Challenge Cup
The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's oldest cup competition in either code of rugby. A concurrent Women's Challenge Cup and Wheelchair Challenge Cup have been held since 2012 and 2015 respectively.
The competition is open to all eligible clubs down to Tier 5. Some amateur clubs have to qualify to enter in Round One while others can apply through the RFL to enter.
The final is traditionally played at Wembley Stadium. Despite having been played at other venues, Wembley is generally seen as the home of the competition. "Abide with Me", sung before the game, has become a rugby league anthem.
The current holders of the Challenge Cup are Hull Kingston Rovers, winning the competition for the 2nd time, beating Warrington Wolves 8-6 in the 2025 Final on the 7th June 2025 at Wembley Stadium.
Wigan are the most successful club in the history of the competition, winning the Cup a record 21 times.
History
The clubs that formed the Northern Union had long been playing in local knock-out cup competitions under the auspices of the Rugby Football Union. The rugby union authorities refused to sanction a nationwide tournament, however, fearing that this would inevitably lead to professionalism. After the schism of 1895, the northern clubs were free to go ahead, and they started the Northern Rugby Football Union Challenge Cup. In 1896 Fattorini's of Bradford were commissioned to manufacture the Challenge Cup at a cost of just £60. Fattorini's also supplied three-guineas winners' medals then valued at thirty shillings.The first competition was held during the 1896–97 season, and 52 clubs entered to compete for the trophy. The first final was held at Headingley in Leeds, on 24 April 1897. Batley defeated St. Helens 10–3 in front of a crowd of 13,492. The St Helens side did not play in a standardised team jersey.
The competition was later interrupted by the Great War, although it was held in 1915, when the season that had begun before the war was completed. It was then suspended until the end of hostilities. Initially, the final tie was held at one of the larger club grounds in the north, however, noting the excitement in Huddersfield that the town's football team were playing at Wembley in the FA Cup Final and the increasing difficulty for any of the rugby league grounds to satisfy spectator demand to see the final tie, the rugby league authorities voted 13–10 to move to the recently built Wembley Stadium in London, aiming to emulate the FA Cup's success and to put the game on the national stage.
The first final held at Wembley was in 1929 when Wigan beat Dewsbury 13–2 in front of a crowd of 41,500. The final was subsequently held at Wembley in 1930 & 31 but switched to Central Park in Wigan in 1932 as Wembley was not booked by the games administrators.
At the start of the Second World War, rugby league suspended its season immediately, but the Challenge Cup took a single year's break before restarting, on a limited basis and with the support of the authorities, as part of keeping up morale. The Challenge Cup finals, which took place in the game's Northern heartland, got big crowds as the game raised money for prisoners of war and for Lord Beaverbrook's armaments programme.
In 1946, the Lance Todd Trophy was introduced and awarded to the man of the match. The first winner was Billy Stott of Wakefield Trinity while the first winner of the trophy on the losing team was Frank Whitcombe of Bradford Northern in 1948. In itself, it is a prestigious trophy presented only at the Challenge Cup Final. The winner is selected by the members of the Rugby League Writers' Association present at the game and the trophy was presented at a celebratory dinner at the Willows, the home of Salford.
The post World War Two Final crowds almost immediately reached capacity at Wembley – which amounted to multiple 90,000 plus crowds.
1954 saw the Challenge Cup final drawn and the replay set the record for a rugby league match attendance. The match was on 5 May and 102,569 was the official attendance at Odsal Stadium, although it is believed that up to 120,000 spectators were present to see Warrington defeat Halifax 8–4.
The first final that was played under limited tackle rules Was the 1967 final between Barrow and Featherstone Rovers.
Wigan became well known for their successes in the Challenge Cup competition, winning every Challenge Cup Final from 1988 to 1995.
Until the 1993–94 season there were very few amateur clubs included in the cup, typically two. For part of the 1980s, and the 1992–93 season the cup was solely for professional clubs. The competition was then opened up to large numbers of amateur clubs as part of a deal between the Rugby Football League and the British Amateur Rugby League Association over bridging the gap between the professional and amateur leagues.
In 1997, a Challenge Cup Plate took place for teams knocked out in the early rounds of the competition. The final took place at Wembley and was won by Hull Kingston Rovers who beat Hunslet 60–14.
