91Èȱ¬

you seem almost shocked that rl fans would have a moan about something!

what 'true' rl fans would have wanted would have been garry schofield and peter roe doing the draw in front of a random yorkshire landmark on local yorkshire radio at tea-time on a sunday. none of this national audience gubbins.

since when was 5live 'fast paced'?

Appreciate the argument re audience size but there was a slightly patronising tone from Mr Campbell as if he was proud not to know the "grim up north" teams...

Rugby league needs to strike the balance between appealing to potential new audiences without selling itself too cheaply

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Although it is nice to see that the RFL is doing the draw at new locations, I think we would like a similar time slot as it seem to be drawn at random and we wake to it been drawn whenever and where ever.

If we have it on one channel, Radio 5, then can we keep the same time slot please.

The Challenge Cup has disintegrated into a farce with the Wigan Saints fiasco. Each season there seems to be a mad rush to get rounds 4, 5 and 6 over in a matter of weeks followed by at least two months before the semi-finals. Why does the RL consistently schedule its events up against other major sports? Do they not have a sporting calendar? The start of SL went unnoticed up against the Six Nations, the CC Round 4 when the big clubs join in was up against the FA Cup semis and the Grand National, and now the QFs up against the last weekend of the Premier League. Breweries and booze-ups spring to mind.

It was great that the CC draw was on Five Live; excellent exposure for the comp. Totally agree with El Rapide's post above though. The timing of the rounds, year after year, is a shambles. Still, looking forward to the final, always a great day out.

I have to buck the trend and say it was great having the draw on 5Live listening to it on the car on the way into work. As George says 8-9 is the absolte prime time for breakfast radio. I know Rachel and Nicky are Union fans but they were entirely respectful in what they were doing. Having George on such a prominent radio show is only beneficial for RL and he gives as good as he gets in the Union/League banter. The debate over the best rugby player in either code they had the other day was great as highlighted the talent in RL.

Union is slowly suffocating itelf with the number of games and the low quality spectacle of the high profile games over recent seasons.

You think League is getting a raw end of the deal at least our major cup final is still getting played at the right time on a Saturday afternoon.

Surely the issue isn't where and when the draw is made, but the 91Èȱ¬'s refusal to publicise it properly. I missed the draw on 5 Live as I was watching 'Breakfast' on 91Èȱ¬1. Surely, I thought, they will announce on TV what happened in the sports bulletin just after 8.30? No mention.

Fast paced news and sports programme!! Chortling at each others word play and talking about goldfinches all week is hardly fast paced. The two presenters have zero respect for RL and there's no reason why we should be grateful to them for showing basic respect to our 117 year old great sport. Good exposure though so well done for that.

I can't believe the amount of RL fans that whinge when the game gets some high profile exposure. Let George take Nicky to a QF and he'll be hooked.

As for the schedule problem with Wigan, simple, if a team cannot play on its home ground when it wishes because the owners won't let them then switch the match to the away team's ground.

ingselmet, Wigan do want to play at home it is the 91Èȱ¬ that are causing all the problems refusing to let the game be played on a Friday night. whilst the 91Èȱ¬ must be applauded for the exposure it gives the game especially this year. clubs should be allowed to decide when they play matches and not be beholden to the TV companies (including sky and the Monday night matches surely this will lower attendances and take away the "family appeal" of the game.)

Ah, I see my Twitter comment was George's personal favourite!

My point was similar to that of Neil Merrick's in that the 91Èȱ¬ show the games right through to the showpiece final and yet when there was an opportunity to have the draw live on the 91Èȱ¬1 Breakfast news they didn't take it; it just felt like it was an opportunity missed in my opinion (especially as I don't listen to Radio 5 Live).

This was reinforced in that there was no mention of the draw on the 8.30am sports news. Was there a live stream of the draw on the 91Èȱ¬ Sports website I wonder? The fact that the draws have taken place at different times and on different days also hasn't helped.

