Festive Challenge

The Festive Challenge

The 2008 Festive Challenge
Sport	Rugby league
Number of teams	2
Country	(RFL)
Holders	Leeds Rhinos (14th title)
Most titles	Leeds Rhinos (14 titles)

The Festive Challenge is an annual friendly rugby match played between Leeds Rhinos and Wakefield Trinity that is played on Boxing Day. ^{[1] [2]}

History

Background

Matches played on Boxing Day were a regular part of rugby league season in Great Britain before the establishment of the Super League in 1996 and the switch to a summer season. Following the winter of 1962–1963, which caused the postponement of many sports fixtures, undersoil heating was installed at Headingley. This ensured that the surface would be playable for the 1963 Boxing Day match between Leeds and Wakefield, and led to the league schedule including a Leeds home fixture on Boxing Day every year apart from 1994 when they were away to Hull F.C. During this period Leeds faced numerous opponents, but the most frequent was Wakefield, who they faced a further ten times after 1963. ^[3] In 1995, Leeds defeated Castleford at Headingley in their final competitive Boxing Day match before the move to the summer era. ^[4]

Establishment

In 1996, Gary Hetherington, the recently appointed chief executive at Leeds, wanted to continue the tradition of a Boxing Day game so a friendly against Halifax was played as the first "festive challenge". In the following years Leeds played Halifax three more times and faced Bradford Bulls in 1999. ^{[3] [4] [5]} Between 2001 and 2003 Leeds played Castleford Tigers and defeated them in all three matches. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

Leeds and Wakefield

Festive Challenge 2014

The first festive challenge between Leeds and Wakefield was played in 2004. ^[9]

The 2010 event was postponed to New Year's Day due to poor weather. ^[10]

In 2017, the fixture was moved to Belle Vue, the first time it was played away from Headingley, due to the redevelopment of Headingley Stadium. ^[11]

Results

Year	Winner	Score	Runners up	Venue
2004	Leeds Rhinos	32–12 [9]	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats	Headingley Stadium
2005	Leeds Rhinos	42–18 [12]	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2006	Leeds Rhinos	22–14 [12]	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2007	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats	26–18 [12]	Leeds Rhinos
2008	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats	22–16 [12]	Leeds Rhinos
2009	Leeds Rhinos	32–12 [12]	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2010 [a]	Leeds Rhinos	40–22 [12]	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2011	Leeds Rhinos	26–10 [12]	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2012	Leeds Rhinos	40–26 [12]	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2013	Leeds Rhinos	18–18 [12]	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2014	Leeds Rhinos	50–28 [12]	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
2015	Wakefield Trinity Wildcats	14–6 [12]	Leeds Rhinos
2016	Wakefield Trinity	30–6 [12]	Leeds Rhinos
2017	Leeds Rhinos	17–10 [13]	Wakefield Trinity	Belle Vue
2018	Leeds Rhinos	10–4 [14]	Wakefield Trinity	Headingley Stadium
2019	Wakefield Trinity	30–4 [15]	Leeds Rhinos
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic [4]
2021	Leeds Rhinos	34–6 [16]	Wakefield Trinity	Headingley Stadium
2022	Wakefield Trinity	32–20 [17]	Leeds Rhinos
2023	Leeds Rhinos	41–22 [18]	Wakefield Trinity
2024	Leeds Rhinos	18–16 [19]	Wakefield Trinity
2025	Leeds Rhinos	18–10 [20]	Wakefield Trinity

Winners

	Team	Wins	Years
1	Leeds Rhinos	14	2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025
2	Wakefield Trinity	6	2007, 2008, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2022

Sponsors

Period	Sponsor	Name
2009	Cravendale	Cravendale Festive Challenge
2011–2013	Heatshot	Heatshot Festive Challenge
2014	Tetley's	Tetley's Festive Challenge
2015–	Wetherby Whaler	Wetherby Whaler Festive Challenge

See also

• Sports portal
• England portal

• Boxing Day Challenge
• West Yorkshire derbies
• Derbies in the Rugby Football League

Notes

1. Postponed to New Year's Day 2011

References

1. "Rhinos name strong side for Wetherby Whaler Festive Challenge". Archived from the original on 2015-12-24.
2. Andy Charles. "Wakefield Wildcats beat Leeds Rhinos in Boxing Day friendly". Sky Sports.
3. "Leeds Rhinos news as all-time greats set for Boxing Day Headingley reunion v Wakefield Trinity". Yorkshire Evening Post. 19 December 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
4. "Leeds Rhinos' Boxing Day blues - for one year only". Yorkshire Evening Post. 25 December 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
5. "Lowes misses Rhinos clash". Telegraph & Argus. 23 December 1999. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
6. "Walker strolls through class debut". The Indepepndent. 27 December 2001. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
7. "Leeds Rhinos 20 Cas Tigers 2 (Thu 26th Dec)". www.castigers.com. Archived from the original on 4 May 2003.
8. "Mathers plays despite tragedy". The Independent. 27 December 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
9. "Leeds Rhinos 46–6 Wakefield". BBC. 27 December 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
10. "Rhinos move festive friendly". Sky Sports. 24 December 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
11. "Construction work sees Leeds-Wakefield Boxing Day clash switched to Belle Vue". Wakefield Express. 26 September 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
12. "Match Preview: Wetherby Whaler Festive Challenge". Leeds Rhinos. 26 December 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
13. "Rhinos ease to Boxing Day victory at Wakefield". Total Rugby League. 26 December 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
14. "Leeds Rhinos 10 Wakefield Trinity 4: Rhinos hit back to retain Festive Challenge honours". Yorkshire Evening Post. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
15. "Luke Gale: Leeds Rhinos half-back returns in festive Wakefield Trinity run-out". BBC Sport. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
16. "Leeds Rhinos 34-6 Wakefield Trinity: Player ratings and major talking points". 26 December 2021.
17. "FULL MATCH | 2022 Wetherby Whaler Festive Challenge". YouTube .
18. "Five key takeaways as Leeds Rhinos come from behind to beat Wakefield Trinity". 26 December 2023.
19. https://www.therhinos.co.uk/article/21211/leeds-rhinos-18-wakefield-trinity-16
20. https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/boxing-day-round-up-rugby-league-leeds-rhinos