In terms of the no of fixtures yes!
I'd much rather we ditched the magic weekend played straight home and away,restored the CC to it's original schedule and had a top 6 in the play-offs.

both


would it benefit our game as a whole, could it help our national game in not having as many games for its star players to play?

Not in my opinion. We'd lose a flagship occasion at the national stadium, and given that we lack a credible international game, I don't see what we'd replace it with. I don't know whether the lower league clubs who might get a big pay day against one of the big sides would see it as beneficial either.

Rugby League - no, in no way does it help to lose 1 of only 2 top tier competitions and especially one that has so much history and meaning behind it.

Super League - short term, yes. Long term, no. Short term would help by having a few less games but people of middle and lower table clubs would soon get bored of having no chance of winning anything at all.

If we want to lose some games from the schedule then, as rhinoms has pointed out, lose the MM game, and we've introduced another week of playoffs this season so lose that to start with. Then clubs can reduce the amount of friendlies they play too.

We have to keep the Challenge Cup, its the only bit of history RL has left.

I would imagine that's more to do with the fact that you were about 18 at the time and hence rugby was a bigger part of your life. I don't get quite as worked up about RL these days but that's more down to priorities than any difference in the perceived importance of the game.

hell no!

If the CC went to Sky I'm sure they'd move it back to the start of the season as it was before so as not to clash with the end of season play offs as the final does now.

IIRC it was only changed to August as part of a deal with the BBC at their request because they said it would fit better into their schedule and they'd be able to give it better coverage etc?

I always like the CC early on in the season when you knew where you were as all the rounds were every fortnight as oppsed to now when you have one round then wait 5 or 6 weeks to the next and then there might be 7 weeks to the round after that.

In its current format (apart from the final which is still a showpiece event for our sport) I feel the CC has become somewhat disjointed

Why should there be a backlash against JEdward? The backlash should be aimed at Cowell and his muppets.



That would be too easy and make too much sense for the RFL to ever consider doing it.

I thought it was disjointed and weird having the CC at the beginning of the season to be honest. I dont think anything is wrong with where it is in the season, the final is at just the right time. In the middle of summer, toward the end of the season but isnt too close to the Grand Final.
The only problem has been attendances, but thats been mostly , in my view, down to the fact they werent included in the season tickets. Take a look at playoff games and they have similar crowd to CC games.

There should be no backlash against Cowell at all. He made a very good business decision which will no doubt make him yet another pile of money and has already got his show tons more free publicity. Plus, it also removed someone dull and boring from our screns and saved one of the only entertaining acts they have on there - everyone's a winner really (well, everyone except the dull and boring one I suppose......)

Is this the same Cowell who has blasted JEdward from the very first auditions?

The man has some dosh and knows how to create publicity but he has no integrity but nobody needed last weeks fiasco to realise that.

And yes this is about as serious a subject as any talk of dropping the Challenge Cup.

I'd never have picked TVOC for an X Factor fan





(oh and you're right about the backlash)

The biggest issues here for me is that the current government don't think RL is important enough to protect for free-to-air TV. Yet they do think that the RU six nations is! While I don't think for one second they should take six nations off the list to take RL is a disaster.

[iBut in December 2008, Andy Burnham, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport, announced a review into the sporting events that should be safeguarded on free-to-air television.

Reflecting on the success of the Beijing Olympics, he said "the broadcast of big sports events... get young people inspired by sport, driving sports participation and the creation of the next generation of sports stars."

He added: "The sale of TV rights helps fund grassroots sport, so we need to get the balance right."[/i

So what are they saying, that RU is the preferred government approved Rugby code?

We don't have this situation in most other sports, as it is about showing a range of sports across free-to-air TV. Showing Tennis and not Badminton is not the same as showing RU but not showing RL.

We must remember that it is only in recent years that the Zurich Premiership has overtaken Super League as the second biggest weekly spectator sport after football. And even then only by a very small amount. We also currently (well 2008, as of course we can not have a comparison yet for 2009) have the best supported Rugby Club in the UK playing RL and when Leicester get there new stand sorted, we will still be second best at worst!

The issues is in some ways less about TV rights and more about the fact the current government don't think RL is worthy of a spot!

They don't think that one game per year of RL is important enough to protect for free-to-air TV you mean? Only the final has ever been on the protected list.

Fan is a bit strong, it's not like I record it (and the Xtra Factor) or anything.

Sorry Andy, yes, I know that it is just the final per-say that is protected but it did also mean that the BBC did have some motivation to show the proceeding rounds which they indeed do. They now will have no motivation to show any if they don't want and arguably if you could not have the final, why would you bother?

The early rounds of the CC are not well attended but so what. The playoff games in Super League are very badly attended. Does Lawrie think we should scrap the Grand Final as well?

And I am in entire agreement with TVOC. Cowell has shown that despite his weekly protestations this is NOT a singing competition. His refusal to get rid of the worst singers on the show, Jedward and the cute Welsh kid the week before, show that its' really just a circus.

