1895 Cup : Sun Aug 13, 2023 11:11 am  

Firstly congratulations to Halifax and commiserations to Batley after they finished off a fine day of RL entertainment with the 1895 Cup.

However, since it is quiet on here with the weekend off I thought I would express my disappointment with the event as a whole. The promotion beforehand was half hearted but probably most disappointing was the empty stadium it was played in front of. I assume a lot of people on coaches had no choice but to leave, but it looked poor. But I guess nobody will really know as the game was only shown on a little known streaming service.

The sport really is a mess at the moment and it just seems really disrespectful in what was a major occasion for these two clubs who provided a tense game with some late drama at the end.

But I'm not sure I see much long term future for this competition in its current format. If we cannot get RL fans to watch it live and no major broadcaster interested, what is the point?

[Bullseye]

Re: 1895 Cup : Sun Aug 13, 2023 11:37 am  

It should be a curtain raiser not after the big event. A bit like the old Premiership Finals that had two games on back in the 80s and 90s.

Re: 1895 Cup : Mon Aug 14, 2023 12:13 am  

It’s a tricky one. I agree that it has to be a curtain raiser but it’s also very important that the women’s final doesn’t get displaced as well. The only issue with having 2 games as a curtain raiser is that the first game will have to kick off at 10am in order to fit everything in.

[Pumpetypump]

Re: 1895 Cup : Mon Aug 14, 2023 10:11 am  

I think it was at the right time slot, played in front of the right amount of people because it's a really daft competition. I don't mind a cup for lower level sides, or an anglo-uk cup, but not the convoluted structure of this. If someone who wasn't a fan of the game asked me how you win the 1895 cup, I wouldn't be able to explain or defend the structure.

Re: 1895 Cup : Mon Aug 14, 2023 10:17 am  

Pumpetypump wrote:

I think it was at the right time slot, played in front of the right amount of people because it's a really daft competition. I don't mind a cup for lower level sides, or an anglo-uk cup, but not the convoluted structure of this. If someone who wasn't a fan of the game asked me how you win the 1895 cup, I wouldn't be able to explain or defend the structure.

This is how it works, you beat featherstone away , barrow at home , then you obliterate Bradford at home , then you go toe to toe with the world champions , you then play London away and beat Batley at Wembley, and just like that you’re cup winners, pretty good format if you ask me .

[Pumpetypump]

Re: 1895 Cup : Mon Aug 14, 2023 11:46 am  

26-6 is "toe to toe" but 26-0 is "obliterated". Fine margins.

Re: 1895 Cup : Mon Aug 14, 2023 3:58 pm  

dddooommm wrote:

It’s a tricky one. I agree that it has to be a curtain raiser but it’s also very important that the women’s final doesn’t get displaced as well. The only issue with having 2 games as a curtain raiser is that the first game will have to kick off at 10am in order to fit everything in.

One thing I took away from the women’s game, was like the men’s game, the quality of rugby is miles behind the Aussies.

Perhaps Halifax v Batley in the 1895 cup would be an even lower crowd if not played at Wembley, but it just seemed lifeless on the stream. I suspect it will cease once Beaumont stops sponsoring it and who can blame him if a final cannot attract a broadcasting partner.

[Bullseye]

Re: 1895 Cup : Mon Aug 14, 2023 5:43 pm  

We've been miles behind the Aussies for the past 50 years yet even when we were getting stuffed by them we managed to fill Wembley and that was Wembley with a capacity of around 90k+

We manage to get around 70k to a wet and cold Old Trafford in October. I'm sure we can do better with attendances at Wembley.

Re: 1895 Cup : Tue Aug 15, 2023 10:54 am  

The "powers that be" have to come to terms with the reality that there is quite simply less money around now. We're in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, for heaven's sake, yet they want hard-up supporters to go to more and more events.

Back in the day, we had the Challenge Cup Final, and that was about it. The Premiership Final was just an end-of-season playoff game for the fans of the finalist, played at grounds like Huddersfield (Fartown) or Swinton.

Now we've got The Challenge Cup Final, The Grand Final, Magic Weekend, Summer Bash. Lots of SL fans go to the Catalan's Away game.

People just cannot afford it.

It's really not rocket science here, folks! Back in the 70s and 80s, working men's clubs ran coach trips to Wembley regardless of who was playing. It was the ONLY big day out for RL fans. Hence crowds of 95000 at Wembley. Now those clubs don't even exist!

Times change. RL has to adapt. But asking the same shrinking supporter base to show up for three or four events every year isn't the way to do, especially in a cost of living squeeze.