Rugby, Australian Football: Pay day for cup winners!

National League clubs will battle for 75,000 in prize money when the Northern Rail Cup kicks off next month. Northern Rail, who have agreed a two-year deal to take over from Arriva Trains as National League Cup sponsors, are putting up 12,500 for the winners of the July 17 final.

"The League is delighted to welcome Northern Rail into its family of sponsors," RFL chief operating officer Nigel Wood said at today's launch in Huddersfield.

"We're already sure that the relationship will work well for both sides."

The tournament starts on the weekend of February 11-13 with the first set of round-robin matches involving six groups of four teams.

Castleford, relegated from Super League in October, are favourites to emulate previous winners Huddersfield, Salford and Leigh who all went on to gain promotion after lifting the National League Cup.

"We're favourites in the bookmakers' eyes but we're just worrying about our own games each week," said new Tigers coach David Woods.

"It's going to be like a Grand Final every week. Teams are going to want to beat us.

"It's going to be a real tight competition. There's five, six or seven clubs who could be right up there but being full-time definitely gives us an advantage. We've got more time to spend with the boys."

Sportinglife