When the Rugby League Challenge Cup returned to Wembley for last season’s final in August the BBC website’s report from the 28/03/2007 was admittedly not much shorter than a similar report posted the day before about the FA Cup final being back at Wembley.
Because of the much delayed opening to the new Wembley both articles focus on the fact that both the Football Association and the Rugby Football League (the governing bodies of the respective sports in this country) are extremely relieved to have their finals back at their spiritual homes.
Differences between the reports are just as clear. The Challenge Cup report mentions the last final to be held at Wembley before moving between Murrayfield, Twickenham and the Millenium Stadium in the intervening years.
The FA Cup report mentions future finals which will be held there such as the FA Trophy and FA Vase finals and has more input from quotes from officials – they even have a quote from a Wembley Stadium managing director.
Maybe this shows the value and importance the BBC alone shows to rugby league compared to football?
Tags: Challenge Cup, FA Cup, football, rugby league
May 14, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I agree with what you say, cdpark. There is plenty of room to be disgruntled as a fan of sports other than football. But the fact is, football is the national game.
Football fans (such as myself) often complain that the coverage their team gets doesn’t match that of the bigger clubs. Again, the justification for this is that they ARE the bigger clubs, and therefore interest in them is greater.
The media are giving the majority what it wants and as long as this is the case, it won’t change.