Wembley Stadium - Rugby League Challenge Cup comes home
4 years late, a succession of financial and legal problems, and a price tag of 798 million pounds for the stadium itself… it could only be a British project! But the world’s most expensive stadium is open for business, and from my first experience there for the 2007 Challenge Cup final, it has certainly been worth the wait.
Wembley Stadium, formerly the Empire stadium, has been the spiritual home of the rugby league Challenge 
Cup and football’s FA Cup since 1923 when it was built. In comparison, the old Empire Stadium cost ? 750,000 quid was to build and was constructed in 300 days - who said productivity is higher these days! The old stadium had an original capacity of 127,000 but things like capacities and health & safety didn’t stop people in the halcyon days of sport; for the first FA Cup final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United (known now as the White Horse final), between 240,000 and 300,000 were crammed into the stadium, and another 60,000 were locked out outside the ground. The crowd were overspilling the seats and were covering the pitch at one point. After 45 minutes the crowd were moved back to the touchlines and the match was allowed to take place. Can’t really imagine that happening these days, can you?! This game, incidentally, has the highest ever unofficial “non-racing” sporting attendance of any event in the world. Other famous occasions at the old Wembley Stadium include Bobby Moore’s World Cup win in 1966 (a game which my father attended, incidentally) and Martin “Chariots” Offiah’s length of the field try against Leeds in the 1994/95 Challenge Cup final. My first Wembley experience was in 1992 when Wigan played Castleford in the Challenge Cup final. The stadium has an amazing aura about it, although even then it was starting to feel old. Views were obstructed by the stanchions and seating was cramped at best. The seats at the very bottom of the stands didn’t even have seat backs. That was certainly going to change for the new stadium.
And so in 2000 Wembley was closed and scheduled to re-open in 2003 with grand plans and an entirely revamped stadium due to be unveiled. 2003 came and 2003 went without any signs of the stadium being completed. News reports of the budget rising became an almost daily occurrence as dismay spread about what was turning into another farce of almost Millennium Dome proportions. The Challenge Cup finals were played at the Millennium Stadium in Wales, Murrayfield in Scotland and even Twickenham (the home of rugby union) for one year. In 2006 it looked like the stadium was almost ready, but then further delays put the opening back one year. Finally, we get to 2007 and the new Wembley Stadium opens, and what a stadium it is.
Exiting Wembley Park Underground Station (one of three stations servicing the ground), you can immediately see down Wembley Way to the stadium. Even at 1040, over 4 hours before the match between Catalans Dragons and St Helens was due to start, there were thousands of people walking around and taking in the atmosphere. It is plain to see that the lack of a stadium and commerce in the are for 7 years has harmed Wembley, although hopefully businesses will start to move back now that it is all up and running. The first thing you notice about the stadium is the lack of the “Two Towers” and instead we have a huge arch stretching 140m up into the sky over the North Stand. As a signature feature of a stadium, this stands out as one of the best. Walking down Wembley Way towards the White Horse Bridge, seeing the shirts of almost every rugby league club stood around and sharing some banter, hearing the odd shout of “Allez les Catalans” was something to savour.
Walking up to the main entrance to the ground on the north side, you are greeted by a statue of Bobby Moore, a fitting tribute to one of English sport’s defining moments all those years ago. This seems to be the main meeting point for everyone at the ground, and is usually more busy than other areas outside the stadium. You glance one way and see a proud statue of Bobby Moore, you glance the other and you see 5 guys in Hawaiian dress, carrying a stereo playing music by the Beach Boys, sitting on sun loungers and blowing up an inflatable paddling pool… yep, this is rugby league’s big day out in the capital once again! So with ticket and matchday programme in hand (at a relatively reasonable 5 quid for the latter), I headed to my seat in the East Stand.
As soon as you enter the turnstile and have your bag checked the first thing you realise is that there are no stairs! It’s escelators all the way in the new Wembley, and a good job too as we our seats were right up in the gods (the very top row, in fact). Once we were up to the main concourse it was time for some refreshments before we got to our seats. This is where you heard the cry familiar from Northerners when they make their annual pilgrimage to Wembley of, “How Muuuuuuucccchhhhh!!!”. And in this case it is probably well deserved. With burgers costing 7 pounds and a “burger meal” a whopping 10 pounds, a few extra mortgages were taken out for food and drink. So with food & drinks in hand, and our wallets & purses weighing a lot less, we entered the bowl and made our way to our seats. Inside the stadium the view is breathtaking. The seats are right on top of the pitch, in stark contrast to the old Wembley which had the greyhound/speedway track between the stands and the pitch, making for a potentially brilliant atmosphere. Each of the 90,000 seats offers a perfect view of the pitch too, and now each gives the spectator more legroom than the old royal box had. The sun was shining and the brass band in the middle was playing as the atmosphere built up.
For me, the most spine tingling moment of the entire day had to be when over 84,000 people were standing & singing Abide With Me. A beautiful hymn by Henry F. Lyte at any time, but there’s something very special about hearing it echo around the ground before the 2 teams came out. Below are the first and last versus which are the ones sang before the match:
Abide With Me
Abide With Me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven?fs morning breaks, and earth?fs vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
As for the match itself, I have to say I have rarely been so disappointed at a Challenge Cup final than I was with this one. The game played itself out as everyone expected, with St Helens grinding down the Catalans side and taking their chances when they came. There were no incidents of real note, no dubious refereeing decisions and no talking points whatsoever. This, coupled with the fact that the Catalans didn’t really have many supporters (despite all of the neutrals siding with them), let to a strangely subdued atmosphere. If my team (Wigan) hadn’t blown their chance completely in the semi-final, no doubt the atmosphere would have been electric. But it wasn’t to be and St Helens lifted the Challenge Cup trophy with a winning score of 30-8. The only consolation in the game was that my cousin played well on a winning team and came so close twice to scoring the opening try. I brought a newcomer to the game and to be quite honest, she couldn’t have come to much of a worse advertisement for the sport of rugby league.
But the main thing is that Wembley is back on the rugby league calendar. And, you know what? After all the delays, all the cost and problems that come with the ground… it might just have been worth it.
or Discuss this Article
Hi Dave,
Great report! I’ve been to the old Wembley once, Champions League season 27/10/99 Arsenal - Fiorentina 0-1, a goal by Batistuta, deep into the 2nd half. I was devastated.
I actually bought a ticket and than was given a much better ticket, I tried to sell one of them in front of Wembley but was not successfull, so now I have a brand new ticket for this game, still in my possession.
Looks like the new stadium was worth the wait! He he he he. Bloody well should be a good stadium by now.
Enjoy your stay in on the British isles.