Sport Today

by **Chris Woo** » Tue, 21 May 1996 04:00:00

Am I the only one who thinks that if the RFL do a second Challenge Cup for
the people who are knocked out and somebody like Saints or Wigan gets knocked
out, no other teams are really gonna stand a chance?

I think it would be a much better idea to have a final for each of the three
divisions. Have a one day extravaganza (I think I spelled that right..) with
the three finals. It'd be a great day out, I'd certainly go. I'd be glad to
watch the Division 1 final between somebody like Keighley, Widnes or Salford
as well as the SL final..

What do you think?

*Chris* *Wood*

Wigan *Forever*, Saints *Never*!

by **Gary Austi** » Wed, 22 May 1996 04:00:00

Quote:

> I think it would be a much better idea to have a final for each of the three
> divisions. Have a one day extravaganza

Like the old Premiership finals. Now there was a great day out. Especially in
the late eighties when we were there every year...

Were these the forerunners to Summer Rugby?

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by **Paul Dinsda** » Wed, 22 May 1996 04:00:00

Quote:

> Am I the only one who thinks that if the RFL do a second Challenge Cup for
> the people who are knocked out and somebody like Saints or Wigan gets knocked
> out, no other teams are really gonna stand a chance?

If you look at the proposals from the RL, you'll see this can't happen as
the top 8 SL sides don't get involved until almost the qfinals. It's only
the teams involved in the first couple of rounds that will be eligible for
the plate competition.

--
Paul Dinsdale

by **Gary Austi** » Thu, 23 May 1996 04:00:00

Quote:

Dinsdale) writes:
> It's only
> the teams involved in the first couple of rounds that will be eligible for
> the plate competition.

And who will they be, Paul? Just what are these proposals?

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by **John Lancast** » Fri, 24 May 1996 04:00:00

Quote:

>Am I the only one who thinks that if the RFL do a second Challenge Cup for
>the people who are knocked out and somebody like Saints or Wigan gets knocked
>out, no other teams are really gonna stand a chance?

Makes you realise what a fair sport we have. Can you imagine how
boring it would be if we followed tennis' example, with seeding ! How
would a Saints / Wigan final sound every year ? Yet, the tennis people
think it is the way to go.

Sorry, but a cup is a cup. Dilute it enough, and everyone will get
one, which makes the whole thing very silly. The motivation or dream
must be to match your Wigans, Saints and Lee.., sorry, Bulls. The only
way to do it is to improve, expand etc. Start giving out cosolation
prizes and the whole thing becomes a farce.

As an example, Wigan. T hey used to be 2nd division not long ago, you
know, look what they achieved !

John
John Lancaster
St Helens, Merseyside, UK
--------------------------
St Helens - Challenge Cup Winners 1996

by **Vibrating Bum-Faced Goa** » Fri, 24 May 1996 04:00:00

Quote:

>Dinsdale) writes:
>> It's only
>> the teams involved in the first couple of rounds that will be eligible for
>> the plate competition.
>And who will they be, Paul? Just what are these proposals?

This is the new format:

Challenge Cup 1997

25th January Round One

25 Amateur sides + 12 Division Two + 11 Division One

1st February Round Two

24 remaining sides

8th February Round Three

12 remaining sides + bottom four of previous SL season

Whether the side relegated joins in this round or is in Round One with
the promoted side starting in round three I'm not sure about.

22 February Round Four

8 remaining sides + top 8 SL sides of previous season

8th March Quarter Finals
22nd March Semi Final One
29th March Semi Final Two
26th April Bradford Moo Cows v Salford (Final)

Plate Competition

8th February Preliminary Round

The bottom 8 sides from 36 not qualifing for Round Three

The criteria for deciding on the bottom 8 isn't mentioned but I would
guess it's an aggregate of points difference over the first two
rounds.

22 February Round One

4 preliminary round winners + the remaining 28 losers from Rounds one
and two

1st March Round Two

Remaining 16 sides

8th March Round Three

Quarter Finals

22 March Semi Final One (Curtain raiser for Cup SF1)
29 March Semi Final Two (Curtain raiser for Cup SF2)
26 April Dudley Hill Eagles ARLFC v Featherstone Rovers (Final)

Bradford Bulls RLFC | Rugby League Home Page:
Wembley Finalists 1996 | http://www.brad.ac.uk/~cgrussel/
| Full club-by-club guide to the 1996
Mooland Uber Alles!! | European Super League season

by **Paul McNall** » Sat, 25 May 1996 04:00:00

Quote:

>Sorry, but a cup is a cup. Dilute it enough, and everyone will get
>one, which makes the whole thing very silly. The motivation or dream
>must be to match your Wigans, Saints and Lee.., sorry, Bulls. The only
>way to do it is to improve, expand etc. Start giving out cosolation
>prizes and the whole thing becomes a farce.

