Challenge Cup final delay raises Wembley doubts – Peter Smith

As with the Magic Weekend, the event has not been cancelled and the plan is to stage it later in the year.

It is a shame because the July 18 date was an experiment. After 15 years of August finals, the RFL hoped an earlier slot might help restore the competition’s flagging fortunes, but instead this year’s showpiece – whenever it happens – will be the latest in the competition’s history.

The governing body are clinging to the hope of staging it, in front of a crowd, at Wembley in the early autumn. Realistically, that doesn’t seem very likely.

As revealed by The Yorkshire Evening Post in April, another option being considered is shifting the Challenge Cup to Old Trafford on October 10, replacing the Betfred Super League Grand Final.

That would then be played later in the year, possibly at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on November 14. The London venue is already booked for the third Ashes Test, which – though not yet officially cancelled – nobody in the game really expects to go ahead.

All that, of course, depends on when the sport resumes following the coronavirus shutdown.

More than two months after rugby league was suspended, nobody knows how soon it will be before players can get back into training and then matches.

Premiership football clubs returned to training, in small groups, this week and a close eye will be kept on how that goes. Checking for Covid-19 is taking place and, so far, there have been six positive tests, at three different clubs. Rugby league players and staff aren’t immune, so there will be cases when players get back together. What happens then is one of the biggest issues facing the game.

Playing behind closed doors will protect fans, but what about players and staff? Contact is an integral part of training and matches and one positive case is likely to lead to many more.

Players’ safety has to be a priority and no decisions should be made without them being consulted.

Players, certainly the ones this newspaper has spoken to, are bored and desperate to get back to work, but they also have the same concerns as everybody else, about their safety and – more particularly given the nature of the illness – that of their nearest and dearest.

Garry Schofield, the former Leeds and Great Britain star, has made it clear if he were a current player, he would refuse to make himself available until all danger has passed.

It’s hard to argue, but that time still looks a long way off.

Rugby league players are extremely well looked after, but it is difficult to see how their safety can be guaranteed, certainly not at the moment when thousands of cases are still being reported daily. It would be interesting to know how many fans would attend a game if their club was to play this weekend and spectators were allowed in the stadium.

Some, no doubt, but others would feel safer staying away.

Government will have the final say, but nobody wants matches to be played without a crowd. Rugby league is a spectator sport; though fulfilling the Sky Sports contract is crucial, empty stadiums do nothing for the players and, most importantly, clubs need matchday income.

Allowing fans in, but with strict social distancing, is something clubs are hoping could be a way forward. It wouldn’t be practical at every ground, but the bigger venues, like Leeds, Huddersfield and Wigan, probably could manage – though keeping people apart at entrances and exits, queuing for food and drink, accessing toilets and so on would need a lot of work.

Players will need some preparation time and perhaps it would be possible to clear a couple of Challenge Cup rounds during that mini pre-season.

While nothing has been announced, clubs are hoping for a July return but, as each week passes, that seems less feasible.

We already know the season will be extended into at least November, but now December is looking more likely – or possibly even next year.

The priority at the moment is to resolve this season and worry later about the 2021 campaign.

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