Any idea when we'll know CC Semi Final Venue(s)?

[Just Browny]

6 minutes ago, johnh1 said:

I expect Headingley to be one of them if one or both of the Hull clubs go through. Then Warrington or Saints for the other. No need for permission from a football club then.

Probably right, but if it's Warrington v Saints they will need a Leigh or Widnes. Proving my point that there's no point deciding venues when many of the potential hosts are still in the cup!

[M j M]

Where would an FC vs KR neutral venue game be played nowadays?

[Gav Wilson]

26 minutes ago, M j M said:

Where would an FC vs KR neutral venue game be played nowadays?

If they had any common sense it would be the MKM Stadium with a 50/50 split.

[Harry Stottle]

11 hours ago, yipyee said:

You can of its a RL venue which is where it tends to be, wazza,  saints, Leeds etc..

Suppose they could book west Yorkshire venues now as they are central and would be neutral 

By West Yorkshire venues you mean Huddersfield or Leeds don't you, there are no other candidates are there? and no disrepect to York but I would say there are two West of the Pennines clubs already in the semis with the winner of the Wigan v Wire game, and York will not beat Leigh, and there is no saying that Saints and Salford will not make it 4 North West teams, but then again any of the Hull clubs could get there maybe both, it is better to wait till the 1/4's have been played then name the venues.

[Just Browny]

3 hours ago, RP London said:

When looking at current crowds its tough to say as the last few have been double headers which (excepting 2020 and 2021 for obvious reason) have been 20-25k.. 

pre that the semi finals were 10k and 15k... all the information is on Wikipedia if anyone can be bothered to go through year by year.. but that give the general theme at the moment.. going too far back and you start mixing eras and thats hard to then judge today on really. 

The key to getting 20k+ is, to start, holding it in grounds that can handle 20k+... 2017 had one held at the Helliwell Jones which is a 15k stadium.. 2016 was 10k and 10k held at grounds with a 12k and 15k capacity etc.. 

The general CC issues are being covered on another thread and there is a combination of those plus the right teams getting to that stage (different games should have different aims). 

Its not that far off to be honest but general interest in the cup needs to rise to get those semi-final crowds up along with the game itself being a bit more unique, it can be, sometimes, one of 5 times a season those teams play each other, thats far too many which is why the cup itself needs to be raised in profile to make it more unique of an occasion .. oh and make it an occasion not just a match. 

I don't think I fully agree.

There have been big efforts to increase semi final crowds and we have tried every size of ground.

Ultimately you are asking two sets of fans to go away from home, so if you get 5,000 - 8,000 from each participating club (and this is only really likely for about eight teams) you have done extremely well and delivered an all-pay crowd of 10-18k.

In 2009 Wire played Wigan at Widnes. Everyone thought that was too small a ground and we could have sold out Old Trafford for such a big game. As it was, we sold out our allocation and Wigan didn't quite sell out theirs. What you ended up with was a (basically) full, vibrant crowd and a wonderful atmosphere. That's the realistic level of ambition for a semi final crowd now. Double headers and cavernous grounds won't work.

[RP London]

22 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

I don't think I fully agree.

There have been big efforts to increase semi final crowds and we have tried every size of ground.

Ultimately you are asking two sets of fans to go away from home, so if you get 5,000 - 8,000 from each participating club (and this is only really likely for about eight teams) you have done extremely well and delivered an all-pay crowd of 10-18k.

In 2009 Wire played Wigan at Widnes. Everyone thought that was too small a ground and we could have sold out Old Trafford for such a big game. As it was, we sold out our allocation and Wigan didn't quite sell out theirs. What you ended up with was a (basically) full, vibrant crowd and a wonderful atmosphere. That's the realistic level of ambition for a semi final crowd now. Double headers and cavernous grounds won't work.

Sorry I think you misunderstood my point/I didnt explain it very well. 

My point on the grounds was that we cannot get 20k+ if the ground doesn't hold more than 15k thats just a physical impossibility. I dont think we are in the wrong grounds, the attendances say we are not as we havent sold one out yet.. but simply if we want 20k we cannot get it in a 15,330 capacity ground. 

The rest of it we need to look at all the other things already being covered on the other thread but that its not impossible, lets fill the grounds we're using and then move up from there. 

[daz39]

4 hours ago, M j M said:

Where would an FC vs KR neutral venue game be played nowadays?

Amsterdam

[meast]

7 hours ago, M j M said:

Where would an FC vs KR neutral venue game be played nowadays?

Bruges or Rotterdam?

[redjonn]

40 minutes ago, meast said:

Bruges or Rotterdam?

or anywhere, Liverpool, or Rome....because Rotterdam is ...........

