagination, so Headingley is the only ground of any size the game has first claim on.  Does it matter?  As long as thing's stay as they are no, but football has banished artificial pitches and wouldn't be adverse to retaining sole use of its pitches, big payers like the NFL aside, which excludes RL. Interesting times.

[M j M]

8 minutes ago, Clogiron said:

So we have Wigan, Huddersfield, & Hull who were all supposed to be in joint ventures in their new stadium's beholden to the Football clubs along with Rochdale & Doncaster at a lower level, will York be the same? You can't argue with the money that soccer is awash with but to behind Women's football, which I don't recall being on the agenda of  LSV initially, really does show how far the game has sunk. I thought Wigan was supposed to be a Rugby hotbed, one of the games biggest clubs etc, etc not behind a level three(?) football team. Don't others like Widnes & St Helens host reserve games and then there's Sheffield hoping to use a facility for a women's football team, I wouldn't call it a ground by any stretch of the imagination, so Headingley is the only ground of any size the game has first claim on.  Does it matter?  As long as thing's stay as they are no, but football has banished artificial pitches and wouldn't be adverse to retaining sole use of its pitches, big payers like the NFL aside, which excludes RL. Interesting times.

Wigan was never a joint venture with the RL club.

At Hull and Huddersfield the soccer clubs have managed to end up with the upper hand (Hull obviously much worse for various reasons).

I don't think there are huge issues with stadium shares outside Hull and Wigan and it really isn't the "state of the game" issue which you'd like to portray.

[RP London]

10 minutes ago, Clogiron said:

So we have Wigan, Huddersfield, & Hull who were all supposed to be in joint ventures in their new stadium's beholden to the Football clubs along with Rochdale & Doncaster at a lower level, will York be the same? You can't argue with the money that soccer is awash with but to behind Women's football, which I don't recall being on the agenda of  LSV initially, really does show how far the game has sunk. I thought Wigan was supposed to be a Rugby hotbed, one of the games biggest clubs etc, etc not behind a level three(?) football team. Don't others like Widnes & St Helens host reserve games and then there's Sheffield hoping to use a facility for a women's football team, I wouldn't call it a ground by any stretch of the imagination, so Headingley is the only ground of any size the game has first claim on.  Does it matter?  As long as thing's stay as they are no, but football has banished artificial pitches and wouldn't be adverse to retaining sole use of its pitches, big payers like the NFL aside, which excludes RL. Interesting times.

I think your making it a little bit more than it really is.

For Super League matches the games are normally planned around the calendar that is in front form them... therefore the ground shares are not a massive issue, slight minor ones yes but nothing major. The one mentioned here was not why Leigh cannot play at home but why, in a global pandemic and in unprecedented times, the LSV cannot stage triple headers and full weekends of fixtures.. and until it was just mentioned I am sure you hadnt lost a moments sleep over it.

The Emirates, Olympic Stadium, Old trafford, Hull, Bolton (macron/uni of stadium), Elland Road, Bramall Lane, St James Park etc have all/will all be used for international matches, cup semis, cup finals.. without much of a hassle as long as you dont want to clash with football.. 

For the most part it really isnt a problem.. it is rare we are told to sling our hooks just because.. 

Grand scheme of things i think your making mt everest out of, not even, a mole hill.

[GUBRATS]

9 hours ago, Mattrhino said:

Because showing our showpiece games in a flatpack community stadium in a small town no one has heard of is ridiculous. 

 

So I take it you won't be watching it in protest ?

[meast]

21 hours ago, yipyee said:

St Helens and Warrington are not in Lancashire.

Neither is Wigan, Widnes or Leigh, which is why I used "Lancashire" instead of Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside.

[meast]

12 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

Ring them and ask ?

Some right whingebags on here , what bloody difference does it make where its played , seriously ?

I guess with the thread title being about cup semi finals, some sense of neutrality and fairness would probably be the difference it makes.

You're welcome

[Barley Mow]

1 minute ago, meast said:

Neither is Wigan or Leigh, which is why I used "Lancashire" instead of Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside.

It's probably been said on the forum before considering how often we head off down the same rabbit holes, but we have 10 pro/semi-pro clubs in the traditional county of Lancashire, but not a single one in the area currently run by Lancs County Council.

[meast]

4 minutes ago, Barley Mow said:

It's probably been said on the forum before considering how often we head off down the same rabbit holes, but we have 10 pro/semi-pro clubs in the traditional county of Lancashire, but not a single one in the area currently run by Lancs County Council.

Yep, which is why I used "Lancashire" in reference to teams based West of the great divide, some people are just pedantic though

[GUBRATS]

19 minutes ago, meast said:

I guess with the thread title being about cup semi finals, some sense of neutrality and fairness would probably be the difference it makes.

You're welcome

Are Leigh in the semi's ? , Nope , so it's a neutral venue , as for ' fairness ' ? , Seriously 

[meast]

16 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Are Leigh in the semi's ? , Nope , so it's a neutral venue , as for ' fairness ' ? , Seriously 

I wasn't specifically referring to Leigh, more geographical fairness and neutrality

[GUBRATS]

14 minutes ago, meast said:

I wasn't specifically referring to Leigh, more geographical fairness and neutrality

And that is always the case is it ? , Was Leigh playing a home game against Wigan at Leeds fair ? , Was Leeds playing an away fixture against Wakey at Headingley fair ? 

[M j M]

13 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

And that is always the case is it ? , Was Leigh playing a home game against Wigan at Leeds fair ? , Was Leeds playing an away fixture against Wakey at Headingley fair ? 

