Sat 8th Jun: Betfred Challenge Cup Final: Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors KO 15:00 (BBC)

[sentoffagain2]

5 hours ago, bobbruce said:

I think his grandad was an American football player and his dad a musician from America who toured over here. Although I may have that the wrong way round. 

   His grandad Champion Jack Dupree was an American blues pianist and singer.Champion because Joe Louis advised him to take up boxing,he did and had over a hundred fights winning the Golden Gloves title.He served his country in WW11 and after toured Europe.After meeting Tylors grandmother in London they settled down in Halifax.Jack Duprees brother was an American football player,playing in 1979 80 and 81 Super Bowls for The Dallas Cowboys winning the first against Denver Broncos and losing the next 2 to Pittsburg Steelers.His grandad and grandma split up after Tylors mum was born .Quite a pedigree but i think that is why the American flag.

[The Masked Poster]

This was the first game I've watched since last years GF and to be blunt, it was pretty dire. But that's ok, they happen- most major football finals are pretty boring. 
But the crowd looked pretty bad, and the whole thing just felt like a non event. RL just can't afford to ride out things where both the crowd and game are poor. 

Sorry but RL really is in trouble. And that gives me absolutely no pleasure to say - but only a handful of Kool Aid drinkers on here could argue otherwise. 
 

Sad. 

[burningmuscles]

6 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Poor game for the neutral. Bags of effort but not much craft or skill on display. What happened to the days when the RL cup final followed the football cup final and massively out shone it as a spectacle ? 

Probably before Michael Maguire became Wigan coach in 2010.

[gittinsfan]

Does anyone agree with me that RL  Challenge cup games were far more entertaing before Super League.

Some of the games in the 60s, 70s and 80s were far more thrilling than what we see now.

I will wait patiently to be shot down in flames.

[The Masked Poster]

1 minute ago, gittinsfan said:

Does anyone agree with me that RL  Challenge cup games were far more entertaing before Super League.

Some of the games in the 60s, 70s and 80s were far more thrilling than what we see now.

I will wait patiently to be shot down in flames.

Nonsense. There have been many great CC Finals in the SL era, there really has. But it is just not what it was and the decline has been quite rapid, I certainly wouldn't have envisaged such a poor crowd between 2 clubs with very respectable support. 
The problem you have is that moving it to a stadium with 50k capacity doesn't guarantee a sell out, it just helps accelerate the race to the bottom.

[moorside roughyed]

6 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

To be absolutely honest never expected them to be against Wigan. I saw a mate - staunch wire fan - in Tesco on Thursday prior to him going down to London  I threw him a man sized box of tissues advising him he would need those on Saturday.

How kind of you .

[JonM]

1 hour ago, The Masked Poster said:

 

But the crowd looked pretty bad, and the whole thing just felt like a non event. RL just can't afford to ride out things where both the crowd and game are poor. 

Looked and sounded great inside the ground.

[The British Lion]

Firstly, as a Wire fan, congratulations to Wigan on their win, who were by far the better team. The yards they made each play, and more impressively, I felt they found us out with their defensive strategy. Wigans defence kept arching up to each wing to block the standard play we usually employ, every time. Their line speed was immense. Wigans intensity forced Warrington's inexperienced big game team (on the whole, not every player) to panic and play conservatively combined.

Warrington's kicking game was extremely poor, as was their execution of seeing out their sets, and game management- but full credit to Wigan for that. We were outclassed on the day for sure.

Its hard to comment as a fan on the end of a loss with the hope it would attain an objective of critique of the final itself.

But, truly honestly. For the first time i sat way up in the higher tier (the side that actually had a crowd). The event itself felt faulty, without build up, and actually unlike an event. Yes - we come to watch a game of Rugby League - but for everything else that happens it just felt a bit lacking (if I was to take the neutral fan to mind). I really genuinely hope the Burrow family feel honoured with all that happened also.

If I was a Wigan fan, I'd be extremely happy and celebrating a dominant win - and rightly so. Wire team were not on the occasion today for whatever reason, but likely, big game management experience, and thats ok. 

Congrats to Wigan- and as Im sure with all Wire fans of an age, when will the tide change in the big finals, who knows.