Hello Mike1150, The harsh reality here is that the RFL have a contract with the 91Èȱ¬ to cover CC matches at times and dates pre-arranged. Even if the 91Èȱ¬ wanted to re-schedule, it would find it difficult, if not impossible, to re-schedule a Friday evening this close to the QF. So if Wigan cannot play on their home ground because of the dominance of the club they share it with and playing at St Helens is too unpalatable, then why not play at a neutral venue. If the 91Èȱ¬ are not able to show this match then the whole of the RL community may suffer because when it comes to re-new the contract, the 91Èȱ¬ may be forced to reconsider.

This scheduling problem for the QFs is all of the RFL's making. They were told in October last year that the weekend of May 12/13 was a period when Wigan could not hold a match and yet they still scheduled the round for then. Now it transpires that the game will be held at Wigan but the away end will be closed because of existing functions booked for that day. Well done RFL, the best foot-shooters in the world!

it was a riduclous time no mater how many folk were listening I was at work and had to wait til lunch to get a text message to see who my team were playing Football always has it after a cup game so why cant we The 91Èȱ¬ always had a game Saturday and Sunday so have it then Good old Sky stealing our thunder again No wonder the best game in the world is a laughing stock

We have to remember that we are not the primary sport in England and have to go along with what the 91Èȱ¬ want in terms of airing the game. As RL supporters, we don't exactly back the early rounds of the CC ourselves when we get crowds of 3,500 for a local Saints-Widnes derby game, so how can we call the RFL and 91Èȱ¬.

If Wigan had earnt the right to a home tie, such as in the play-offs, then I can see the importance of retain the home advantage, but seeing as it was pot luck draw, I would say that if they can't meet the requirements then they have to give up that advantage.

On a positive note, it's great to see that RL has won its battle of wills with Premier League footy, although credit should be given to Dave Whelan for waiving Wigan Athletics contractual right.

On the negative side, dissappointing that due to the scheduling conflict, the away end will be closed. This tie was actually an opportunity to fill a stadium on live 91Èȱ¬ TV, something we have failed to do as a sport (away from final)for some time. Given the emphasis placed on appealing to new audiences, what are they supposed to think when they tune in and see empty stands - ''if RL fans can't be bothered, why should I?''

Given the uncompetitive nature of all non-SL teams except Fev in the Challenge Cup, resultant calls for 'seeding out' Championship teams , and angry response from traditionalists, I'm thinking a compromise is needed, with SL teams playing away at lowest ranked teams in 1st two rounds they play in. Would give Championship teams best chance of winning, and probably get better crowds for TV than we have seen at Widnes, etc. Given the likelihood of SL teams still going through, Exile games could be played on the Friday night, with key players unlikely to be needed to back up like they have been in SL fixtures recently. With hopefully an expanded World Club Challenge coming soon (which is vital for the promotion of our sport), the fixture list has got to give somehow, and I think this is a viable compromise.

We need to be smarter with the way we schedule the earlier rounds, as they don't seem to appeal to anyone at the moment, but decent crowds at good stadia like Leigh, Halifax, etc would show a depth to our game that many people would not be aware of. And QFs and SFs need to be scheduled as smartly as possible so stadiums are packed for TV.

With that in mind, both semi-finals at Odsal this year, with proceeds going to Bulls survival fund? Should get the fabled 'RL family' out in force, especially with 2 W Yorkshire teams likely to be in the draw?

1)scheduling: the RFL's idiocy of putting games on with other major events happens each year. until there's a cull of the "marketing experts" running things from Red Hall 'twill ever be thus.
2) the ground conflict with the wendyballers was all of the 91Èȱ¬'s making because they insisted on having our game instead of letting Sky show it on Friday.
3) 5 live has been mentioning the "L" word (through gritted teeth) more recently, so good show & keep it up. BUT if Campbell could have been less interested, he'd have fallen asleep. The innate and endemic Yawnion snobbery at the 91Èȱ¬ won't be got rid of for as long as the southers are still in charge there. But it would appear that Rhino Riley is spearheading the 5th column, so there may be hope yet (but i won't hold me breath).