You missed this one:
2002 Semi Final: Saints vs Leeds, DW
That now makes it 5 with 60% in Yorkshire and 40% Lancashire which is a fairer split.
With all the discussion about venue choice and location, has anyone factored into account things such as cost and availability of stadiums?

Spot on..... Play it in Greater Manchester.

Just play it in Manchester. Between the two clubs.

Double-header at COM would get my vote to be honest.

Failing that, play them at the newst RL stadiums. Many Wigan and Leeds fans will not have been to Langtree park yet and that will sell a few extra tickets. Same for Warrington v Hudds at Salford.

With the BBC doing the games, will they want it close to media city?

vs Lancashire opposition:
2002, 2001, 1994, 1993.

As with Wigan, Leeds have played a majority of semis vs Lancashire opposition in the opposition's county: ten out of the past 15 occasions in fact (i.e. before the recent three in Huddersfield vs St Helens it was ten out of 12).

Presumably this arises due to Central Park and Headingley being the predominant semi final venues for decades.

Scared

A neutral environment suits us fine but the sad thing is we dont often get it. The positive is we usually win anyway but thats not the point.

I would quite happily play Leeds at Headingly/Elland road or even red hall's gardens and be confident of winning.

Well if it was to be a neutral venue then why not look to expand into areas the game isnt particularly strong. Why not play one game in Wrexham as it might give Welsh RL a boost and maybe somewhere in Scotland.

Both of those would involve a bit of trekking but part of the magic of the cup in my opinion is travelling to unusual locations beyond the typical heartlands of Wigan, Saints, Leeds, Bradford, Warrington etc.

Or when the semi against Catalans was at Warrington...

Can't believe the amount of bellyaching on this thread when (as far as I know anyway) the venues haven't even been officially announced

All we have from what I can see is one fan saying they've HEARD it might be...

If the venues have been announced and I've missed it, anyone got a link?

The fact is, any venue apart from the DW and Headingley (and perhaps Elland Road) are neutral venues. Neither side gets any extra advantage if the venue is indeed Huddersfield, or Leigh, or Salford or Warrington etc etc

Gotcha this can be solved in a flash,spin a coin and the winner has home advantage.
Hands up on these forums those who agree with that,I have a funny feeling it is going to go quiete on the Yorkshire side of the hill. Good night Gotcha, by the way you must learn to spell ballacks right.

Or maybe even quiet.

Personally I think Salford's ground would be ideal. 25-30 mins for us and about 40 mins for Leeds straight down the m62.

I agree Salford's ground would be a good idea, but if it does get used, its more likely that it will be for Warrington v Huddersfield, where the demand for tickets will be less.

Wigan v Leeds will be at Huddersfield IMHO.

well it has more meaning than the magic weekend as the winner gets to go to wembley for the final....

personally I want to play at Huddersfield as we have never lost a CC semi to Leeds when playing there

The magic of the cup semi-final is another [u[size=150away[/size[/u day in the heartlands with ma Wigan pals . So you can get that idea oot o' yer heid right away .

Yes, you mean exactly the same as the Galpharm, only the other way round?

What we need is some radical thinking here,a lot of fans say that the top 8 play off is to much.
So what about reverting to a top 5 play off ,after making the Semi Final of the Challenge Cup a two legged round. The first out of the hat decides if they play at the home leg first or play away first.

I'm all in favour of a top 5 play off but doubt whether the BBC would feel able to schedule both games of a two-legged semi and suspect they'd be unhappy to show only one leg.

And to me the question over which side of the Pennines the semis should be played is pretty irrelevant, unless I've misunderstood the reasoning. Do some of your fans think that playing at Hudds is unfair is because the locals would turn up and back us? Frankly, that's about as likely as Saints fans supporting you were it played on their patch (in fact I'm not even sure whether Hudds fans would bother turning up even if their own team was involved). Granted, our mileage is slightly less than yours and so might result in a few hundred more of ours attending than would do so if it was on your side but at the end of the day you're hardly a poorly-supported club and might well outnumber us in any case.

Yep. So that would be suitable for you?

2 matches,1 in lancs,1 in yorks.the ground will not beat us,if we lose it will be leeds that beat us,and make no mistake we will have to be at the top of our game to win.11 pages of bitching about the ground some people need to get a life.

It's a piece of grass.

I don't mind where we play them, as long as we beat them.

If you go back a couple of pages, you will see I already said that. But that ground is already playing the other semi, which again is perfect equal difference, as Huddersfield is closest to the border, where Warrington is further than you are. But why should two semi's be held in Lancashire? that should not be the case, so then you look to best alternative.

So when are the venues going to be announced?

It's been 3 days since the draw. I am getting quite angry now at the lack of information - I think I need to swear......

seconded. i dont recall so much indecision of late in RL for quite a while

BBC and the RFL are at a deadlock in talks at the moment, the BBC want the Leeds v Wigan game on 15th July but the RFL want it on the 14th as the Galpharm can't be used on 15th due to the All Yorkshire Regional clog dancing finals taking place.

Leeds fans don't travel so I'd expect it to be in Yorkshire. Doesn't bother me where it's played really (as long as it's not Odsal).