The first final that featured use of the Video Referee, for try decisions, was the 1999 final between Leeds Rhinos and London Broncos, which saw the Broncos beaten by a record margin of 52–16 in a Challenge Cup Final.
The 1999 Challenge Cup Final was also the last to be played at the old Wembley Stadium before the construction of the new Wembley Stadium began in 2003. During this time a variety of venues were used to hold the Final including Twickenham, Murrayfield and the Millennium Stadium. The Challenge Cup Final moved back into the new Wembley Stadium for the 2007 Final.
There was a belief that the Challenge Cup final taking place early in the season had led to a decline in the prestige of the cup, so the timing of the competition was altered in 2005
File:Wembley Stadium.jpg|thumb|Wembley Stadium before the 2011 Challenge Cup Final
On 26 August 2006 St. Helens scrum-half Sean Long became the first player in the history of the Challenge Cup to collect a third Lance Todd trophy following his man-of-the-match performance in the final against Huddersfield. His other Lance Todd trophy wins came in the 2001 and 2004 Challenge Cup Finals.
On 25 August 2018, Catalans Dragons became the first non-English team to win the Challenge Cup as they defeated Warrington Wolves 20–14 at Wembley.
Format
The modern Challenge Cup has eight rounds prior to the final. Teams are seeded, entering at different stages. The precise format has altered slightly from year to year, however the current format is as follows:- First round: Amateur teams from around the United Kingdom are invited to participate. Most of the teams are English and affiliated to BARLA. Also included are, or have been, the national champions of the Irish, Welsh and Scottish rugby leagues; teams representing the British Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, the police, and student rugby league teams. Occasionally other teams have been invited such as the inclusion for 2019 of Serbian side Red Star Belgrade.
- Second round: The first round winners play again.
- Third round: The League 1 clubs enter the draw with the winners from the second round.
- Fourth round: The Championship teams enter the draw with the third round winners.
- Fifth round: The bottom four Super League teams enter the draw with the fourth round winners.
- Sixth round: The top eight Super League teams enter the draw with the eight fifth round winners.
- Quarter finals: Last eight.
- Semi finals: Played at neutral venue.
- Final: Played at Wembley Stadium, on the Saturday of the August bank holiday weekend until 2019; was moved to July from 2020 onwards but was played in May in 2022 and returned to an August date in 2023. In 2024 this was then changed to a June date for the first time with Wigan Warriors becoming the first team to win the fixture in this month.
Venues
The final is played at Wembley traditionally, having first been played there in 1929. Before, the final had been held in different neutral venues, mostly in the north of England. The first Challenge Cup final was held at Headingley, Leeds between Batley and St. Helens in front of a crowd of 13,492.
Trophy
The Challenge Cup trophy was designed by silversmiths Fattorini & Sons of Bradford in 1897. The trophy stands 36 inches high, manufactured of solid silver and sits on a black ebony base approximately 8 inches deep.Tony Collins, the Rugby Football League's archivist, stated in 2007 that, "Fattorini's weren't given any particular commission, just told to come up with something prestigious". The trophy cost £60. The average wage in 1897 was around £2 per week which suggests an equivalent 2007 price of £16,000, although Collins says, "if you wanted something made of silver and with that level of craftsmanship these days, it would be far more expensive. In terms of its subsequent value, the RFL got a bargain."
The trophy currently presented to the winners after the final is not the original which had to be withdrawn due to its delicate condition. As well as the silver wearing thin, it had lost its fluted top and the players on each of the handles had been damaged. The original Fattorini trophy was last presented at the 2001 Challenge Cup Final to St Helens captain Chris Joynt after his team had beaten Bradford. The original trophy is now stored at the RFL's headquarters at Red Hall and only used for promotional appearances.
The trophy used today was created by Jack Spencer of Sheffield in 800 man-hours and is an almost exact replica of the Fattorini piece. One improvement made with the new version is that the small shields displaying each winning team and captain are now the same size, whereas they had been getting smaller as space ran out on the original. The new trophy's neck has been strengthened. The second trophy was first presented to Wigan, winners of the 2002 Challenge Cup Final.
The winners of the cup in looking after the trophy must "follow a certain code of practice," says Collins. When not in a secure cabinet, the trophy must always be in the presence of someone. When the trophy is taken out overnight, somebody must sleep in the same room and if taken in a car there must be two people in attendance. Collins reveals that, "When it went down to France for some Catalans publicity photos, it even had its seat on the plane."