The Challenge Cup was performed on Thursday afternoon and it threw up some interesting fixtures for both amateur and National League teams. Firstly Celtic will face off against Lokomotiv Moscow, Salford host Warrington Wizards at The Willows, Pia travel to Gateshead as do Toulouse and Lezignan at Keighley and Sheffield. These are the key fixtures that stand out in this round. The ties are to be played on the weekend commencing 8th March meaning the fourth round draw will be held on the 10th March, somewhere.
However if you look at the full draw you may notice there is only one all NL tie, which is Blackpool and Featherstone. This is because of a stupid and obscure tournament rule that prevents there being an all amateur fixture. Why, I hear you ask? Well from my understanding which is based on common sense (something the RFL has been lacking in the past) is that there is a minimal possibility of an amateur team getting whitewashed against a Super League side. You can understand that, surely. It keeps the tournament interesting and separates the amateurs from the professionals, the men from the boys so to speak. Under the current format there are three pots, one containing NL clubs, one containing amateur and overseas clubs and another that determines where the tie is played. Two teams are picked out from the first two pots and the final pot determines if the NL side play at home or away. Neither of this matters if the NL side are faced with a Russian or French team as these games are played at the NL club’s home ground. And so after all that I repeat the question, why?
Warrington Wizards, when they were known as Woolston Rovers in 2000 or 2001, were drew against the main club in Warrington during the fourth round draw and quite a few spectators turned up to watch the mis-matched derby. It provided the Woolston outfit with a huge sum of money from gate receipts as it was a Woolston home tie. I’ll admit they had to rent the ground out for a day costing them money but in return they were floating in a whole lot more cash than when they won their third round game which at the time was a free draw. But now it is unlikely to happen again and I’m pretty sure the amateur clubs would rather get a hundred put past them than lose the chance for a nice cut from their match’s gate receipts. The money they can earn from that one game against a SL outfit can provide money for financial stability, security and can even be used to improve the clubs facilities which in turn will attract more players to the club whether it be open age or at youth and junior level. This in turn provides more income because the club is earning more subs from the players.
Apart from the above, where is the fairness in the competition and how does it effect an amateur player’s morale knowing the best opposition he can play against is a NL club with no more than a few hundred watching. I know its more than what they usually get at this level but when you are in the same competition as those clubs that are attracting attendances that are in the thousands, it doesn’t quite feel the same for the player and this has to be the biggest point of all. The magic of the Challenge Cup is being filtered out at this stage of the competition as unknown sides are unable to progress. They probably wouldn’t be able to progress into the fourth round if the were tied against a NL club anyway, but if we had a free third round draw then the chances of an amateur side making it into the fourth round significantly improve. So much so, it can be almost like a fairy tale for the players, coaches and key members at the club to go through such an ordeal rubbing shoulders with the big boys of Rugby League. Imagine if the Football Association were to adopt such a ruling in the FA Cup. For starters, Havant & Waterlooville would not have made it into the stage of the competition they did. And I feel this is where the magic of any cup competition lies, its outside amateurs playing against full blown professionals.
It’s the type of magic Harry Potter couldn’t produce. So why have the RFL expelled it from our sport?
However if you look at the full draw you may notice there is only one all NL tie, which is Blackpool and Featherstone. This is because of a stupid and obscure tournament rule that prevents there being an all amateur fixture. Why, I hear you ask? Well from my understanding which is based on common sense (something the RFL has been lacking in the past) is that there is a minimal possibility of an amateur team getting whitewashed against a Super League side. You can understand that, surely. It keeps the tournament interesting and separates the amateurs from the professionals, the men from the boys so to speak. Under the current format there are three pots, one containing NL clubs, one containing amateur and overseas clubs and another that determines where the tie is played. Two teams are picked out from the first two pots and the final pot determines if the NL side play at home or away. Neither of this matters if the NL side are faced with a Russian or French team as these games are played at the NL club’s home ground. And so after all that I repeat the question, why?
Warrington Wizards, when they were known as Woolston Rovers in 2000 or 2001, were drew against the main club in Warrington during the fourth round draw and quite a few spectators turned up to watch the mis-matched derby. It provided the Woolston outfit with a huge sum of money from gate receipts as it was a Woolston home tie. I’ll admit they had to rent the ground out for a day costing them money but in return they were floating in a whole lot more cash than when they won their third round game which at the time was a free draw. But now it is unlikely to happen again and I’m pretty sure the amateur clubs would rather get a hundred put past them than lose the chance for a nice cut from their match’s gate receipts. The money they can earn from that one game against a SL outfit can provide money for financial stability, security and can even be used to improve the clubs facilities which in turn will attract more players to the club whether it be open age or at youth and junior level. This in turn provides more income because the club is earning more subs from the players.
Apart from the above, where is the fairness in the competition and how does it effect an amateur player’s morale knowing the best opposition he can play against is a NL club with no more than a few hundred watching. I know its more than what they usually get at this level but when you are in the same competition as those clubs that are attracting attendances that are in the thousands, it doesn’t quite feel the same for the player and this has to be the biggest point of all. The magic of the Challenge Cup is being filtered out at this stage of the competition as unknown sides are unable to progress. They probably wouldn’t be able to progress into the fourth round if the were tied against a NL club anyway, but if we had a free third round draw then the chances of an amateur side making it into the fourth round significantly improve. So much so, it can be almost like a fairy tale for the players, coaches and key members at the club to go through such an ordeal rubbing shoulders with the big boys of Rugby League. Imagine if the Football Association were to adopt such a ruling in the FA Cup. For starters, Havant & Waterlooville would not have made it into the stage of the competition they did. And I feel this is where the magic of any cup competition lies, its outside amateurs playing against full blown professionals.
It’s the type of magic Harry Potter couldn’t produce. So why have the RFL expelled it from our sport?
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