What on earth do games played behind closed doors during a pandemic have to do with the location of Challenge Cup semis played in front of actual spectators?

[GUBRATS]

2 minutes ago, M j M said:

What on earth do games played behind closed doors during a pandemic have to do with the location of Challenge Cup semis played in front of actual spectators?

Brilliant , it's over , can you ring Boris and tell him then 

Utter male genitals 

 

[M j M]

23 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Brilliant , it's over , can you ring Boris and tell him then 

Utter male genitals 

 

You don't have to take every post as some sort of veiled criticism of Leigh.

[GUBRATS]

1 minute ago, M j M said:

You don't have to take every post as some sort of veiled criticism of Leigh.

I won't if people stop making them 

[Old Frightful]

On 12/05/2021 at 19:21, Davo5 said:

Stick & wrong end comes to mind 

Please explain what you inferred with your "Nowt like getting the excuses in early,dear me." offering then.

 

[Old Frightful]

6 hours ago, M j M said:

You don't have to take every post as some sort of veiled criticism of Leigh.

Indeed.

6 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

I won't if people stop making them 

Aside from Mattrhino's unfortunate snipe at Leigh, I think most of the criticism of the LSV as choice of venue is simply down to it's geographical location. If, as has already been suggested, only a maximum of 4,000 people are allowed to attend then your stadium would be a perfect choice had it been somewhere around the Bradford area, even though that is still closer to St Helens than Hull.

In a sport that has great difficulty getting spectators through the turnstiles for RL Cup semi finals, to ask two sets of fans to travel a dozen or so miles to attend and the other two sets of fans to travel between sixty and over a hundred miles to attend seems absurd to me.

[Rupert Prince]

Somewhat off topic,  and it does not warrant a full blown one, I saw the second half of the FA Cup Final. A exciting last 5 minutes.   Dubious off side not given... but my thoughts are about the post match. 

Good luck to Leicester they are entitled to enjoy it they and fans did nothing wrong.  But.  The post match celebrations for me went on far too long before even the cup was presented.   And this was presented on a dias, a nondescript platform, surrounded in a sea of what looked like manic urchins.

The TV had to grab people in front of the camera  long before the presentation (and player could not hear properly, and had little to say anyway other than hello mum), all giving an air of a bun fight.

No sense of ritual or occasion at all.  I will always remember Bobby Moore walking up the hallowed steps, wiping his hands before meeting the Queen and lifting the trophy.   TV has made presenting the Cup into like getting a ticket off a bus conductor.

Whoever wins the Challenge Cup, I hope it is produced and presented with some class.   However after today I think the omens are not good.

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, Rupert Prince said:

Somewhat off topic,  and it does not warrant a full blown one, I saw the second half of the FA Cup Final. A exciting last 5 minutes.   Dubious off side not given... but my thoughts are about the post match. 

Good luck to Leicester they are entitled to enjoy it they and fans did nothing wrong.  But.  The post match celebrations for me went on far too long before even the cup was presented.   And this was presented on a dias, a nondescript platform, surrounded in a sea of what looked like manic urchins.

The TV had to grab people in front of the camera  long before the presentation (and player could not hear properly, and had little to say anyway other than hello mum), all giving an air of a bun fight.

No sense of ritual or occasion at all.  I will always remember Bobby Moore walking up the hallowed steps, wiping his hands before meeting the Queen and lifting the trophy.   TV has made presenting the Cup into like getting a ticket off a bus conductor.

Whoever wins the Challenge Cup, I hope it is produced and presented with some class.   However after today I think the omens are not good.

Covid 

[yipyee]

On 13/05/2021 at 20:16, meast said:

Yep, which is why I used "Lancashire" in reference to teams based West of the great divide, some people are just pedantic though

Hardly being pedantic, not a single pro club in lancashire so why continue using that terminology.

I dont see myself as a lancastrian as I am sure most under the age of 50 wont which is why roses games are dead and will never work

[M j M]

Strange is it not how they ever get people to attend cricket matches if Lancashire barely exists.

[Just Browny]

1 hour ago, Rupert Prince said:

Somewhat off topic,  and it does not warrant a full blown one, I saw the second half of the FA Cup Final. A exciting last 5 minutes.   Dubious off side not given... but my thoughts are about the post match. 

Good luck to Leicester they are entitled to enjoy it they and fans did nothing wrong.  But.  The post match celebrations for me went on far too long before even the cup was presented.   And this was presented on a dias, a nondescript platform, surrounded in a sea of what looked like manic urchins.

The TV had to grab people in front of the camera  long before the presentation (and player could not hear properly, and had little to say anyway other than hello mum), all giving an air of a bun fight.

No sense of ritual or occasion at all.  I will always remember Bobby Moore walking up the hallowed steps, wiping his hands before meeting the Queen and lifting the trophy.   TV has made presenting the Cup into like getting a ticket off a bus conductor.

Whoever wins the Challenge Cup, I hope it is produced and presented with some class.   However after today I think the omens are not good.

I see you don't enjoy football any more than you do rugby. There was a lot to enjoy about that ending and the emotion on show, and not just Chelsea being denied an equaliser that would have stood if common sense was allowed to apply.

[GUBRATS]

25 minutes ago, M j M said:

Strange is it not how they ever get people to attend cricket matches if Lancashire barely exists.

I consider myself Lancastrian , not Greater Manchestrian , or Mancunian