Finally, as a fan with a neutral hat on, big work to do to make the Challenge Cup Final a capacity event. It was a shame to see from the other side where I was sat the whole top tier blank of fans. Also, we cannot rely on Abide with Me, and a national anthem sing song to create an event the neutral fan will buy a ticket for.

 

[JohnM]

4 hours ago, gittinsfan said:

Does anyone agree with me that RL  Challenge cup games were far more entertaing before Super League.

Some of the games in the 60s, 70s and 80s were far more thrilling than what we see now.

I will wait patiently to be shot down in flames.

No need to wait. 

[JohnM]

4 hours ago, The Masked Poster said:

This was the first game I've watched since last years GF and to be blunt, it was pretty dire. But that's ok, they happen- most major football finals are pretty boring. 
But the crowd looked pretty bad, and the whole thing just felt like a non event. RL just can't afford to ride out things where both the crowd and game are poor. 

Sorry but RL really is in trouble. And that gives me absolutely no pleasure to say - but only a handful of Kool Aid drinkers on here could argue otherwise. 
 

Sad. 

Bad? They looked good  to me. No one wearing ankle tags or cuffs as far as I could tell. 

Why this insane competition to rubbish the occasion, location, crowd,  quality of play etc. ?

Sure, be free to be critical but try to base the criticism on fact.

Here's an idea: buy looser underpants and experience the feeling of freedom. ,

ENJOY YOURSELVES....ITS LATER THSTN YOU THINK.

[The Masked Poster]

6 hours ago, JonM said:

Looked and sounded great inside the ground.

Possibly did where you were sat and I'm glad you enjoyed it. But the overall perception from a TV viewer was of a half empty stadium and a sport that can no longer muster enough support, even from 2 of its best supported clubs - we can't blame this on Catalans now. It may sound like heresy but it needs to move away from Wembley. 

[Fevrover]

7 hours ago, Odsal Outlaw said:

I think the challenge cup has huge value to the sport, it’s a competition with great heritage and I think good public awareness.

But it’s lost its way. It’s now become just a match at Wembley. It’s not an event. The RFL’s definition of an event is to add more games. Next year we need a crowd of 70k? Let’s play a quadruple header!

It needs to become an event that a neutral wants to attend regardless of the teams but because of the overall experience. RL events can be incredibly flat and cheap and so you then get the situation where you struggle to attract more than fans of the teams involved at any scale.

Also agree with the comments that unfortunately the product on the field is on the slide as well due to the new rules or at least new interpretations of the rules.

All is not lost though, we just need someone to really grab the sport by the scruff of the neck. The current admin seem invisible and devoid of any ideas.

Having said all that, it will still be the second best attended game of RL in Europe this year. Only a fool would get rid of that!

Congrats to Wigan!

I thought IMG were being paid to grab the sport by the stuff of the neck ?

[The Masked Poster]

2 hours ago, JohnM said:

Bad? They looked good  to me. No one wearing ankle tags or cuffs as far as I could tell. 

Why this insane competition to rubbish the occasion, location, crowd,  quality of play etc. ?

Sure, be free to be critical but try to base the criticism on fact.

Here's an idea: buy looser underpants and experience the feeling of freedom. ,

ENJOY YOURSELVES....ITS LATER THSTN YOU THINK.

Yeah, let's pretend that filling (or almost filling) the stadium is of no importance. I'm sure you would enjoy the game if it were played on a park in Oldham but unfortunately the wider public aren't buying into it. 
I AM basing it on facts - it was a pretty rubbish game and looked half empty. It could ride out the fact that game was poor but the combination of a poor crowd as well makes it silly to just pretend all is well.

[Dave T]

People need to chill out about finals and quality of them just because yesterday wasn't a classic. 

6 of the last 8 finals have been decided by one score, a couple of them by one point. The Challenge Cup has delivered plenty of great finals in recent years. 

[Dave T]

Without taking this cross code, people comparing the IT and BBC games should remember that the ITV game was the Grand Final, their domestic cup is dead, although replaced by a Euro Cup. 

And they are playing at their 'home' whereas we are trying to cling on to this 'RL pilgrimage' concept. 

[gingerjon]

7 hours ago, The Masked Poster said:

This was the first game I've watched since last years GF

That's quite a lot of rugby to miss. Why haven't you been interested?

[Damien]

7 hours ago, gittinsfan said:

Does anyone agree with me that RL  Challenge cup games were far more entertaing before Super League.

