So, Rochdale Hornets have linked up with the Bradford Bulls' match day entertainment 'supremo' Dave King for the pre-match entertainment prior to our Challenge Cup game with Leigh.

Now, in Super League - and most especially in Bradford - the prospect of self-conscious hoofers and karaoke singers may entice people to turn out in their droves. But I suspect that fans in the NFP - particularly those from Rochdale and Leigh, might disagree.

The club has said, "This should help stimulate the people of Rochdale and Leigh to support their teams and the day in even greater numbers." Now, I may have been wrong all these years, but I've always been a firm believer that Rugby League fans turn up to watch the game. I've never spoken to anyone who made a special trip to a Rugby League ground to hear some 70's standards strangled by some third-rate club act and thought, "Ooh, I'll just hang round for a bit and see the match while I'm here." Have you?

Described as '...a superb live show of music, singing and dance...', I caught the 'Bulls Experience' first hand at the World Club Championship game last week. And guess what? Two Karaoke queens (one looking suspiciously like a bloke in a frock and singing in a terrifying basso profundo; one midget with a helium squeak) strangling pop standards while lead-footed young ladies twirled in an array of costumes modelled somewhwere between a primary school Christmas tree and a very bad trip. Well I did look up once from reading my programme.

But Rugby League doesn't need tarting up. I'm in agreement with John Harbin who, this very week, spoke about tradition in the NFP: "There's a lot of those type of people (passionate traditionalists) in the NFP - and that's a good thing. They're Rugby League people - not advertising and marketing gurus who have just come into the game."

And he's right. Even the press release trumpeting the arrival of pre-match tat at Spotland admits: "... the Challenge Cup is one of the proudest parts of English Sporting Heritage and with Kellogg's Nutri-Grain sponsoring the competition for the first time, we are keen to demonstrate to them just how vibrant Rugby League is from the Premiership upwards.' "How vibrant Rugby League is" - not , "How impressive our pre-match entertainment is." They said it themselves. The teams involved will demonstrate how vibrant Rugby League is in the NFP by the quality of the game.

If you're going to the game on Sunday, - and if you're like me - your thoughts will be completely taken over by what's going to happen on the field after three o'clock, not before. Big games like this have a far more effective and exciting build-up in the minds of the fans. Two decent sides, good crowd, good atmosphere, a bit of a score to settle and a potential shot at one of the big boys in the next round. That's where the entertainment is.

As for 'pre-match' entertainment, that entails a quick one in the bar where Alan regales us with tales of A team action at Castleton Gabriels; nip off to get your pie and peas; get to your seat and sit with your mates; eat your pie and peas while attempting to compose a team line-up from the eighteen players warming up; read your programme; chat to the people in front and behind; shout 'Garn Watto - garn Tommy' as the teams come off from warming up; nod and say 'Alright' and 'Whad'you reckon?' to the people you only ever see at Hornets, but don't know their names and then sing yourself daft as the teams run out.

I'm sure the reasons behind the 'spectacular' on Sunday are genuine, but - and I'm sorry to remind Rugby League of this - it won't put a single person on the gate. It could well ensure that the bars stay busier for longer, but unless the people of Rochdale and Leigh were promised Britney Spears naked on a pedestal, it'll be business as usual on Sunday.