The 2008 Carnegie Challenge Cup

Challenge Cup

The Challenge Cup is a knockout cup competition for rugby league clubs organised by the Rugby Football League. Originally it was contested only by British teams but in recent years has been expanded to allow teams from France and Russia to take part....

began in February 2008. The Challenge Cup is the most prestigious knock-out competition in the world of Rugby League

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

, featuring teams from across Europe, including England, Scotland, Wales, France and Russia.

Teams from the National League

Rugby League National Leagues

The Championship, known as Co-operative Championship due to sponsorship by The Co-operative Group, is a professional rugby league competition based in the United Kingdom. It is currently contested by ten teams from England. It acts as Europe's second-tier competition below the Super League, and has...

 were given byes to round three, and teams from the Super League

Super League

Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...

 entered in round four. Teams from outside of the UK were introduced at various stages.

The final was held on 30 August at Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium

The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...

. It was contested by defending champions St. Helens and fellow Super League

Super League

Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...

 club Hull. St Helens won the trophy with a 28-16 victory.

Round 1

(week ending 3 February, 3 fixtures played Saturday 9th February (indicated with *), 1 on Saturday 16th February (indicated with **))

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team
1	Askham	12 – 20	West Bowling
2*	Bradford Dudley Hill	72 – 0	Dewsbury Celtic
3	Bramley Buffaloes	24 – 16	Castleford Panthers
4	British Army	34 – 12	Thatto Heath
5	Castleford Lock Lane	18 – 32	Royal Navy
6*	Drighlington	10 – 20	Bank Quay Bulls
7	East Hull	54 – 6	Royal Air Force
8*	Eastmoor	10 – 23	Queens
9	Eccles & Salford	10 – 28	Leigh East
10	Ellenbrough Rangers	17 – 1	Saddleworth Rangers
11	Hull Wyke	18 – 14	York Acorn
12	Ince Rose Bridge	28 – 6 ***	Hunslet Old Boys
13	Leigh Miners Rangers	24 – 18	Halton Simms Cross
14	Mayfield	48 – 4	Crosfields
15	Millom	38 – 0	Milford Marlins
16	Normanton Knights	38 – 8	Edinburgh Eagles
17	Oulton Raiders	48 – 4	Oldham St Annes
18	Seaton Rangers	6 – 38	Featherstone Lions
19	Siddal	62 – 6	Egremont Rangers
20	Skirlaugh	46 – 14	Waterhead
21	St Albans	16 – 42	Hull Dockers
22	St Marys	22 – 30	Warrington Wizards
23	Stanningley	16 – 10	Shaw Cross Sharks
24	Thornhill	20 – 26	Leeds Met
25	Wath Brow Hornets	58 – 4	Heworth
26*	West Hull	48 – 14	Widnes St Maries
27	Wigan St Patricks	44 – 14	Ovenden

*** - Match abandoned after Hunslet Old Boys had 4 players sent off. Hunslet Old Boys were subsequently thrown out of the competition .

Round 2

(weekend of 23rd – 24th February)

Russian team Vereya joined in this round. Vereya were runners-up in the Russian Championship to Lokomotiv Moscow

RC Lokomotiv Moscow

RC Lokomotiv Moscow is a professional Russian rugby football club based in Moscow, which from 2010 will field teams in both rugby league and rugby union. The club is one of the oldest in Russia. Originally a club for those who worked on the railways, they participated in the first USSR rugby union...

. Lokomotiv Moscow will join in the third round.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team
1	Bank Quay Bulls	29 – 0	Millom
2	Bramley Buffaloes	16 – 26	Wigan St Patricks
3	Hull Dockers	14 – 19	Skirlaugh
4	Ince Rose Bridge	25 – 26	British Army
5	Leeds Met Uni	20 – 8	Leigh East
6	Leigh Miners Rangers	64 – 12	Vereya
7	Normanton	18 – 38	East Hull
8	Oulton Raiders	18 – 14	West Hull
9	Royal Navy	6 – 36	Rochdale Mayfield
10	Siddal	6 – 17	Queens
11	Warrington Wizards	26 – 10	Stanningley
12	Wath Brow Hornets	8 – 6	Ellenborough Rangers
13	West Bowling	16 – 34	Featherstone Lions
14	York Acorn	14 – 6	Bradford Dudley Hill

Round 3

(weekend of 8th – 9th March)

The National Leagues

Rugby League National Leagues

The Championship, known as Co-operative Championship due to sponsorship by The Co-operative Group, is a professional rugby league competition based in the United Kingdom. It is currently contested by ten teams from England. It acts as Europe's second-tier competition below the Super League, and has...

 teams, together with Lokomotiv Moscow

RC Lokomotiv Moscow

RC Lokomotiv Moscow is a professional Russian rugby football club based in Moscow, which from 2010 will field teams in both rugby league and rugby union. The club is one of the oldest in Russia. Originally a club for those who worked on the railways, they participated in the first USSR rugby union...

