Rugby League Challenge Cup

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This article is about the Rugby League Challenge Cup. For other "Challenge Cups" see Challenge Cup (disambiguation)

The Challenge Cup is a knockout competition for British Rugby League clubs that has been held since 1896. In recent years the entry has been expanded to allow French and Russian teams to take part.

Contents

1 History 2 Structure 3 List of finals 4 External links

History

The clubs that formed the Northern Union had long been playing in local knockout cup competitions under the auspices of the Rugby Football Union. However, the rugby union authorities refused to sanction a nationwide tournament, fearing that this would inevitably lead to professionalism. After the schism of 1895, the northern clubs were free to go-ahead, and they instigated the Northern Rugby Football Union Challenge Cup.

The first competition was held during the 1896-95 season (the second season of the new game), and 56 clubs entered to compete for the £60 trophy. The first final was held at Headingley in Leeds, on the 24th April 1897. Batley defeated St Helens 10-3 in front of a crowd of 13,492 (see picture). It is interesting to note that the St Helens side did not play in a standardised team jersey.

Initially, the final tie was held at one of the larger club grounds in the north, however, in 1927 the decision was made to relocate to the new Wembley Stadium in London.

In recent years the redevelopment of Wembley has led to the Cup Final utilising a variety of venues. The final is one of the biggest rugby league events of the year in Britain, along with the Super League Grand Final.

The Challenge Cup final traditionally formed the end to the season, being played in late April or early May. The move to a summer season for rugby league in 1996 did not see the Challenge Cup moved, and it became instead essentially a pre-season tournament, with the final taking place early in the season. Many people felt that this led to a decline in the prestige of the cup. From 2005, it has been announced that the Challenge Cup will be rescheduled, with the 2005 final due to be held on Saturday 27th August at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

Structure

The modern Challenge Cup has 7 rounds prior to the final. Teams are seeded, entering at different stages. The precise format has altered slightly from year to year, however the basic format is as follows:

• First round: Amateur teams from all the nations of the British Isles. Most of the teams are English and affiliated to BARLA.

• Second round: No new team enter the competition at this stage

• Third round: Two Russian teams, four French sides, and semi-professional British clubs from the Rugby League National Leagues enter the draw.

• Fourth round: The twelve Super League teams join the competition

• Fifth round: Last 16

• Quarter Finals: Last eight

• Semi Finals: (played at neutral venues)

• Final

List of finals

Note that in the years immediately following the Second World War the final was played over two legs, with the aggregate score being used.

