CHALLENGE CUP finals day provided late drama, scintillating tries, history made and rain – lots and lots of rain.
Here are six noteable things that happened over that weekend that may have gone under the radar.
SERVICE OF REMEMBRANCE
THE day before the fans descended on Wembley, representatives from the RFL and the six finalists involved paid their respects to our fallen heroes as part of the sport’s annual Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in central London.
The 11am ceremony, which is unique to rugby league, saw a two-minute silence, a sounding of the Last Post, and wreaths laid on behalf of multiple areas of the game.
WELSH HISTORY-MAKER
WALES Rugby League has finally got its first Women’s Challenge Cup winner.
After Leeds Rhinos’ Welsh international Bethan Dainton finished as a runner up in 2023 and 2024, Cerys Marsh went one better, coming off the bench for Wigan as they picked up a 42-6 win over St Helens.
Marsh’s Wales team-mate Dani McGifford also featured in the game, starting on the wing for St Helens, but, like Dainton, had to settle for a runners-up medal.
FANS TURN OUT IN NUMBERS
A CROWD of 63,278 were in attendance to witness three very different but also very special games under the Wembley arch.
That represents the second highest Cup Final attendance since 2017. Many may have moved on elsewhere ahead of the 1895 Cup Final kicking off, but the Women’s final continues to generate interest with 8,810 people already inside the stadium as Wigan lifted the trophy for the first time in their history.
LIZZIE JONES’ GROWN-UP TWINS
TEN years on from Lizzie Jones reducing Wembley to tears as she sang ‘Abide With Me’ a matter of months after the tragic death of her husband Danny, she was back again.
As were those two little babies she cradled as she left the pitch after that emotional performance. All grown up and decked out in Keighley shirts in honour of their late father, Bobby and Phoebe proudly walked out onto the Wembley turf alongside their mum.
HULL KR’S CELEBRITY FAN
TENS of thousands of Hull KR fans made the trip down to the national stadium to cheer Willie Peters and the boys to Cup glory.
But in amongst them was one face that some people may have recognised. Coronation Street star and Hull KR supporter Mikey North (aka Gary Windass, for those who know the ITV soap) was spotted in the crowd celebrating as Elliot Minchella left the field with the Challenge Cup trophy held aloft.
NO TRY RARITY
IT IS not often that a game of rugby league will end without a try being scored, and it’s happened even less in a cup final at Wembley.
But that’s exactly what happened as York won the 1895 Cup with a 5-4 golden point win over Featherstone.
We can only find evidence of it happening once before – the 1954 Challenge Cup Final – when Warrington and Halifax played out a 4-4 draw, before Warrington went on to win the replay at Odsal.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 510 (July 2025)