I was all for the August final at first but the cup is dying on it's at the moment.

A 112-0 score for Wire v Swinton doesn't shock me much but Salford v Hull KR (on paper I think a good cup tie) attracted just 2,087 to The Willows tonight! Leeds v Quins attracting just 7,147 as well.

I dread to imagine the crowd we'll get at Odsal on Sunday. Think a few Wiganers will travel but can't see many home supporters paying full whack when they all have cheap season tickets.

9 League Matches to play between Round 5 and Quarter Finals (should we progress) is garbage as well! It's getting weaker by the year since they moved to August!

Think it's time they moved the cup back early in the season. Crowds generally get a boost early in the season anyway and I reckon it's better the Cup gets the benefit from that, than the league games. Thinking back I know the cup was deemed to be a bit of a pre season competition in the early years of Super League but the standard overall seemed to be far better?

agree with you bilks..............i knew when they moved it from having the final on its traditional whit weekend it would go tits up.

seems i was right for once

Agree, I will be at Odsal, but the Cup has lost a lot of its appeal. It's gone downhill since Wembley was left.
The huge gaps between the rounds are daft.
We always had a mid season comp, eg John Player etc, we could do with another.
Terrestrial telly is a key I believe.

For me, its exciting at this time of year, but just becomes abit of an inconvenience come august time when all most teams are bothered about is preparing for / getting to the play offs.

Getting rid of the big gap between games would be a start. There should be no more than 3 weeks imo. They do need to change it asap because its dying.

I'd love for it to be moved back to May. It's no good having it at the end of August, just weeks before the end of the season.

bring it back to may for me,at least then we can resurect the song "she wore a cherry ribbon in the merry month of may"

Didn't the Beeb effectively dictate the date of the final?

PS

I totally agree, something has to be done with the CC fixtures.

Not having one of the BIG clubs winning it for a couple of years hasn't helped its popularity.

The BBC is the problem.
Super League show only shown in the north at a decent time.
Challenge Cup dates too far apart.
Putting first half on one channel and second half on another.
Poor marketing on the BBC and Sky not paying too much attention because they don't show the games.
Now the draw for the next round is on in Yorkshire only on Monday night.
If enough attention was paid to this premier competition & our sport by the BBC then the problems we now have may be solved.

the big gaps between this and the next round is joke and i agree the final needs to be moved earlier into the season but i think May is a bit too early, i'd like to see it in early July with a round being played the first weekend of each month from March onwards.

Having the later rounds in Augusat makes the Cup an inconvenience for teams vying for playoff spots. Start it earlier and get it the final earlier so teams pay the competition full respect instead of making it an annoyance

The cup final should be around late May to early June IMO . That way the round would be regular enough to build interest and far enough away from the play offs to not have an effect on those.

I agree with you Bilko. Was always so much more exciting when it was in May. The fact there's a nine week gap takes away the momentum. Also the thread you posted earlier about the different times for the draw isn't helping. It's a shambles the way this illustrious and historic competition is being run.

It's not as exciting as you don't get any time to brag about it anymore ad a fan. The play off start and your success gets overshadowed by whoever wins the Grand Final.

The fact that Wigan overshadowed Wires success last season didn't give me any joy whatsoever! Ha ha.

I also think the fact they dont bother putting together a highlights show of CC matches speaks volumes. Sky want nothing to do with the CC, they hardly ever mention it, even when they say there is a break next weekend, half the time they dont say because its CC weekend. As big an occasion the final is, something seriously needs to be done to spice up the earlier rounds and increase interest, and I also agree that the CC final is too close to the end of the SL season.

Does anybody know how much we as a sport get off the BBC for the challenge cup coverage? It cant be that much? Would we not be better fooking off the BBC?

Personally i'd just bring it back a month and have 1 round per month

4th round in March
5th round in April
Quarters in May
Semi in June
Final in July

it's a full 3 months before the GF

All that is needed imo. Play it the first week of each of those months. Done.

Yeah even that would be better than what it is now.

Its scary that a few fans on an internet forum can come up with a million times better ideas than the people in charge do

Maybe the BIG clubs (Wigan semi 2009 & Leeds final 2010) should stop getting a dicking in front of a national tv audience by Wire then. Nothing to be ashamed of though, done it to most teams this year apart from Hulls, Hudds, Catalans and HKR.

This is the 7th season with an August final and its clear that its not working as effectively as a spring comp did

I will admit that when i saw the 4th round draw i booked a weeks holiday and with a choice of work tomorrow ( lucky me) im going to Cover Wigan Athletics game as i can only see a comfortable warriors win.

Back to spring please - but im not holding my breath

Spring is too early for me, early to mid summer at Wembley is better for the fans.

Agreed, the final still needs to be in (potentially) good weather. End of May/beginning of June would be ideal I think.