I only think that it was last week Simon's integrity came into real question. In general he says what he feels and wants and mostly follows through. With the Rachel over Lloyd he said that he had to take in account that despite singing well she had been in the bottom two twice before and therefore the public were not connecting with her... fair and correct comment for me. With Jedward his mistake was not saying before the sing-off that they were indeed entertaining (sic) and he would take that as well as singing into account or that he might just let the public decide anyway. He said he would base it on the sing-off and off course, because they can't sing, he did look like lair for then changing his own personal frame of reference.

I have never been under any illusions that Cowell or the show had any integrity. However, to take the show in any way seriously it must be treated as a talent show rather than a freakshow and Cowell, for reasons best known to him has allowed two of the least talented acts (one of which has NO talent) to remain at the expense of two fairly talented kids.

If Cowell is so concerned about the public vote get rid of the pompous judges all together and kick out the act with the fewest votes every week.

I cannot believe I am avoiding work to discuss the X Factor online!

Back on topic, one way to influence the decision is for all RL fans to lobby their local MP to support the Callenge Cup to remain on the free to air list.
Also use the All Party Parliamentary Group that supports RL to do the same.
All MPs (especially Labour) are desparate to win or keep hold of votes so they should be happy to support this.
Off topic, never mind (Bollo)X factor in our house the boss commandeers the TV every Saturday for Strictly Come Dancing.

Yep, indeed the same Cowell. the same Simon Cowell in fact who appears to be considerably more intelligent than the millions of viewers who fall for all this year in year out.

Ironically enough, there is quite a relevant link here between all this and the debate on the cup. It has quite rightly been pointed out that the earlier rounds of cup competitions don't attract (obviously) either the same attention or attendances as the later rounds. The same may have been the case with the X Factor were it not for Simon Cowell and his clever manipulating of the viewers. Generally, they tend to get the right winner (well, apart from when the little scottish gimp beat Rhydian a couple of years ago) However, what happens in the build up to that can be tweaked and messed with left right and centre, and by and large Cowell does this to perfection - end result? As much interest in the early rounds as there is in the later rounds - job done!

Every year now it seems there's one "novelty" act (Chico, McDonald Brothers, Same Difference and now John & Edward) for the judges to bicker over, which usually splits the fan base down the middle, and also, very conveniently, results inloads of extra tabloid inches, loads of extra publicity, and, invariably, a short lived career for the act involved which, again conveniently, provides Cowell with a bonus few quid that he wouldn't have got otherwise - without all the attention due to them being "too rubbish to be on the show" they'd have never sold any records whatsoever.

So, we end up with the perfect set up. Cowell sees these two Irish twins in the auditions and sees pound signs, big pound signs. Whether or not they have any talent is irrelevant - Cowell knows full well that he can use them to manipulate the public, because he's done so successfully so many times already. So we start of by being spoon fed the whole "John and Edward are evil and annoying" stuff. When that has the desired effect, they become "victims of bullying", resulting in sympathy aplenty. Meanwhile,more publicity, more controversy, and more importantly, more money for the man who runs the show. In a week or two, with their job done and the cash cow sufficiently primed, they'll be jettisoned to make way for the true talent of the series, who will fight it out so that a "genuine and deserving" winner can be found. It's perfect, and very, very easy - made easier by the fact that millions of people fall for it every single year. As long as the public continue to fall for it, it'll continue to happen.

Integrity? Do you think Cowell gives the tiniest damn about integrity? He'll get a "proper" winner which will enable him to carry on the charade of it being a "talent" competition, meanwhile he'll continue to count the cash the talentless but entertaining ones make him. Win-win for him. Maybe the RFL should bring him on board to make the Challenge Cup more interesting?

I'll read all that later but for now can I just



Edit: How dare you disrespect Leon like that. And what about Michelle McMannus?

American Idol by plenty, go Sanjayer Malakar.



Not that I'm a fan unlike your good self.

Leon????!!!!! Don't even go there!

The CC final is only on a protected list, and as someone has pointed out, the BBC currently show more than just this round.

Also, the definition is that the events need to be of national importance. Comparisons between 6 nations and the CC is stupid. One is an international series, which people all over the country will watch, over 5 weeks, and one is a club level match, of a reasonably regional sport. lets not get ahead of ourselves.

If RL was ever to get a set format international calendar, and generate some reasonable attendance and viewing figures, we could claim national interest, but when we can't even get 25k for an international match we should look at our own house before complaining because the nasty BBC are against us.

I wonder if Leeds had won the last three Challenge Cup Finals rather than Grand Finals if Lawrie would show the same contempt for the competition!

Perhaps the RFL should converse with Lawrie before organising competitions or introducing new ideas as he clearly thinks he knows it all! Then all RFL events could be organised around the festivals and Lawrie could attend everything.