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Makeover: How to revamp the Challenge Cup

February 15, 2025

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BY JOHN DAVIDSON

SATURDAY’s Challenge Cup final was a magical event.

History was made with the first women’s final at Wembley, between Leeds and St Helens, before Leigh and Hull KR took over. There was history again with the Leopards ending a 52-year wait for a third Cup trophy.

While the match itself wasn’t a high-standards classic, in terms of execution or the amount of errors, it was terrificaly entertaining, brutal and terribly tense. The drama went up several notches with Matt Parcell’s late try forcing golden point, and then even more with Lachlan Lam’s killer blow in extra-time.

There were special scenes as Leigh celebrated long into the night, in what was an emotional triumph.

If you were a rugby league tragic, or a rusted-on footy fan, it was good for your soul.

But here’s the kicker, there was only 58,213 fans in the stadium. When Wembley holds 90,000, it is not a good look to have swathes and swathes of empty seats.

This year’s Cup final attendance was higher than last year’s 51,628 at Tottenham, but it was the lowest since Catalans vs Warrington in 2018, taking out the two finals affected by Covid rules.

Yes, there was some mitigating factors, with the closure of M1 stopping some supporters from attending, and they no longer count Club Wembley ticket holders, which was around an additional 10,000, but if you look at the history of Cup finals and attendances have been on a downward spiral since 2010.

Crowds are down at other Cup games too, such as the semi-finals and quarter-finals.

While it was great too to see a major moment for the women’s game, which will inspire many young girls, and Batley and Halifax did their best to deliver a thrilling spectacle, there was few fans there to watch either contest. Adding two more finals does not really significantly boost the overall attendance like the RFL has hoped.

The hard truth is that the Cup final is no longer suitable for Wembley, it needs to move. Which makes the decision to stage it at the famous London stadium for another two years, which was announced at the start of Saturday, even more mind-boggling.

Yes, move it to June, away from the peak summer holidays and when the football season is on a break. Competing with the return of the Premier League is not smart.

But this sticking to Wembley has to end. Take it to a ground where it can sell out. Whether it’s Tottenham, the Emirates, Stamford Bridge, the Etihad or wherever, Wembley just isn’t cutting it.

Personally, I love the Wembley experience and its great historical links. And at £20 a ticket it was hardly expensive. But it just isn’t pulling in the same level of support and change has to come. We can’t be strangled by history.

Looking at the TV ratings as well, and again it is evident that the Challenge Cup has lost some of its lure.

The men’s final averaged 784,000 viewers, with a 1.1 million peak, which was down on the 2022 result.

The women’s final averaged 150,000 viewers, with a 242,000 peak, though this was affected by the England vs Columbia Women’s World Cup quarter-final on at the same time.

Both in the ground and on TV, there just weren’t as many people watching as there have been in the past. That is a concern.

The Challenge Cup is in desperate need of a makeover, of some TLC.

The question is, how do you rejevunate the old girl?

There’s no doubt it’s been affected by the introduction of the grand final and Magic Weekend. It is no longer the showpiece event of the year, but it still has merit, it still has worth, it still can be saved.

Perhaps making it an open draw again will bring some magic back. Or introducing a group stage could trigger some more interest. Certainly investing some advertising dollars to promote it more widely would work, especially in the south. Just expecting hardcore rugby league fans to turn up isn’t working anymore.

More has to be done to attract non-fans and others. IMG should have revamping the Challenge Cup as one of its key focuses.

Perhaps giving more media access would help. Staging a press conference at Brighouse is not the most eye-catching location, nor is having just three players and a coach from each team available to speak to the media. Get the whole squads there and put them up for interview or any and all journalists.

I don’t profess to have all the answers. But we can’t just rely on history, rely on Don Fox and Alex Murphy and Martin Offiah and all the rest to sell today’s Cup. Nostalgia and memories can only take you so far.

The Challenge Cup needs some Botox, lip filler and a nip and tuck to get her looking right for the 21st century. The competition from other sports and entertainment events is only intensifying with time, and the time to act is now.