I wonder how long the RFL is contracted to hold the CC at Wembley for? Early bird deals are available for next year! https://www.rugby-league.com/article/62 ... 5K,4OF3A,1

I wonder how long the RFL is contracted to hold the CC at Wembley for? Early bird deals are available for next year! https://www.rugby-league.com/article/62 ... 5K,4OF3A,1

It's completely lost its charm for me. Maybe i have been too many times in 15 years.

Pros
-tradition

Cons
-half empty
-expensive dayout/weekend
-miles from action even with £70 ticket.
-wembley locality is like a failed 3rd world state.

A VERY long and expensive day, the only thing I enjoyed was the Camden Hells IPA. Wanted to smack the Wakefield idiot sat next to me... like the above poster says we're miles from the action even at 51 quid, too many part time fans killed the atmosphere, think the passing of RB added to the subdued mood too, not to say anyone can be faulted for the lovely tribute during abide with me.

Me too. I went to many Challenge Cup finals in the 80s and 90s as a neutral, and the day really did have that 'carnival of rugby' feel. You would see fans of all clubs there, proudly wearing their colours, and it was a day to enjoy. These days, it feels more like a day to endure, and you see far fewer neutrals there now.

2009 felt special to me as it had been my first visit for 19 years and at the "new" Wembley but I'm not going again even if we get there. The one mile walk through Wembley to our parking was utterly depressing. If that's the vision for the United Kingdom in the long term I'll be glad to be out of it.

That was the last time I went as well, me and the wife, said that I wouldn’t go again due to the drunken idiots who can’t handle their alcohol spoiling it for the others. Went back on Saturday for obvious reasons, bought decent seats but still had some of the same around us

Royal box next time

The RFL should run a deal.

Helicoptered in to avoid the crashes on the M40 and the driving from A40 to Wembley and the extortionate parking.
Seats not next to ed up slobs/neanderthals.
Allowed to bring in own food that has basic nutrition.
Helicoptered home.

It's a third empty at best.

I agree you are slightly away than most purpose built rugby grounds, Piedome and Huddersfield the same, we had 51 tickets and were six rows back good for closeness but right on tryline at warrington end.

Wembley better than it was with Boxpark etc, I remember going down the High street for a wimpy back in the day, things are certainly better.

I never park anywhere near Wembley I always park at Hammersmith and get the tube in just a better travelling experience.

I believe the current contract runs out after next season.

Btw, if anyone wants to book a cheep accommodation now for next season.

Wembley final is 7/6/25

It’ll be officially released in a few days.

I know what you mean. We had a family in front of us who looked like some kind of Deliverance/Shameless hybrids, and drunk lads behind us, one of whom knocked over one of his many pints, so I spent the second half of the match with my feet in a puddle of ale. It's just tiresome.

Ha ha ha

We were next to their 2nd cousins/parents

Thanks but not going again, even if it was Elvis doing the half time show and Wire vs Runcorn Highfield.

Amazingly, the idea of a new National Stadium has been blighted by the inaccessibility caused by all the development that has taken place around the area. Stadium parking sacrificed for housing/flats that must be costing residents a fortune to live in them. It has turned the stadium into a London centric development & not one for the long distance fan. I was even shocked to see a mega block of flats right in the middle of the Hangar Lane Gyratory System. How much much more traffic chaos will that cause ? I am sure Wembley would serve the nation better as a stand alone structure somewhere north of London between the M1 & M40 with dedicated access roads & a station & no other development within a large enough distance to allow on site parking for all who want to use it.
It took our coach an hour & 20 minutes to get away on Saturday even though everybody was on board.

I only went due to taking my lad for the first time, just depressing and that’s only half down to the loss. Train home was a disgrace. Think we’re bored of getting there, as someone alluded to I think Wigan fans (lucky for them) are bored of winning judging by how many were out of the ground before me and I left early….same thing happened in the last GF….odd.

Has to move to a new stadium.

Whole day had me clamouring for lockdown again (happy days).

I found the whole experience at Wembley crap. I have now made a decision that i will not be going again. Hours sat on a motorway because of accidents, The cost of parking at the stadium is crazy, paying a ULEZ charge to that idiot running London. Then trying to find a space on a bus because it was full to the brim. Once in the ground i found my seat and was miles from the action. Toilets were over crowded at half time. Prices at the bars expensive. Considering the amount i paid for myself and my daughter to attend for the day i don't see it being a cost effective trip again. Now if they were to move it up North i think you would get far more attending and money spent goes to the areas that support rugby league. Just my personal out look on the day your mileage my vary.