Year	Winners	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Attendance
1896-97	Batley	10 - 3	St Helens	Leeds	13,492
1897-98	Bately	7 - 0	Bradford	Leeds	27,941
1898-99	Oldham	19 - 9	Hunslet	Manchester	15,763
1899-00	Swinton	16 - 8	Salford	Manchester	17,864
1900-01	Batley	6 - 0	Warrington	Leeds	29,563
1901-02	Broughton Rangers	25 - 0	Salford	Rochdale	15,006
1902-03	Halifax	7 - 0	Salford	Leeds	32,507
1903-04	Halifax	8 - 3	Warrington	Salford	17,041
1904-05	Warrington	6 - 0	Hull Kingston Rovers	Leeds	19,638
1905-06	Bradford	5 - 0	Salford	Leeds	15,834
1906-07	Warrington	17 - 3	Oldham	Broughton	18,500
1907-08	Hunslet	14 - 0	Hull	Huddersfield	18,000
1908-09	Wakefield Trinity	17 - 0	Hull	Leeds	23,587
1909-10	Leeds	7 - 7	Hull	Huddersfield	11,608
(replay)	Leeds	26 - 12	Hull	Huddersfield	19,413
1910-11	Broughton Rangers	4 - 0	Wigan	Salford	8,000
1911-12	Dewsbury	8 - 5	Oldham	Leeds	15,271
1912-13	Huddersfield	9 - 5	Warrington	Leeds	22,754
1913-14	Hull	6 - 0	Wakefield Trinity	Halifax	19,000
1914-15	Huddersfield	37 - 3	St Helens	Oldham	8,000
1919-20	Huddersfield	21 - 10	Wigan	Leeds	14,000
1920-21	Leigh	13 - 0	Halifax	Broughton	25,000
1921-22	Rochdale Hornets	10 - 9	Hull	Leeds	32,596
1922-23	Leeds	28 - 3	Hull	Wakefield	29,335
1923-24	Wigan	21 - 4	Oldham	Rochdale	41,831
1924-25	Oldham	16 - 3	Hull Kingston Rovers	Leeds	28,335
1925-26	Swinton	9 - 3	Oldham	Rochdale	27,000
1926-27	Oldham	26 - 7	Swinton	Wigan	33,448
1927-28	Swinton	5 - 3	Warrington	Wigan	33,909
1928-29	Wigan	13 - 2	Dewsbury	Wembley	41,500
1929-30	Widnes	10 - 3	St Helens	Wembley	36,544
1930-31	Halifax	22 - 8	York	Wembley	40,368
1931-32	Leeds	11 - 8	Swinton	[[Wigan Warriors|Wigan]]	29,000
1932-33	Huddersfield	21 - 17	Warrington	Wembley	41,874
1933-34	Hunslet	11 - 5	Widnes	Wembley	41,280
1934-35	Castleford	11 - 8	Huddersfield	Wembley	39,000
1935-36	Leeds	18 - 2	Warrington	Wembley	51,250
1936-37	Wembley	18 - 5	Keighley	Wembley	47,699
1937-38	Salford	7 - 4	Barrow	Wembley	51,243
1938-39	Halifax	20 - 3	Salford	Wembley	55,453
1940-41	Leeds	19 - 2	Halifax	Bradford	28,500
1941-42	Leeds	15 - 10	Halifax	Bradford	15,250
1942-43	Dewsbury	16 - 9	Leeds	Dewsbury	10,470
1942-43	Leeds	6 - 0	Dewsbury	Leeds	16,000
1942-43	Dewsbury	16 - 15	Leeds	(aggegate score)	n/a
1943-44	Bradford Northern	0 - 3	Wigan	Wigan	22,000
1943-44	Bradford Northern	8 - 0	Wigan	Bradford	30,000
1943-44	Bradford Northern	8 - 3	Wigan	(aggegate score)	n/a
1944-45	Huddersfield	7 - 4	Bradford Northern	Huddersfield	9,041
1944-45	Huddersfield	6 - 5	Bradford Northern	Bradford	17,500
1944-45	Huddersfield	13 - 9	Bradford Northern	(aggegate score)	n/a
1945-46	Wakefield Trinity	13 - 12	Wigan	Wembley	54,730
1946-46	Bradford Northern	8 - 4	Leeds	Wembley	77,605
1947-46	Wigan	8 - 3	Bradford Northern	Wembley	71,465
1948-49	Bradford Northern	12 - 0	Halifax	Wembley	95,050
1949-50	Warrington	19 - 0	Widnes Vikings	Wembley	94,249
1950-51	Wigan	10 - 0	Barrow	Wembley	94,262
1951-52	Workington Town	18 - 10	Featherstone Rovers	Wembley	72,093
1952-53	Huddersfield	15 - 10	St Helens	Wembley	89,588
1953-54	Warrington	4 - 4	Halifax	Wembley	81,841
(replay)	Warrington	18 - 4	Halifax	Bradford	102,569
1954-55	Barrow	21 - 12	Workington Town	Wembley	66,513
1955-56	St Helens	13 - 2	Halifax	Wembley	79,341
1956-57	Leeds	9 - 7	Barrow	Wembley	76,318
1957-58	Wigan	13-9	Workington Town	Wembley	66,109
1958-59	Wigan	30 - 13	Hull	Wembley	79,811