[sam4731]

8 hours ago, Just Browny said:

Probably right, but if it's Warrington v Saints they will need a Leigh or Widnes. Proving my point that there's no point deciding venues when many of the potential hosts are still in the cup!

Or just book completely neutral venues before the season starts?

[GUBRATS]

24 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

Or just book completely neutral venues before the season starts?

Where ? 

 

[sam4731]

30 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Where ? 

 

I mean do I have to list every stadium in the country. I mean I know they are not all suitable but surely there are enough that are, but I have to say that off the top my head I couldn't list them.

[GUBRATS]

1 hour ago, sam4731 said:

I mean do I have to list every stadium in the country. I mean I know they are not all suitable but surely there are enough that are, but I have to say that off the top my head I couldn't list them.

Be a lot easier to sort when we know who's playing who 

Lock it 

[RP London]

11 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

Where ? 

 

Anywhere but home

[whatmichaelsays]

14 hours ago, meast said:

Bruges

Tough now that the Zeebrugge ferry has gone. 

[The Masked Poster]

I remember being at a jam packed McAlpine (as it was then) for an epic Leeds/Bradford semi final in 1999. It was a close game that Leeds won but I seem to remember a bit of controversy?

Either way, my point is that this seems like it was a dream now. I was with a bunch of work related people (non locals) and they absolutely loved it. One of them was a Scottish guy who was instantly converted and became a raving RL fan on the spot. He subsequently moved back to his home area and I suspect (but don't know for definite) that he would have drifted away from the game. 

We still had some poor attendances then of course, the difference being that we don't even seem able to whip up decent attendances for these one offs anymore.

[M j M]

1 hour ago, The Masked Poster said:

I remember being at a jam packed McAlpine (as it was then) for an epic Leeds/Bradford semi final in 1999. It was a close game that Leeds won but I seem to remember a bit of controversy?

No controversy. That Bradford team went 10-0 up and then choked, as they often did.

[whatmichaelsays]

28 minutes ago, M j M said:

No controversy. That Bradford team went 10-0 up and then choked, as they often did.

The year after against Hull was a bit more, ahem, "interesting".....

[The Masked Poster]

1 hour ago, M j M said:

No controversy. That Bradford team went 10-0 up and then choked, as they often did.

As I recall, there was an incident where Leeds scored and the Bradford players thought the game had stopped or something like that? I was not in the seats so couldn’t see exactly what happened but there was something, even if it wasn’t exactly a controversy. I was going to make a joke about it being a long time ago, until I realised that it actually WAS a long time ago - 24 years incredibly. 
 

However, I’m not sure your “often choking” analogy holds up to examination, certainly not against Leeds. But that’s not my reason for contributing. 

[yipyee]

On 25/05/2023 at 13:05, Harry Stottle said:

By West Yorkshire venues you mean Huddersfield or Leeds don't you, there are no other candidates are there? and no disrepect to York but I would say there are two West of the Pennines clubs already in the semis with the winner of the Wigan v Wire game, and York will not beat Leigh, and there is no saying that Saints and Salford will not make it 4 North West teams, but then again any of the Hull clubs could get there maybe both, it is better to wait till the 1/4's have been played then name the venues.

Could realistically have saints wire or leigh depending on the draw, 

[Gavin Harrison]

If FC or KR win absolutely go to Headingley. Only stadium worthy.

If all Lancashire,  use HJ/TW/AJ Bell

 

 

[Old Frightful]

On 25/05/2023 at 12:20, M j M said:

Where would an FC vs KR neutral venue game be played nowadays?

I'd be happy with Wembley but I'm not sure if it's big enough.

[whatmichaelsays]

On 26/05/2023 at 13:12, The Masked Poster said:

As I recall, there was an incident where Leeds scored and the Bradford players thought the game had stopped or something like that? I was not in the seats so couldn’t see exactly what happened but there was something, even if it wasn’t exactly a controversy. I was going to make a joke about it being a long time ago, until I realised that it actually WAS a long time ago - 24 years incredibly. 

The incident I think you're recalling is a Ryan Sheridan ball steal (a perfectly fair one), which left him running to the line unopposed. 

[M j M]

The Bullies of that era typically started red  hot and blew teams away. Keep them to under a 12 point lead in that opening phase and, as their big forwards started blowing, the game often would come to the opposition. So it was in that game.

[The Masked Poster]

19 hours ago, whatmichaelsays said:

The incident I think you're recalling is a Ryan Sheridan ball steal (a perfectly fair one), which left him running to the line unopposed. 

Yes that's the one. Now you say that I remember it more, he stole the ball which Bradford assumed was illegal and switched off. Cheers bud.