The chaos at the M6 Toll Road Services on the way home where ALL coaches from both teams fans stopped, was far worse than the wait at the Wembley Car Park.

The crush inside the Services was bloody unsafe and there wasn`t enough room on the car park to accommodate all the coaches trying to park there.

Idiots & alcohol , the blight of "big" RL games for me.

I go to the HJ to watch the game & catch up with my mate. Neither experience would be any the worse if there was no alcohol served in the stadium at all. And there is nothing that would get me to go Old Trafford for the GF, nothing at all.

If I had my way there would be an alcohol free zone at the HJ, for people who just go to watch the game and not get ed, lairy and think they are clever by sucking on their raspberry flavoured electronic death sticks.

Rant over.....

Our driver said before we left Wembley he would not be stopping & we set off at about half six ,up the M1 /M6 & didn't bother with toll road & we got off the coach at the HJ at 10 past 10. He did a great job.

Oh, ing vapers in rhe south stand is my bug bear this year but vapers in general baffle me.

Theres a massive difference between ppl who smoke who id say95% are respectful and blow it away from you, vapers id say 95% of vapers dont give a , and blow clouds thats 5 to 10 times bigger than an average smoke exhale out, it smells worse and takes longer to dissipate. You see clouds of this enveloping people in the south stand.

The only comment about Wembley that made me laugh this weekend was some clown on the bbc website banging on about the union final had a bigger crowd. Hmm let’s think I game mostly played in the south in a final in a southern city.

If Ratcliffe gets the tax payers to build his national stadium of the North then maybe down the line we play the Challenge Cup final there. At least helps with the expensie of not travelling to London. I get nostalgia and all that but I preferred Wilderspool over the HJ again with nostalgia sometimes you just have to move on.

P.S Grand Final to Etihad would be nice Old Trafford is a dump even playing on that pitch is dangerous

If you move the Challenge Cup final away from Wembley, then I think that will be the first step towards there not being a Challenge Cup anymore.

The Wembley tradition is a huge part of it, and if you take that away then it's the start of the slow death.

There are plenty of reasons why it is never likely to have a 90,000 full house ever again, but if you move it to a ground in the north with a smaller capacity - Anfield, Etihad, Elland Road, St James' Park being the most obvious choices - then I bet it wouldn't sell those out either. Elland Road maybe, but no chance the others.

Leave Wembley and within ten years I reckon the Cup is no more.

Up until this year, I would have agreed with you 100%, but now I have changed my mind. My whole experience around the event this year was pretty bad - and I would have said that even if we had won the match. It just seems crazy to me now, in a cost of living crisis, that thousands of people from towns in the north travel all that way down south, just to pump money into London's economy. What happened to the 'levelling up' agenda? As for tradition, yes, point taken, but traditions change. We didn't used to be called Warrington Wolves, we didn't used to have Grand Finals, but things evolve. I would miss what Wembley used to represent, years ago, but we're fooling ourselves if we think that it's still the same as it used to be.

I'm in the same boat. It was a pretty poor experience for upwards of £250 worth of expenditure for me and the family. The days of attendances requiring a 90K stadium are over and have been for 35+ years.

I'm not saying Wembley is brilliant, but the issues with it are primarily that rugby league just can't come close to filling it, rather than the ground itself.

I don't think that is going to get any better at a ground in the north, and once you take the Wembley tradition away, then before long the Cup will go altogether. Tradition is the only reason why it exists now, and there's no heritage in a downgraded final in Liverpool, Leeds or Manchester.

You could possibly try moving it around a bit and going to popular grounds like Cardiff or Murrayfield. That might see a short term boost, but in a few years time their novelty will have worn off for the clubs that regularly get there and neutrals that go regularly too, and attendances will drop just like Wembley's have.

If you want a near full house and better atmosphere then by all means move it to Elland Road, but if you're moving a final that has been played at the national stadium in London for a century to a stadium with less than half it's capacity in Leeds, then you're already more or less admitting the competition is past it's sell by date in my opinion.

As the years have past there has been a massive reduction in working men's clubs and works staff organising trips to Wembley regardless of the teams that play. There not two teams who can put the numbers required to help fill the stadium, its a sad indictment of the game now but its true people cannot afford to shell out the extortionate costs in our rip off country and its only getting worse.