For those that didn't hear it (me) what happened that was so bad as to have caused such indignation or this just the usual moaning?

well right at start they said number 2 three times before someone realised you need to also name the team,then billy boston called out number 9,there was no number 9,and then bacon called workington wokington.

That it, really? let it go, it makes Bacon look amateur not us.

.....and pigs might fly

Was listening to the draw at work + it was that bad we ended up laughing.Calling out the wrong teams was bad enough but not being able to distinguish the difference between the numbered balls was unforgivable + that's putting it kindly.Once again with hundreds of thousands of listeners RL becomes a laughing stock.Would not have happened with wendy ball i bet.Well done the BBC

Typical Wigan Brigantes violence.

There was the confusion pulling the names out, he asked Boston if he had ever lifted the cup, couldn't say Workington, made a sarcastic comment along the lines of "oh I can't go and watch what a shame" and apologised to listeners for boring them- the draw was held in the middle of an interview about sewing!

www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/ Complain I have, won't matter but you never know...

www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/ Complain I have, won't matter but you never know...

Your right RG, one of the greats of our game & Bacon didn't know anything about him. Probably not fully Bacons fault because he has researchers to do the leg work, but I would have expected a presenter on the BBC's highest rating afternoon radio show to have taken more time to understand why Mr Boston was chosen to make the draw.

Well I don't know anything about Richard Bacon and I haven't done any research on him, but when I listened to that farce this afternoon I realised what a complete condescending toss pot he is. He also treated one of the all time sporting greats with utter contempt.

Richard Bacon is what he is, he's always like that.

Is a cup draw boring... Well i didn't tune in and i knew about it and have a team in the draw.
In context it's people saying a number and then someone telling us who the number is followed by someone else saying a number etc etc.

It is boring, why should Richard Bacon research every single person he has to talk to, he doesn't follow the game, that's his prerogative.

Seriously people are taking the time to complain? FFS get a grip, we're playing Salford at home that's all that matters.

People don't have to like our game just because we do, i'm sure if i was doing a draw for British Basketball i wouldn't have had a clue about anyone or anything, no history and to be frank wouldn't give a monkeys.
I'd find it boring and if anyone complained about me i'd just look at the complaints and think 'get a f'kin life'

All the wrongs with the world, all the injustice and the only time you put pen to paper or fingers to a keyboard to complain is when someone bumbles through a cup draw and one person doesn't know the other.

Bacon has gone on record saying that he has no time for team sports so its not that surprising he sounded as though he didn't give a toss but while I wouldn't personally complain about the issue surely our great sport deserves a little more respect than the shambles that went on today.

They just cant help themselves.

He should stick to the Columbian Marching Powder that he likes so much.
On listening to his show, it sounded like some had allready been taken

At the point where one of them said, 'There's only 3 balls left in the bag..,' I thought they would follow it up with, 'Oh dear, there are actually 4 left.' Complete farce.

Its the Challenge Cup 5th round, nobody cares. Even rugby league fans aren't bothered about the Challenge Cup at this stage, the stadiums will be half empty, people don't get interested till the semis as they are focused on the league. Actually no they aren't they don't care about that either as they only care about the playoffs.

Stop getting worked up about this like its the Ashes or the Champions League.

Dear RFL if you want to achieve low, aim low. Next time invite a couple of well known RL fans (Rooney, Ferdinand, Wiggins, ANYONE) to do the draw and broadcast it over the web with selected highlights of the previous rounds.

But it still should be done professionally by a BBC station.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s1d7h

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s1d7h

And that good friends is the sound of a nail being hit squarely on the head.

I am sure your complaint about people complaining took just as long, if not longer to write.

If you had tuned in you'd understand why people are annoyed and, dare I say, perhaps a little embarrassed.

If it doesn't matter and nobody's interested then we should perform the draw behind closed doors and publish it on the RFL website. However, if you're going to broadcast it live "to the nation" on the BBC then it should be done properly. Not just Richard Bacon's fault, though he was incredibly condescending, because the RFL presumably arranged this. I love the sport but felt distinctly uncomfortable throughout those few minutes.

But then again, I've always found cup draws rather exciting and continue to place just as much prestige on the Cup Final as the Grand Final.

I know the RFL caused the global banking crisis according to some on here, but how on earth can you blame them for that? They turn up with the trophy and a cup legend, explain the whole process to them, then do a practice run. What more can they do?

On a different note, Steve Mcnamara has just been on the Chris Evans show (9.5 million listeners) talking about the World Cup and the semis at Wembley, making sure he got the fact that tickets are just £20 in. Straight away people were texting in to ask if that was correct, so hopefully a few people will buy tickets as a result. But of course the RFL won't get any credit for organising that.

About 1:35 in.


I certainly wouldn't blame the RFL. If anyone is to blame then it's Richard Bacon, and his production team. They managed to produce several minutes of apparently unrehed, amateurish and cringeworthy radio which would have sounded just as poor whatever the topic. Sadly the topic was RL.

The BBC give the impression that RL is a 'job' that they don't particularly want to do but have to do. Perhaps, for each round, a few players should be available to go buying and selling (at a loss) antiques from antique fairs. Others could do a bit of cooking, maybe some ballroom dancing or research their family tree. Maybe then we'd get better RL coverage even if it is only as the background story as to why Kevin Sinfield has decided to prepare Confit of salmon with new potato & crab crush & dill drizzle.

Maybe our parochial 'oh look someone's giving us attention' attitude holds us back.
Maybe sponsors hold back because we're the biggest bunch of moaning f'kers in world sport?