But having said that, wasn't that what the Premiership Finals were all
about? Bet you were still jumping up and down when Saints won it..;)

Paul
ww
|\---/ >

\____/ --------------------------------------------

by **John Lancast** » Tue, 28 May 1996 04:00:00

Quote:

>>And who will they be, Paul? Just what are these proposals?

>This is the new format:

>Challenge Cup 1997

snip snip

What a load of junk. The only results of this will be

a) Total lack of media interest

b) More cups given out

c) Not many fans at Wembley, from any of the teams

Good teams exist, like it or not. Nothing bugs me more than Wigans
success over the years, the same as Wigan fans will be bugged if
Saints (big IF) win SL. The reason for their success is that they are
the best team, for many reasons. Get a good team, win a cup is the
simple answer.

Let me make a counter proposal, just as "sensible"

All teams who have been level with Wigan at the end of the season can
be joint league champions. Makes as much sense to me, after all,
points difference depends on so many factors, the weather, state of
the pitch etc.

Congratulations Saints, Champions 1993.

Can I suggest all Saints fans add this to their signatures untill this
silly thread dissapears.

ps just for Wigan fans, the above was a "JOKE", follow up posts of
"its the nearest they will get" etc, will lead to the Maurice virus
being automatically attached to a reply, which will activate at a
given time, causing untold destruction to your PC. It will turn into
a very expensive Pentium, which you couldnt possibly afford. You will
get great pleasure from this for a while, but one day you will be
expected to foot the bill, and then your end will come !

Now, wheres me tablets !!!
John Lancaster
St Helens, Merseyside, UK
--------------------------
St Helens - Challenge Cup Winners 1996

by **Vibrating Bum-Faced Goa** » Thu, 30 May 1996 04:00:00

Quote:

>>>And who will they be, Paul? Just what are these proposals?

>>This is the new format:

>>Challenge Cup 1997

>snip snip
>What a load of junk. The only results of this will be
>a) Total lack of media interest

??? This set up was a suggestion of the BBC.

Quote:

>b) More cups given out

Same number as before, remember the Regal Trophy took a jump (or was
it pushed!). The difference is this time some lower sides get a better
chance of getting to Wembley in front of a national TV audience. Puts
them in a better position to get sponsorship which IMO can only be a
good thing.

Quote:

>c) Not many fans at Wembley, from any of the teams

That was true before. For the 1996 Final the two finalists got a
ticket alloction of 15,000 each. Saints sent back nearly 3,000 and the
Moo Cows sent back 1,500. Genorously assuming maybe 10,000 fans from
each club bought their tickts from elsewhere that means around 30,000
neutrals were at this years final.

Quote:

>Congratulations Saints, Champions 1993.

You lost it embarrasingly to Bradford and Warrington the year after I
notice. Funny how history repeats itself. :)

Bradford Bulls RLFC | Rugby League Home Page:
Wembley Finalists 1996 | http://www.brad.ac.uk/~cgrussel/
| Full club-by-club guide to the 1996
Mooland Uber Alles!! | European Super League season

by **WiganRLf** » Thu, 30 May 1996 04:00:00

Quote:

(John Lancaster) writes:
> All teams who have been level with Wigan at the end of the season can
>be joint league champions.

I'll go for that. If we finish second, third or whatever we still end up
as champs. A brilliant idea :-). I like it. I won't have to change my
signature no matter what happens :-).

BTW, winning (or losing) on points difference it fine by me. There was a
thread going in rsrl a while back about the relative value of tries and
goals which seemed to be arguing that some credit should be given to teams
who "only just lost" or for teams who thrashed the opposition. This
ex-thread seemed a bit weird to me, but at the risk of reviving it,
doesn't points difference do just that?

If Saints carry on winning by a small margin they could end up with a
worse points difference than, say, Wigan. Assuming (big assumption I
know) they both end up joint top on the same number of League points then
Wigan will end up deserved champs because Saints will have scraped through
a few games whereas Wigan will have walked them.

Seems fair to me.

BTW, if its the other way around and Saints scrape home on points
difference, I won't complain, I'll just be pissed off.

Dave

PS I don't need a virus to turn my PC into a Pentium.

Wigan RLFC - Simply the Best

Shaun Edwards for Prime Minister

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