Some of the games in the 60s, 70s and 80s were far more thrilling than what we see now.

I will wait patiently to be shot down in flames.

There's been plenty of entertaining finals since then. Sure yesterday wasn't a classic but not every final of the 60s, 70s and 80s was either.

[JohnM]

1 hour ago, The Masked Poster said:

Yeah, let's pretend that filling (or almost filling) the stadium is of no importance. I'm sure you would enjoy the game if it were played on a park in Oldham but unfortunately the wider public aren't buying into it. 
I AM basing it on facts - it was a pretty rubbish game and looked half empty. It could ride out the fact that game was poor but the combination of a poor crowd as well makes it silly to just pretend all is well.

No one is pretending "all is well", not least when we have once-a-year fans to joyfully proclaim how bad things are.

[graveyard johnny]

52 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

That's quite a lot of rugby to miss. Why haven't you been interested?

I am also not as interested as I  used to be - it all seems so stop start and predictable -as if we have become like RU  while they have become more like us- has the game changed or have I changed?  

[Nate90]

What an awesome day out at Wembley to see Wigan beat Warrington to lift the Challenge Cup Final for a record extending 21st time.

There were also some lovely tributes to the late Leeds great Rob Burrow.

Rugby League surely is the best sport in the world.

Edited June 9, 2024 by Nate90
Grammar

[The Masked Poster]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

That's quite a lot of rugby to miss. Why haven't you been interested?

It's mainly a personal thing down to my life circumstances but the main reason that it's more or less dropped off my radar is that I don't think the game is as good as it used to be, for a myriad of reasons. 
I honestly didn't even know that it was the CC Final until I saw an advert for the game. This is just my opinion. 

[The Masked Poster]

1 hour ago, JohnM said:

No one is pretending "all is well", not least when we have once-a-year fans to joyfully proclaim how bad things are.

And sneering at "once a year" fans is maybe part of the reason why we have half full CC Finals. 

[Harry Stottle]

16 hours ago, EastLondonMike said:

I do feel the way rules of the game are interpreted in 2024 is having a negative effect on the entertainment value. Evidenced in parts today

Hi Mike, couldn't agree with you more but I think that this season is just tipping a toe into the waters of what is to come next year when any shoulder contact will be an automatic free kick, Cooper was dismissed for 10 yesterday because Thewlis put his own head (nothing whatsoever to do with any action by Cooper) into the region where his midriff would have been and where Cooper would have contacted him had Thewlis stayed upright, next season in such a situation if the head is missed and there is contact with the shoulder then that will also be a free kick, no more placing hands on the shoulders from behind to pull a man down, no more 'collaring' by grabbing the shirt high up, no more hitting on the very upper chest region as we see quite a lot with an arm going over and across the shoulder, any contact has to be from the armpit down.

Edited June 9, 2024 by Harry Stottle

[The Masked Poster]

2 hours ago, Dave T said:

People need to chill out about finals and quality of them just because yesterday wasn't a classic. 

6 of the last 8 finals have been decided by one score, a couple of them by one point. The Challenge Cup has delivered plenty of great finals in recent years. 

I definitely aren't reacting solely based on the match itself, there's been plenty of classics and duds, they happen. The Champions League final the other year between Spurs and Liverpool for example, was a complete snooze fest.

But the decline in crowds cannot be brushed aside as a one off or a smaller club playing and bringing not many fans, it seems to be an irreversible slide now. People are willing to spend money- and big money at that - to attend big events today. Yet they seem to be not interested in RL big games. I think rather than boosting the crowds, having 3 games on one day is undermining the actual main event. 

The overriding feeling I was left with yesterday was one of sadness about where the game is. Which is maybe strange as I'm no longer an active RL supporter but after so many years of following the game I suppose it's ingrained. 

[ELBOWSEYE]

13 minutes ago, The Masked Poster said:

And sneering at "once a year" fans is maybe part of the reason why we have half full CC Finals. 

Definition of half full is 50%, the crowd was 72% of capacity. I attended yesterday the occasion was special and touching. The tribute outside and inside Wembley was brilliant fans of all colours talking and showings respect no shouting or animosity.

All though Warrington lost against a deserved Wigan it didn't put a dampener on an outstanding event. Seat counters obviously failed to grasp what was happening but that is their fault not the games.