Rugby League

Rival captains: Gareth Ellis (left) of Hull FC and Wigan Warriors' Sean O'Loughlin.

Despite strife, rugby league's holy place remains pure

The 'day out in the capital' for the Challenge Cup final is to England's northerners what the Mardi Gras is to LGBT people in Sydney. It's a chance to be ostentatiously different; a variety of pride that rugby league fans in NSW and Queensland will be forever denied.