, Pia, Lezignan and Toulouse joined in this round. The Super League

Super League

Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...

 teams will join in Round 4.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team
1	Bank Quay Bulls	6 – 36	Hunslet
2	Batley	42 – 10	East Hull
3	Blackpool	16 – 23	Featherstone Rovers
4	British Army	10 – 56	Oldham
5	Celtic Crusaders	58 – 10	Lokomotiv Moscow
6	Gateshead	24 – 26	Pia
7	Keighley	14 – 17	Toulouse
8	Leeds Met Uni	16 – 44	Doncaster
9	Leigh Centurions	66 – 0	Featherstone Lions
10	Leigh MR	14 – 40	Whitehaven
11	London Skolars	20 – 8	Queens
12	Rochdale Mayfield	10 – 30	Barrow
13	Oulton Raiders	24 – 54	Dewsbury
14	Rochdale	50 – 8	York Acorn
15	Salford	66 – 10	Warrington Wizards
16	Sheffield Eagles	22 – 37	Lezignan
17	Wath Brow Hornets	14 – 40	Swinton
18	Widnes	60 – 18	Skirlaugh
19	Wigan St Pats	14 – 50	Workington
20	York City Nights	12 – 34	Halifax

Round 4

(Weekend of 18th – 20th April)

The Super League

Super League

Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...

 teams joined in Round 4. From Round 4 onwards, the competition is a straightforward knock-out

Single-elimination tournament

A single-elimination tournament, also called a knockout, cup or sudden death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match or bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event...

, with no more teams joining.

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team
1	Batley Bulldogs Batley Bulldogs Batley Bulldogs are an English professional rugby league club from Batley, West Yorkshire. They currently play in the Co-operative Championship. Batley is one of the original twenty-two rugby football clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895...	12 – 26	Dewsbury Rams Dewsbury Rams Dewsbury Rams RLFC is a professional rugby league club based in the West Yorkshire town of Dewsbury. They are arguably most famous for becoming Champions in 1972-73 after finishing the regular season in 8th place. In the playoffs they beat Featherstone away, Warrington away, and then Leeds in the...
2	Leigh Centurions Leigh Centurions Leigh Centurions is an English professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester who play in the Co-operative Championship.The club was founded in 1878 as Leigh Rugby Football Club and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in...	16 – 28	Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league football club based in Warrington, England that competes in Super League. They play at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2003....
3	Workington Town Workington Town Workington Town is a professional rugby league club playing in Workington in West Cumbria. They play in the Championship 1. Their stadium is called Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team....	12 – 68	Hull KR Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers or Hull KR is an English professional rugby league football club based in Hull, England. The club formed in 1882 and currently competes in Super League, having won promotion from National League One in 2006...
4	Harlequins RL	44 – 14	Castleford Tigers Castleford Tigers Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club based in Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. They participate in the professional European competition Super League. They are sometimes known as 'Cas', 'Cas Tigers', 'Classy Cas' or the 'Black & Amber'...
5	Doncaster	12 – 38	Widnes Vikings Widnes Vikings Widnes Vikings RLFC are an English professional rugby league club based in Widnes, Cheshire. They currently play in the Engage Super League, the top tier of European rugby league, after being awarded a license to compete in the top-flight Super League from 2012 onward...
6	Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a semi-professional rugby league club, based in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. They currently play in the Championship. The Rovers are one of the last vestiges of "small town teams" that were once common in rugby league during the early twentieth century...	12 – 22	Catalans Dragons Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons are a French professional rugby league club based in Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales. They currently play in the Super League, and are the only team in the competition from outside of the United Kingdom...
7	Barrow Raiders Barrow Raiders Barrow Raiders are an English professional rugby league team from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, who are coached by Dave Clark. Formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club, the club is the oldest of the current professional sports teams in Cumbria....	48 – 16	Hunslet Hawks Hunslet Hawks Hunslet Hawks is a professional rugby league club based in Hunslet, West Yorkshire, England. The club, sometimes known as 'the Parksiders' after their former stadium, are currently champions of Championship One.-History:-Early years:...
8	Salford City Reds Salford City Reds Salford City Reds are an English rugby league club based in Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1873, they currently play in the Super League. They have won six Rugby Football League Championships and one Challenge Cup...	8 – 38	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield Trinity Wildcats are a professional rugby league club that plays in the European Super League and is based in Wakefield. They achieved promotion in 1999 and have remained in the League since. They are known to their fans as Wakey, Trinity, Wildcats, or historically The Dreadnoughts...
9	Leeds Rhinos Leeds Rhinos Leeds Rhinos is an English professional rugby league football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The club won the 2011 Super League and became the most successful club in the Super League era, beating St Helens 32-16 on 8th October 2011. Formed in 1890, Leeds competes in Europe's Super League...	38 – 16	Celtic Crusaders
10	Swinton Lions Swinton Lions Swinton Lions is an English professional rugby league club from Swinton, Greater Manchester. The club has won the Championship six times and three Challenge Cups. They currently play in the Championship.-Early years:...	8 – 20	Oldham Roughyeds Oldham Roughyeds Oldham Roughyeds is an English professional rugby league club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester. They currently play in the Championship One. Oldham is one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895....
11	Bradford Bulls Bradford Bulls Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....	98 – 6	Toulouse Olympique Toulouse Olympique Toulouse Olympique are a French professional rugby league team from Toulouse, in the southwest of France. They were founded on 22 October, in 1937 two years after the founding of the French Rugby League Federation. Between 1995 and 2002 the club were known as Spacers de Toulouse, due to links with...
12	Halifax Halifax RLFC Halifax RLFC is one of the most historic rugby league clubs in the game, formed over a century ago, in 1873 in the Yorkshire town of Halifax. Known as 'Fax', the official club colours are blue and white hoops, blue shorts and blue socks . They share The Shay stadium with football club FC Halifax Town...	24 – 42	Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are a professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire who play in the European Super League competition. They play their home games at the Galpharm Stadium which is shared with Huddersfield Town F.C....
13	Whitehaven Whitehaven RLFC Whitehaven RLFC is a rugby league club playing in Whitehaven in West Cumbria. They play in Co-operative Championship. Their stadium is called the Recreation Ground...	46 – 6	Lézignan Sangliers Lézignan Sangliers Football Club de Lézignan are a professional rugby league football club based in Lézignan-Corbières in the départment of Aude in the south of France...
14	St. Helens	56 – 0	London Skolars London Skolars London Skolars are a rugby league club based at the New River Stadium, Wood Green, Haringey in North London. They were founded in 1995 and have been semi-professional since 2003, operating in Championship One...
15	Rochdale Hornets Rochdale Hornets Rochdale Hornets RLFC is an English professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. They currently play in Championship One...	5 – 42	Hull F.C.
16	Wigan Warriors Wigan Warriors Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....	74 – 4	Pia Donkeys

