I'm just glad its however many weeks away. If it was played tomorrow we'd get smashed. Hopefully by that time though we've hit some form and you've lost yours a bit!

I stick by what I wrote I would imagine more agree with what I said than you Fat belly.

Loved the fact that Robbie Paul was grinning like a cheshire cat while man-voice wanted to wax lyrical about the Yorkshire ties. I thought there was a midget tickling his bum once the draw had been made. ALL he wanted to discuss was Wire Vs Wigan, and who can blame him? Not sure the producer on BBC Yorks wanted to hear about how great this match should be. This is the tie for the neutrals and anyone who loves British rugby league at its best. It promises to be a cracker, cannot wait.

Same here.

I'm 90% sure that it will be the Saturday.

Ahem, that's Robbie Hunter-Paul to you.

I was going to correct the 'were' to 'we're,' but then I realised that he even writes with a Wigan accent.

Crapped myself at first thought it was the weekend before when im away should be working on the saturday and sunday but a few coughs on the phone should sort me a day off.

After trying, unsuccessfully, to stream Look North, and then listening to Radio Five. I tuned into Radio Leeds just in time to hear;

'That concludes the draw......'

Some of you lot would whinge if you fell head first into a bucketfull of breasts.

Firstly (unfortunately) RL is a minority sport. Why would the powers that be at the Beeb, give air time, of an evening, to a draw (not a match, a draw). If you add up the average attendances of the 8 remainng clubs, you've probably got an interest of around 100,000 people. Not exactly in the license fee payers interest, is it, in a population of over 60 million. Besides, you don't need a draw on the telly, anyway. There's nothing to see. Just do it on the radio like the FA used to do for the football.

So what if Sky make a fuss of the team picks for the play-offs. They've 4 channels and a dedicated news channel to fill (eg, tonight their schedules are filled with repeats on all 4 channels).

I'm no fan of the Beeb, but they do give us 2 live games each round. What more do you want them to do. Show every game?
Those of us who are in their late 30's and over, will remember the BBC's coverage in the mid 80's, where you got 5 mins edited highlights of the first half, and ALL the second half live (weren't we lucky) of one game, per round. Honestly, you don't know your born. We've never had so much coverage.


So what if they didn't tell us what numbers were related to which teams. They were probably running to a tight schedule. They said the name a SECOND later after the ball number, or couldn't you wait that long.

CC can stay on the Beeb for me. Sky aren't interested, so at least we've still got national coverage

To quote a British Prime Minister from the 1950's "You've never had it so good"

Yes he did say that, but it was because it was so sh*te at the time.

Yes things have improved as far as coverage/profile of the game is concerned. But with very little effort they could be a lot better. I pay my licence, and am happy for part if to go on the CC rights. Having paid out, surely the BBC would want to try and harbour some interest in what is still a major sporting event. 100,000 interested people may not sound a lot, but it must be a damn sight more than the 3 people who are interested in 'Millie age 8 from Bootle who has lost her cat' or what ever the lead story was on North West Tonight. I'm having a hard job understanding why they couldn't have squeezed it in.

So thanks for all you do BBC, excuse me for asking for more.

cue fans from other teams moaning about a fixed draw because we got another easy tie.

You have put forward a very good argument. However, I don't believe I would be out of line saying you have talked yourself in to a bit of a flaw. You are applying wildly different standards to Sky and the BBC and between eras. In fact, you touched upon the problem.

You see, you have mentioned the Sky having 4 channels to tell of the playoff games and the bemoan the past where you got 45 mins a week. Ignoring the fact that at the time there were only two bbc channels. You must remember, there are at 4 national, regionals and stupid amount of radio stations.

I think if Sky sports can devote a few mins with four channels. BBC can find a way to show the whole country it; whether through tv or radio or live stream on their website.

If thats the case, why didn't the RFL get their broadcasting contract right with the BBC to address these p*ss poor issues like
1.draws on BBC Leeds only and
2. broadcasting the two halves of the same game on two different channels.

The BBC have a total lack of respect for the RL in general and the CC in particluar. I don't have a problem with the presenters like Claire, Nobby and Davies but the rest of the BBC don't give a flying fig.
Shame on the RFL for not having a water tight contract with them to stop this nonsense.

I know its likely to be Saturday...But please let it be Sunday...


If its Saturday i will have to rush back from Blackpool early Saturday morning after a works night out...

Sky SPORTS (there's clue in there). That's ALL they deal with.
The BBC have no dedicated sports channel. There'd be a lot of people saying "RL, who gives a #### about that ####" if a draw was on national tv, on a Monday night.

If we must have a televised draw, do it after the second televised game. Not some spurious time on a Monday night.

Whether you wink or not, another Wiganer with incorrect grammar: it's touché, actually.

AWwww Diddums !

To think, if it's Sunday, you'll have an extra day to wash the stains out of your flags

A good thing for the club is it will be a nice pay day.
Probably sell out crowd, decent T/V fee and the chance to sell a lot of hospitality packages.

Wasn't asking for sympathy Mr Ultra....

I agree. I was merely pointing out that, as the BBC has adopted the CC, they have the resources to produce it well. If we were discussing why can't we get more matches on the BBC or something and they didn't feel it was worth the money; fair enough, we get what we get and shouldn't complain. But they are marketing a product they have already paid for, and they are shafting the audience.

I'm sure there was nothing stopping the beeb from doing all of the following:
showing it on all northern regional news.
live stream online.
at least one radio show from each county (leeds and/or Hull, Merseyside and greater Manchester)

They refused and there really isn't an excuse for it.

Great tie, pity it's not a semi or the final as it would make a great showpiece. Pity too that it's not this week as we'd rinse 'em. In nine weeks we'll have to see who's got the fittest first team and the form.

The average viewing audience for Sky News is 18,000!
Frankly you lot moan its the wrong day,the wrong time,why can't we get in for free etc.
You'd certainly moan alot more if the BBC turn round and announce they will no longer be showing RL.

Exactly, Speccy
Our game's never had so much exposure from the beeb, yet some STILL whinge on here.

Let's look at what the Beeb's lost in the last couple of decades in sport
Boxing (everything)
cricket (everything)
golf (about 5 tournaments)
football (premiership for about 5 years) FA Cup (off and on for a few years, currently lost)
lost (but got back) F1
Athletics (virtually everything)
3 point game
Cheltenham races (and other courses)

In that time, we've gained more games in the CC, and we have a 'magazine' programme, for those who don't have access to Sky.

Never happy, some people.