Will the challenge cup still be played for this season?
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Will the challenge cup still be played for this season?
No mention of it on the press release but Dave Woods of the BBC thinks it's still on, I can't see why not, it's only a couple more games these days to get to the semis and final with Supleague joining at a later stage, and it's unfinished business for us after last year, and a higher profile on the BBC, there should be room to fit it especially with a shorter play off series for the Grand Final. It will also possibly keep interest going for some clubs who miss out on the top four, not being pessimistic but that might include us!
Guess they'll need to sort out what's happening with the Championship and L1 first as there are still a few of those teams in the Cup. If they're not starting up again this season then I guess they'd either have to give their SL opponents byes or start it again as a mini SL-only knock-out comp. With the RFL already losing the Ashes series, losing the Cup altogether would leave them in a pretty sticky position financially (more so than they are in a good year anyway).
When the 3 restart options were published at the end of May they all had the Cup being played. Option 1, which is the one they are now going with, had the final on the weekend of October 25th.
New rules introduced for this season;
https://www.skysports.com/rugby-leag...eagues-restart
Hetherington’s got his wish for the reserves for this year and next year, to be reviewed for 2022.
Hopefully this doesn't have any detrimental effect on the restart:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/53314482
It's got the potential to, but let's hope it's just brinkmanship by some players.
If they derail this over relatively small amounts, they risk collapsing the sport as a fully professional game, which would lead to all players being far worse off.
I've very little sympathy with the players here. Clubs are in financial dire straights and in society generally hundreds of thousands of people have either lost or stand to lose their jobs. Players need to keep both a sense of perspective and also be aware how damaging their greed could be to the sport.
Gareth Carvell makes a good point in a quote in the Guardian criticising some clubs who announce big money signings for next year, and at the same time asking current players to accept large pay cuts, presumably to pay for the big money signings out of the savings made, it's bound to cause resentment among players I completely agree that players need to be realistic though and Carvell says that a 15 percent cut across the board is acceptable but some clubs apparently are now talking 40 to 50 percent cuts as the prospect of crowds returning looks bleaker, and the clubs tacit agreement of 15 percent looks unachievable
I believe Catalan are back in this week, Wigan on the 20th.
Bet you cant wait to be stood at those gates in Oral with AKI on the 20th. Bulging bicep spotters! Thanks for the hot news.
Hull it seems have offered there players full pay on return and the players from other clubs are after the same
Isn’t the new rescheduled fixture list supposed to be out today?