All fixtures taken from BBC SPORT

Round 5

(weekend of 9th – 12th May)

Tie no	Home team	Score	Away team
1	Hull KR Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers or Hull KR is an English professional rugby league football club based in Hull, England. The club formed in 1882 and currently competes in Super League, having won promotion from National League One in 2006...	42 – 22	Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are a professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire who play in the European Super League competition. They play their home games at the Galpharm Stadium which is shared with Huddersfield Town F.C....
2	Barrow Raiders Barrow Raiders Barrow Raiders are an English professional rugby league team from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, who are coached by Dave Clark. Formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club, the club is the oldest of the current professional sports teams in Cumbria....	6 – 58	Wakefield Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Wakefield Trinity Wildcats are a professional rugby league club that plays in the European Super League and is based in Wakefield. They achieved promotion in 1999 and have remained in the League since. They are known to their fans as Wakey, Trinity, Wildcats, or historically The Dreadnoughts...
3	Dewsbury Rams Dewsbury Rams Dewsbury Rams RLFC is a professional rugby league club based in the West Yorkshire town of Dewsbury. They are arguably most famous for becoming Champions in 1972-73 after finishing the regular season in 8th place. In the playoffs they beat Featherstone away, Warrington away, and then Leeds in the...	12 – 58	Oldham Oldham Roughyeds Oldham Roughyeds is an English professional rugby league club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester. They currently play in the Championship One. Oldham is one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895....
4	Bradford Bulls Bradford Bulls Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....	46 – 16	Catalans Dragons Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons are a French professional rugby league club based in Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales. They currently play in the Super League, and are the only team in the competition from outside of the United Kingdom...
5	Wigan Warriors Wigan Warriors Wigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....	106 – 8	Whitehaven Whitehaven RLFC Whitehaven RLFC is a rugby league club playing in Whitehaven in West Cumbria. They play in Co-operative Championship. Their stadium is called the Recreation Ground...
6	Widnes Vikings Widnes Vikings Widnes Vikings RLFC are an English professional rugby league club based in Widnes, Cheshire. They currently play in the Engage Super League, the top tier of European rugby league, after being awarded a license to compete in the top-flight Super League from 2012 onward...	18 – 32*	Hull
7	Harlequins RL	26 – 36	Leeds Rhinos Leeds Rhinos Leeds Rhinos is an English professional rugby league football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The club won the 2011 Super League and became the most successful club in the Super League era, beating St Helens 32-16 on 8th October 2011. Formed in 1890, Leeds competes in Europe's Super League...
8	St. Helens	40 – 34	Warrington Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league football club based in Warrington, England that competes in Super League. They play at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2003....

Quarter finals

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Semi finals

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Final