The

2017 Challenge Cup The 2017 Challenge Cup, (also known as the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 116th staging of the Challenge Cup the main rugby league knockout tournament for teams in the Super League, the British National Leagues and a nu ...

Final was the 116th cup-deciding game of the rugby league

Season. It was held at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 26 August 2017, kick off 15:00. The final was contested by

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

and

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

. The game saw Hull F.C. beat Wigan by 18 points to 14.

Background

The 2017 Challenge Cup Final marks Wigan Warriors's fifth final of the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

era and Hull F.C.'s fifth. In addition it is the fourth time the two sides had met in the competition, having met previously in the 1958–59 Challenge Cup Final, 1984–85 Challenge Cup Final, and 2013 Challenge Cup Final, with the Warriors winning 16–0 in their most recent meeting in addition to winning both finals in the pre-Super League era. Wigan had previously won a record 19 challenge cup finals compared to Hull's four.

Route to the final

Hull F.C.

Hull's sixth round draw saw them nil

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons ( French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ...

scoring 62 points. The quarter finals saw them beat eventual

Grand Finalists

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

32 points to 24. In the semi-final they beat eventual Super League Champions

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

43 points to 24.

Wigan Warriors

Wigan's sixth round draw saw a comfortable win over

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side

Swinton Lions The Swinton Lions are a professional rugby league club based in Swinton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Championship. The club has won the Championship six times and three Challenge Cups. Before 1996, the club was known s ...

before a tight win by a single point against local rivals

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

. The semi-finals saw a 27 point to 14 victory over fellow Greater Manchester side

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, who play in the Super League. Formed in 1873, they have won six Championships and one Challenge Cup. Their home ground since 2012 has been t ...

Pre-match

Fan zone

The 2017 Challenge Cup Final was the first Challenge Cup Final to have a fan zone before and during the match. The 2,000 capacity fan zone was located outside of

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-sea ...

and contained ale and larger bars as well as street food vendors.

House music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

band Conquer Rio performed at the event in addition to a small number of players making an appearance before the match.

Ticketing

Over 20,000 seats in Wembley were priced at under £30 with children's tickets starting at £5. Families of four could attend for £50. All in all, this made the event a relatively cheap sporting fixture in the UK.

Match details

Post-match

Unfortunately for the development of

rugby league in the British Isles Rugby league is played across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but its heartland in parts of the North of England is where the sport is most popular, and is where the majority of professional clubs are based. The sport was first established ...

, the 2017 Challenge Cup Final saw the lowest attendance of the new

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

era, beginning with the 2007 Final, of only 68,525.

References

{{2017 in rugby league Challenge Cup finals 2017 in English rugby league 2017 sports events in London Hull F.C. matches Wigan Warriors matches August 2017 sports events in the United Kingdom