1999 Rugby League Challenge Cup

Round 1 Will be contested by forty eight amateur teams. They will include National Conference Division 1 and 2 clubs, plus other top amateur teams from all over the country.

Round 2 The twenty four victorious clubs from Round 1, will be joined by the fourteen clubs from the National Conference Premier Division, to give nineteen ties.

Round 3 Eighteen professional clubs from the First Division, plus the semi-professional club Hemel Hempstead, join the nineteen winners from Round 2, to make nineteen ties. The professional clubs will be seeded, so that all have a home tie against amateur opposition.

Round 4 Thirteen Super League clubs enter the competition (Gateshead have not entered this year) and join the nineteen winners from Round 3, making for sixteen ties.

Round 5, onwards The competition proceeds on a straight knock-out basis. The semi-finals will be played at neutral venues and the Final Tie will take place at Wembley Stadium.

The Prize Money

The 1999 Rugby League Challenge Cup will again be sponsored by "Silk Cut", with an investment of £750,000. Some £525,100 of this will be distributed to the participating clubs, as follows:

Third Round losers (First Division clubs) - £4,200
Third Round losers (Amateur clubs) - £1,200
Fourth Round losers - £5,250
Fifth Round losers - £8,500
Quarter-Fianl losers - £16,000
Semi-Final losers - £21,500
Runners-Up - £53,500
Winners - £110,000

Rule Changes

Due to fixture congestion at the start of the league season, the rules for the Challenge Cup have been amended, so that there are no re-plays in tied games. Instead, if the teams are tied at the end of the normal eighty minutes, an extra period of ten minutes will be played. If the teams are still tied, the game will continue, with the winners being the first team to score a point.