The Northern Rail Cup has taken on greater significance due to the Super League licensing process; should it be rewarded by a Wembley final day? www./blogpost_266- ... mbley.html What do you think? Should the Northern Rail Cup final be played as a curtain raiser to the showpiece Challenge Cup final? Or does it deserve a final day in its own right?

The Northern Rail Cup has taken on greater significance due to the Super League licensing process; should it be rewarded by a Wembley final day? www./blogpost_266- ... mbley.html What do you think? Should the Northern Rail Cup final be played as a curtain raiser to the showpiece Challenge Cup final? Or does it deserve a final day in its own right?

No - it would relegate the final to a curtain raiser - leave it as it is.

Quote ="Catalancs"The Northern Rail Cup has taken on greater significance due to the Super League licensing process; should it be rewarded by a Wembley final day? www./blogpost_266- ... mbley.html What do you think? Should the Northern Rail Cup final be played as a curtain raiser to the showpiece Challenge Cup final? [size=150Or does it deserve a final day in its own right[/size?'" Definately has to be given its own final. Anything else would be insulting and would take away any sense of importance it currently has. I'm hoping that Leigh get there this year and would me made up if we get a day out in blackpool for a cup final. Wouldn't be anywhere near as excited if we got to the final and ended up in wembley sat 5 rows from the nearest Leigh fans and surrounded by people who weren't really fussed about the game and were just sat waiting for the 'main' event! If they cant give a competition its 'own' final then it obviously isn't deemed to be important. So no I dont want the NRC final to be a 'curtain raiser' to the CC final as it would completely devalue the entire competition!

Quote ="Catalancs"The Northern Rail Cup has taken on greater significance due to the Super League licensing process; should it be rewarded by a Wembley final day? www./blogpost_266- ... mbley.html What do you think? Should the Northern Rail Cup final be played as a curtain raiser to the showpiece Challenge Cup final? [size=150Or does it deserve a final day in its own right[/size?'" Definately has to be given its own final. Anything else would be insulting and would take away any sense of importance it currently has. I'm hoping that Leigh get there this year and would me made up if we get a day out in blackpool for a cup final. Wouldn't be anywhere near as excited if we got to the final and ended up in wembley sat 5 rows from the nearest Leigh fans and surrounded by people who weren't really fussed about the game and were just sat waiting for the 'main' event! If they cant give a competition its 'own' final then it obviously isn't deemed to be important. So no I dont want the NRC final to be a 'curtain raiser' to the CC final as it would completely devalue the entire competition!

No.

A good day out in Blackpool, and a game of RL in a full stadium would be much better than traipsing all the way down to London to sit in a tumbleweed atmosphere in a stadium which is 90% empty.

They have two different sponsors: the Co-Operative and Carnegie

They have two different broadcasters: Sky and the BBC

The Northern Rail Cup final is a spectacle in its own right, and doesn’t need to hang onto the coat tails of big brother. It would do more harm than good imo. I doubt the BBC would pay for, and screen, both games. What that would do to the sponsors interest god only knows. It probably wouldn’t be televised at all, and that wouldn’t help.

Bloomfield Rd is now nearly finished and will be both an excellent and appropriate venue when finally complete. Wembley is…well…Wembley, and should remain exclusive and special; only for the very best. That's really what makes the Challenge Cup special.

It's fine in blackpool.

Hoepfully the final will grow as the stadium does.

Totally agree. From being a nothing competition when it was the Trans Pennine Cup it now has value and a real place in the RL calender. Maybe a message in sticking with something???

One of the big regrets from 2005 and 2007 is that Cas never got to lift it. Sure it didnt matter in the Grand scale of things, but it did at the time. Also the chance of appearing at Wembley cos your not in the first team and have gone out on dual registration isnt right. If the CC at Wembley is to keep and maintain its appeal, it has to be a distant dream for the vast majority of players. The ultimate final.

I like it having it's own identity. Hoping to go to Blackpool myself if we can get past Batley. I think the curtain raiser for the Challenge Cup Final should be either an amateur final, schools final or Hattons High Ball.

Leave it in Blackpool in my opinion Wembley is a prestigious occasion whereas Blackpool is one big beach party with the final thrown in.

Quote ="Catalancs"The Northern Rail Cup has taken on greater significance due to the Super League licensing process; should it be rewarded by a Wembley final day? www./blogpost_266- ... mbley.html What do you think? Should the Northern Rail Cup final be played as a curtain raiser to the showpiece Challenge Cup final? Or does it deserve a final day in its own right?'" tbh, my opinion of has always been pretty low – to serious suggest that you take a successful cup final day and downgrade it into a curtain raiser for some other cup final, while simultaneously calling that a 'reward' shows that my opinion of it is justificed. It is, frankly, a testes of an idea.

Quote ="Catalancs"The Northern Rail Cup has taken on greater significance due to the Super League licensing process; should it be rewarded by a Wembley final day? www./blogpost_266- ... mbley.html What do you think? Should the Northern Rail Cup final be played as a curtain raiser to the showpiece Challenge Cup final? Or does it deserve a final day in its own right?'" tbh, my opinion of has always been pretty low – to serious suggest that you take a successful cup final day and downgrade it into a curtain raiser for some other cup final, while simultaneously calling that a 'reward' shows that my opinion of it is justificed. It is, frankly, a testes of an idea.

Yes! At present we have two blank weekends, one for the NRC final, and one for the CC Final. The odds of a non-super league team reaching the CC final is virtually zero, so combine the two, give NL fans a proper day out, and make it a fantastic RL double header

Edit: I"m being unfair to – having read beyond the first par (

) it's Tony Miller who should be in my sights for a flight of lunacy.

I thought the same about calling it a 'reward'. It is anything but a reward. Making the final of what is (finally)becoming seen as an important competition into some light pre-match entertainment for the CC final is NOT a reward!!!

It is a decent idea, worthy of consideration and debate, and Miller made a number of good points to justify it. I'm sure the players would like to say they had played at Wembley. At least, that is the attitude of lower grade Australian players, which is why the NRL Grand Final is preceded by the NRL Under 20s Grand Final, the NSW Cup Grand Final and the Bundaberg Red Cup Grand Final (Sydney Metropolitan Cup). Supporters here like the fact you can watch a number of games and receive a comprehensive program of pre-match entertainment, there are more facets to the NRL Grand Final day as an event than the Challenge Cup final. Furthermore, even as a curtain raiser, the crowd could still be bigger that they'd get at Blackpool.

Given the arguments some have posted above, an alternative could be to hold the NRC final at The Stoop on the same weekend as the Challenge Cup final, and hold the Championship and Championship 1 Grand Finals at Blackpool instead.

I'm undecided regarding this, it devalues the competition a bit but then it gives smaller clubs like Keighley and Batley to play at Wembley, something practically impossible for clubs like these to achieve in an era of salary caps and franchising.

we need as many 'event' days as we can.test matches,cup finals etc.we are building up the national rail cup into a big event in the calendar so to share it with the challenge cup would serve no purpose at all.also,2 different broadcasters and sponsors.its a non starter.im sure there used to be a match played at wembley before the cup final anyway,did hkr play hunslet once in 96 or 97.if it was successfull we would still be doing it.

Although Bloomfield road is an improving stadium, and will be a better stadium when the fc club have finished with it, it still won't look full for the Cougars v Bulldogs final this year!!!