should nrl teams be in the challenge cup?

[League Freak™]

It wouldnt work.



It hardly even works in the UK!

 

[taxidriver]

maybe we should have a mid week competition here. we could call it the panasonic cup !!

 

[ozboy]

This is one of the worst ideas put forward this year.

Clubs already whinge about having to play the WCC and their players spending too much time on the Tri-Nations trip, what makes you think the would want waste a week of NRL football and ruin their preparation for the following week, to go over and play in some meaningless competition to most Australian RL players and supporters.

If English SL teams want to play the Aussies in some sort of competition they can come out here in our pre-season and play.

 

[Mr Saab]

PATHETIC idea. The NRL is THE best competition in the world and everyone knows it. Who cares who wins the challenge cup, all that matters is who wins the NRL.
Yeah, lets send our clubs over to England mid season to play a stupid comp and get injured. Yeah real bright
Eg...Cronulla leading the comp and they go over to play St Helens, Noddy breaks his leg and is out for the rest of the yr. Imagine the uproar.
Imagine it was YOUR clubs best players that fell foul to injury. You would be PI$$ED off to the extreme. I know i would.

 

[Saint 60]

agreed...much as i love to watch the footy..it would be a pain.

Ppl complaining about refs, injuries, international commitments, money...bla bla bla
altho our reserve grade sides would love it to death

 

[Mr Saab]

altho our reserve grade sides would love it to death

send the reggies over, wouldnt suprise me if an Oz reggie team won the bloody thing

 

[Mr Saab]

What would you rather watch at home on a wednesday night, Blue Heelers or Manly V Parra???

and then they back up on the weekend and play in the NRL and lose. Oh but its ok because they won a challenge cup game

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

but it could happen this is a knockout comp after all



Look i like the idea, but they need to play somewhere half way(ie dubai or Singapore) becuase it will be not possible due to long flights and that

Are you serious? Yeah let's play a game between Brisbane and Wigan in Singapore. That will make money.
There is no point having NRL sides in the Challenge Cup, and ESL would never allow it too happen.

 

[salivor]

Stupid idea, don't tinker with history and tradition by adding NRL clubs into the mix who no doubt would take over the competition. As for the idiot who called it the sh*tty challenge cup, the final is probably the biggest event we have in Rugby League, I don't have the figures but I'd say that it's television ratings would out do the NRL grand final and SOO matches.

 

[Razor]

No. The Challenge Cup is a European knockout competition. It should stay that way.

Australia should create their own like they used to have, and has been suggested before, but the clubs are opposed to it. They definitely shouldn't play in somebody elses.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

Agree with Razor, its their competition let them do it on their own.

We used to have the Toohey's Challenge, or Amco Cup they should bring that back.

 

[bartman]

Good original question, but the cross global logistics would be too much.

But I miss not having some sort of cup competition alongside the NRL? For years we had the mid-week Amco/Panasonic/etc Cup, involving country sides as well, and we've also had the pre-season Craven Mild cups.

I know it comes down to number of matches in a year, but if they can re-jig the draw when the 16th team comes in (30 games home and away plus finals and SoO are too many), there might be more room for some form of knock-out cup involving country/potential expansion teams, helping to grow the game?

 

[Resident Warrior]

Challenge Cup sucks it's nothing more than a poor man's Heineken cup.

 

[ali]

Did they sell out the final of the Heineken Cup???? From what i saw in todays paper, NO, unless the capacity of Murrayfield has been reduced.

I can't wait for the Challenge Cup final this year. I will be there wearing a Kangaroos jersey amonst 80000 English and Welsh fans at the Millenium stadium.

And i can't believe some of the crap in this thread. The days of Aussie reserve sides being able to beat the pommie sides are long gone. Look of some of the good Aussie players over there who are struggling. Look at the likes of Smith and Adamson getting cut by Super League clubs and coming back to the NRL. Do yourself a favour and watch a super league game without green and gold blinkers on before posting such crap.

Maybe in 10 or 15 years time, if someone invents a mode of air travel that reduces the trip to Europe to 4 or 6 hours we could join the Challenge Cup. Until then, it's too far to travel.

 

[ozboy]

Did they sell out the final of the Heineken Cup???? From what i saw in todays paper, NO, unless the capacity of Murrayfield has been reduced.

I can't wait for the Challenge Cup final this year. I will be there wearing a Kangaroos jersey amonst 80000 English and Welsh fans at the Millenium stadium.

And i can't believe some of the crap in this thread. The days of Aussie reserve sides being able to beat the pommie sides are long gone. Look of some of the good Aussie players over there who are struggling. Look at the likes of Smith and Adamson getting cut by Super League clubs and coming back to the NRL. Do yourself a favour and watch a super league game without green and gold blinkers on before posting such crap.

Maybe in 10 or 15 years time, if someone invents a mode of air travel that reduces the trip to Europe to 4 or 6 hours we could join the Challenge Cup. Until then, it's too far to travel.

SL is crap and boring, the only good thing about it is the very passionate crowds. Put our Premier League teams in those stadiums and we will see a much more higher standard game.

As for the Heineken Cup, of course it would not sell out, what else would you expect from an all French final played in Scotland.