1959-60	Wakefield Trinity	38 - 5	Hull	Wembley	79,773
1960-61	St Helens	12 - 6	Wigan	Wembley	94,672
1961-62	Wakefield Trinity	12 - 6	Huddersfield	Wembley	81,263
1962-63	Wakefield Trinity	25 - 10	Wigan	Wembley	84,492
1963-64	Widnes	13 - 5	Hull Kingston Rovers	Wembley	84,488
1964-65	Wigan	20 - 16	Hunslet	Wembley	89,016
1965-66	St Helens	21 - 2	Wigan	Wembley	98,536
1966-67	Featherstone Rovers	17 - 12	Barrow	Wembley	76,290
1967-68	Leeds	11 - 10	Wakefield Trinity	Wembley	87,100
1968-69	Castleford	11 - 6	Salford	Wembley	97,939
1969-70	Castleford	7 - 2	Wigan	Wembley	95,255
1970-71	[[Leigh Centurions|Leigh]]	24 - 7	Leeds	Wembley	85,514
1971-72	St Helens	16 - 13	Leeds	Wembley	89,495
1972-73	Featherstone Rovers	33 - 14	Bradford Northern	Wembley	72,395
1973-74	Warrington	24 -9	Featherstone Rovers	Wembley	77,400
1974-75	Widnes	14 - 7	Warrington	Wembley	85,098
1975-76	St Helens	20 - 5	Widnes	Wembley	89,982
1976-77	Leeds	16 - 7	Widnes	Wembley	80,871
1977-78	Leeds	14 - 12	St Helens	Wembley	96,000
1978-79	Widnes	12 - 3	Wakefield Trinity	Wembley	94,218
1979-80	Hull Kingston Rovers	10 - 5	Hull	Wembley	95,000
1980-81	Widnes	18 - 9	Hull Kingston Rovers	Wembley	92,496
1981-82	Hull	14 - 14	Widnes	Wembley	92,147
(replay)	Hull	18 - 9	Widnes	Wembley	84,969
1982-83	Featherstone Rovers	14 - 12	Hull	Elland Road	41,171
1983-84	Widnes	19 - 6	Wigan	Wembley	80,116
1984-85	Wigan	28 - 24	Hull	Wembley	99,801
1985-86	Castleford Tigers	15 - 14	Hull Kingston Rovers	Wembley	82,134
1986-87	Halifax	19 - 18	St Helens	Wembley	91,267
1987-88	Wigan	32 - 12	Halifax	[[Wembley Stadium|Wembley]]	94,273
1988-89	Wigan	27 - 0	St Helens	Wembley	78,000
1989-90	Wigan	36 - 14	Warrington	Wembley	77,729
1990-91	Wigan	13 - 8	St Helens	Wembley	75,532
1991-92	Wigan	28 - 12	Castleford	Wembley	77,286
1992-93	Wigan	20 - 14	Widnes	Wembley	77,684
1993-94	Wigan	26 - 16	Leeds	Wembley	78,348
1994-95	Wigan	30 - 10	Leeds	Wembley	78,550
1995-96	St Helens	40 - 32	Bradford Bulls	Wembley	75,994
1996-97	St Helens	32 - 22	Bradford Bulls	Wembley	78,022
1997-98	Sheffield Eagles	17 - 8	Wigan Warriors	Wembley	60,669
1998-99	Leeds Rhinos	52- 16	London Broncos	Wembley	73,242
1999-00	Bradford Bulls	24 - 18	Leeds Rhinos	Murrayfield	67,247
2000-01	St Helens	13 - 6	Bradford Bulls	Twickenham Stadium	68,250
2001-02	Wigan Warriors	21 - 12	St Helens	Murrayfield	62,140
2002-03	Bradford Bulls	22 - 20	Leeds Rhinos	Millennium Stadium	71,212
2003-04	St Helens	32 - 16	Wigan Warriors	Millennium Stadium	73,734

External links

• results and tables from totalrl.com (http://www.totalrl.com/fixtures/index.php)

British rugby league links
Competitions Super League | National League | Challenge Cup | National League Cup National Conference League | Rugby League Conference
National teams Great Britain | England | Ireland | Scotland | Wales
Federations RFL | BARLA
Former competitions Championship | Premiership | Lancs/Yorks Cups | Lancs/Yorks League Regal Trophy | Charity Shield | BBC2 Floodlit Trophy

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) Challenge_Cup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_Cup) version history (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Challenge_Cup&action=history) GNU Free Documentation Lizenz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License) CC-by-sa (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/)

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