Challenge Cup News
When it comes to knock out Rugby League tournaments, there is one that stands out head and shoulders above the rest and that is the RFL Challenge Cup.
The competitions has run annually ever since 1896, aside from the war years, and that makes it the most historic tournament and most would argue that it is also the most prestigious.
Over the years, the tournament has featured the best of amateur, semi-professional and professional English side competing against the best from Canada, Russia, Serbia, France, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland for a place in the final held at Wembley Stadium and broadcast around the globe.
With the importance of the cup, the fact that it features so many teams form so many areas and also the fact that the quantity of matches often see some matches get overlooked can make it difficult for fans to keep up with the latest Challenge Cup news but we bring you all of the latest headlines from news sources across the world to make it easy to follow all of the latest and breaking news stories.
Challenge Cup Breaking News
If you are looking for latest breaking news with regards to the RFL Challenge Cup, you are in the right place as we bring you the latest news as and when it breaks.
Challenge Cup Latest News Today
From the must see news including the latest draw, match dates and television schedules to smaller news stories that only interest ardent fans, it seems that stories break every day and if you are wanting to read the latest news from today, you can on this very page.
Stadium
Whilst matches take place across the length and breath of the British Isles each seaosn, it is of course the world famous Wembley Stadium that is so heavily associated with the competition.
For much of its history, it has been the National Stadium that has played host to the final of the tournament and is the stadium that every club and player aspire towards playing at.
Location
Matches take place at the home stadium for each club drawn first throughout the competition, aside from some non-British teams due to logistical and cost reasons, but it is the big day out in the capital city of London that is so heavily associated with the cup.
About
The Challenge Cup was inaugurated soon after the great schism after a national cup competition was continually refused by the RFU authorities and since then it has gone on to be the biggest and best cup competition in the sport and has been copied and imitated by other codes and sports but without the same success.
History
The competition started off life as the Northern Rugby Football Union Challenge Cup when Fattorini’s of Bradford were commissioned in 1896 to create the iconic Challenge Cup trophy, which was first awarded to Batley after they defeated St Helens in the 1897 final. in front of almost 13,500 fans at Headingley Stadium.
The final continued to be held at larger grounds across the north of England despite concerns over the capacity restrictions of most grounds with regards to the interest in the matches but after the break for the First World War, and with a lot of buzz in the ‘Birthplace of Rugby League’ when Huddersfield Town reaching the FA Cup final in Football, the decision was made to move the final to Wembley Stadium in London.
The first final to be held there was played in 1929 when it was Wigan who defeated Dewsbury in front of over 41,000 fans.
The competition took another break during the 2nd World War, but in its return in 1946, the Lance Todd Trophy award was introduced to be given to the man of the match in the final.
The first player to pick up the award was Billy Stott of Wakefield Trinity whilst Frank Whitcombe of Bradford Northern became the first winner of the award despite playing for the defeated side in 1948.
The match soon became one of the highlights of the sporting calendar in the UK after the war and often saw sell out crowds at Wembley so it was no surprise to see the biggest crowd ever in the UK when Warrington and Halifax drew in London.
That led to a replay at Odsal Stadium in Batley when an official crowd of 102,569 watched Warrington pick up the trophy but it is estimated that over 120,000 where in attendance with police struggling to hold back the crowd.
The 1967 final between Barrow and the Featherstone Rovers was the first to utilise the new limited number of tackle rule when team only had a set of 4 to try and score.
For much of the 1980’s and also during the 1992-93 seaosn, there were no amateur clubs participating in the competition and even when some were allowed in, it was a maximum of 2 sides.
Thankfully, a deal was made between the RFL and BARLA to allow amateur sides to challenge themselves against the top sides especially as this was also the era of the cup when the Wigan club were simply dominant over all others.
The 1999 final was the last ever to be played at the old Wembley Stadium but it was also the first to utilise the video referee concept in a match that saw a record margin victory for Leeds when they defeated London by 52 points to 16.
During the re-build of Wembley the final took place at Twickenham, in Scotland at Murrayfield and in Wales at the then Millennium Stadium before returning to the new Wembley for the 2007 final.
That match saw the first ever non-British participant when St Helens defeated the Catalan Dragons but the Dragosn would also go on to become the first ever non-British winners when they won the 2018 final against the Warrington Wolves.
Challenge Cup News Headlines
We bring you all of the latest Challenge Cup news headlines so that you can easily keep up to date with all of the latest news and then if a story is of interest to you, you can simply follow the links for the full story.
Challenge Cup News Update
We constantly update the latest news from the Challenge Cup from sources big and small across the globe so you can be assured that as soon as there is a news update, we will bring it to you.