Wembley Final’s TV home with BBC not showing fixture

Leeds Rhinos, St Helens, Leigh Leopards, Hull KR, Halifax Panthers and Batley Bulldogs are headed down to Wembley for free major finals.

Leeds Rhinos and St Helens get things kicked off as they battle it out to win the Women’s Challenge Cup.

The last four Challenge Cups have been won by the two and this will make it five. Saints could also make it three wins in a row after defeated Leeds last year at Elland Road.

Then Leigh Leopards and Hull KR collide in the main event in the men’s Challenge Cup Final as they both look to end long waits for the trophy and then the action concludes with Batley and Halifax which unlike the other games will not be shown on BBC or indeed iPlayer.

So where will we be able to watch it?

The 2023 AB Sundecks 1895 Cup Final between Batley Bulldogs and Halifax Panthers will be shown live, exclusive and completely free on the Our League web and app.

It will complete an eight-hour feast of Rugby League from Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon, following the historic double of the Betfred Women’s and Men’s Challenge Cup Finals, which will be shown live on BBC2 and BBC1 respectively.

The Women’s Final kicks off at 1150am, the Men’s Final in the traditional slot of 3pm, and the fourth AB Sundecks 1895 Cup Final will kick off at 530pm.

Batley and Halifax are each playing in their first Final, and this will be the first 1895 Cup Final contested by two founder members of the Northern Union when it was formed in 1895.

It will be Batley’s first appearance at Wembley Stadium, as although they were the first winners of the Challenge Cup in 1897 and won it twice more in the next four years, that was well before the bold decision to take the Final south to Wembley in 1929.

Halifax have won the Challenge Cup five times, the last three of them at Wembley – most recently against St Helens in 1987.

As has been the case since the Final was first played at Wembley in 2019, the winner of the Ray French Award as Player of the Match will be determined by the votes of Our League members.

Anthony Thackeray was the first winner of the award, named after the hugely popular former dual code international and BBC commentator following a poll of Our League members, when Sheffield Eagles beat Widnes Vikings in 2019.

After the competition was suspended because of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Thackeray was followed in 2021 by Craig Hall for his performance in Featherstone Rovers’ victory over York.

And last year the Papua New Guinea hooker Edwin Ipape became the first overseas winner when he was voted the outstanding performer in Leigh’s win against Featherstone.

Our League is Rugby League’s membership platform, completely free to join, and now boasting more than 250,000 members.