RFL should bite the Challenge Cup bullet

ONCE upon a time there were lots of trophies to win over the course of a rugby league season.

Weekly News readers of a certain vintage may remember the Premiership, the John Player Trophy, the Lancashire Cup, the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy and others being a regular part of the sporting calendar.

So that’s one reason why I give a cautious welcome to the newlyinaugurated 1895 Cup.

It’s a chance for teams outside the top flight to grab themselves some glory – and play at Wembley Stadium.

Seeing as the final will be played as part of a double-header with the Challenge Cup Final, it won’t do the attendance on the big day any harm either.

I have to confess, I do worry about the fixture congestion aspect with the 1895 Cup being an ‘add-on’ with no games elsewhere being removed to accommodate it.

If Widnes, for example, were to make the Challenge Cup quarterfinal and the 1895 Cup Final, that would be seven games in addition to regular season league matches and (hopefully) playoffs.

Meanwhile, likely Championship playoff contenders Toronto Wolfpack and Toulouse Olympique are not competing in the 1895 Cup competition and if they fell at the first hurdle in the Challenge Cup would be playing six less games than the Vikings – a distinct advanatge given we all know what is the main prize at the end of the campaign.

It would have been braver and fairer all round in my view for the Rugby Football League to bite the proverbial bullet on the Challenge Cup and just make it a competition for the Top 16 clubs.

Then the 1895 Cup could be for the rest, with everyone playing in one Cup or the other, but not both.

Professional rugby league split into a multi-division structure back in the 1973-74 season.

Since then, no team from outside the top flight has ever reached the Challenge Cup Final.

And I think we can safely say that standards across the professional game have become more stretched in the last 45 years.

Personally, I fail to see the ‘romance’ in a League One outfit playing the worst Super League team in the Challenge Cup and having 90 points put past them over 80 minutes.

Some flak would fly if the Rugby Football League took the bolder option but it surely makes sense in the modern era. ● Widnes’s Tony Myler takes the ball forward in a match against Hull Kingston Rovers in a Rugby League Premiership clash back in April, 1983.