Dave Craven - I was lucky enough to be at Wembley - but wish you had been too

No, not the exorbitant price of a Twix Extra - not much change out of two quid, if you wondered - but the fact that there would be no fans at Wembley Stadium for the Coral Challenge Cup final.

You may also wonder why the two locations are connected in this way; it is 79.3 miles between the two points but, even in the days when the showpiece used to command crowds of almost 100,000 they never queued that far back up the M1.

However, any regular attendees of the Challenge Cup will know it is not just Wembley that makes it such a grand occasion. It’s everything on the journey, too.

And, every year, without fail, a stop at Watford Gap would tell you it is that day again as you emerge from your car to see a sea of colour from copious different rugby league jerseys.

It is not just the colours of the finalists, either. Fans from all clubs ordinarily go along for one of the biggest days in the sport’s calendar.

Amid all the usual Leeds Rhinos, Wakefield Trinity, Hull FC and Castleford Tigers shirts, if you’re really lucky you might even see a Scarborough Pirates top or someone wearing Mansfield Marksman garb.

This time, though, the best I got was, I think, Grimsby Town.

Yes, this was certainly a Challenge Cup final day like no other.

One of the other annual treats is stepping out of the tube station at Wembley and seeing sweeping images of the finalists commanding the walls as you begin your descent down Wembley Way, weaving through the throngs.

That never gets tiring. This time, though, the operation was far different; Wembley Way, I presume, was deserted.

Having the luxury of being able to park just a stone’s throw away from the stadium, meant I did not even get chance to wander down for old times’ sake.

That said, even with only a short walk to the stadium, I did feel a bit warm on arrival, maybe something to do with me inadvertently blasting the car heater on while parking or perhaps just my own pre-match nerves at the prospect of needing to pass my temperature check to get in. It suddenly became a genuine fear; imagine being one of the lucky few to get chance to witness the 2020 Challenge Cup final – forever now known as “the one with no crowd” – and then being denied at the gate due to an unsuitable reading.

Would I find a pub somewhere in time to follow the game on the box? It is not the same, of course, but suddenly I started wondering if this was the same sort of trepidation players must feel every week as they go through their Covid testing routines.

It turned out, there was no need for any panic. Temperature fine. And apparently I have sufficient levels of oxygen in my blood, too. Ninety nine per cent.

I have no idea what the score represents but the amenable medical screening man said I would be happy if I got 99 per cent in an exam so be happy with this, too. I concurred.

Sat on the press bench an hour before kick-off, I still had that feeling that the ground would soon start filling up. It is hard not to.

Still, some of the usual ceremony was retained and done wonderfully well.

How do you still get goosebumps listening to Lizzie Jones sing Abide With Me even though it is in an empty stadium and she is on a big screen?

That was as powerful as ever and she was there, in person, too, to sing the national anthem after the players had walked out to take centre stage.

With fireworks exploding as well they at least got a taste of what it would feel like if 70,000 were in there.

And one thing did certainly remain true to form; at the end, as the final whistle blew following a pulsating 80 minutes, elated Leeds players jumped for joy just like they would do if the stadium was full to brimming and crestfallen, exhausted Salford Red Devils players slumped to the turf dejected.

Yes, this was a Challenge Cup final like no other but, when it came to the crunch – crowd or no crowd – the raw emotions of those most central to it all were the same as every previous one in its 124-year history.

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Thank you

James Mitchinson