TANNOY announcer or tannoy annoyer?

It was the latter at Cougar Park on Sunday.

In my opinion the people behind the microphones at rugby grounds should provide an information service relevant to the occasion, not a ‘comedic’ cameo performance.

With Keighley trailing 68-4 soon after scoring their only try in Sunday’s tie, he blarted out: “Only 65 drop goals to go.” That was highly disrespectful to the home players.

It was soon after that, when Wolves had gone 74-4 in front, that he urged Keighley fans to get behind their team in surely another act of sarcasm.

A little later – while play was ongoing – he suggested perhaps Wolves boss Tony Smith might like to buy an executive box at Cougar Park due to the frequency of the clubs playing each other in the cup.

And rather annoyingly, he often started his announcements with ‘grrrrrrrrrr’ as he mimicked what he considered to be the sound a cougar makes.

In many ways, the fans were lucky – most of his blinkered opinions on the game and rugby league in general were not in earshot. Sadly, I was not spared the drivel while sharing the press box that he calls ‘his office’ at the back of the main stand.

Continuing on the theme of disrespect in the cup, Monday’s fifth-round draw on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Richard Bacon Show was a shambles.

After unveiling Wakefield being away to Hull, Bacon then had Workington lined up to visit Wakefield – and even questioned if it was Wokingham rather than Workington.

There was a mix-up over a ball being the number six or nine, and then whether it was 15 or 18 that had been pulled out of the bag.

Bacon got in an apology to those listeners who had no interest in rugby and he had little or no knowledge of his studio guest – the rugby league legend Billy Boston.

The Challenge Cup is one of the crown jewels, an institution in British sport and loved across the world too. It deserves and demands so much better. I can’t imagine such an ignorant scenario occuring in an FA Cup draw.