We have to negotiate 3 rounds before we play a SL team? Which we probably won't.
Is everyone happy with that format?
I thought it was a Cup comp. Can you imagine that in the FA Cup? As if.
It’s pathetic GPO. They’re trying to get more bums on seats but I can’t help thinking drawing a SL club earlier will entice more fans as opposed to an amateur club or a team in the same division?
We have to negotiate 3 rounds before we play a SL team? Which we probably won't.
Is everyone happy with that format?
I thought it was a Cup comp. Can you imagine that in the FA Cup? As if.
That's exactly what happens in the FA Cup. The comp starts in Aug/Sept and the 'Big Boys' don't come into it until January (3rd round)
Paulie xx
@pauliewalnuts it's not quite the same as in the Challenge cup the SL sides don't join until round 6, by this point only 4 other teams are in it. In the FA cup a lot of the minnows as they call them are still in the competition. I think having the 5th round without SL sides is a step to far.
@dan1 Just another example of the way the game is going I'm afraid, Super League is the be all and end all. It is becoming a closed shop and will continue to get worse.
Unfortunately unless you have a really big investor like the Leigh owner. If Sky pulled the plug they be knackered too, and I just prefer to enjoy a rugby game with my expectations dropping considerably. It be interesting if a few clubs go bust trying to please the RFL with putting things in place, which costs money and still no guarantee of playing Superleague.
Most sports are going the same way tbh. If TV isn't interested then you are sunk.
The prices at the gate these days would be astronomical without TV money which was how we got here in the first place!!
There is going to be so much on TV anyway you can stay at home!!!
We have to negotiate 3 rounds before we play a SL team? Which we probably won't.
Is everyone happy with that format?
I thought it was a Cup comp. Can you imagine that in the FA Cup? As if.
That's exactly what happens in the FA Cup. The comp starts in Aug/Sept and the 'Big Boys' don't come into it until January (3rd round)
Paulie xx
Point well made and taken. But it's nothing like the same is it. Imagine if Liverpool and Man U were jettisoned straight into the last 16. That's what's happening. By the time the top SL clubs enter, it's effectively a SL play-off.
It's not a Cup Comp for all anymore, like it used to be.
It's not as monotonous as the Grand Final, there have been a couple of other winners, and last year's final was ace, but it's not exactly an "open" is it?
@dan1 Just another example of the way the game is going I'm afraid, Super League is the be all and end all. It is becoming a closed shop and will continue to get worse.
A Super League's academy side beat us relatively comfortably last week - the reason Super League sides don't come in until so late is because of the blow-out scores that used to happen when they came in earlier. It's not comparable to football where anything can happen, a team can cling on and pinch a late score. You can see the disparity between full-time and part-time at Championship (take our games against Toulouse, for example).
Top Championship clubs refused to merge with League 1 because they didn't want blow out scores against Cornwall etc; so that's just the same attitude as what SL clubs have with the Challenge Cup.
@jdgsport But the revenue from playing a top side was massive to the smaller clubs. Hidings happen between two SL clubs so that's no argument at all. The CC was always about the draw you could be home to an amateur side or away to Saints or Wigan. It was giving the smaller clubs a revenue and should still be that way.
Hull concede 50 and 60 points on a regular basis against teams in the same division.