WC qualifiers

[Fabou]

I heard the recent news about the extension of the WC2021 to 16 teams. Great news. But i cant stop thinking that we could do such an extension for the WC2017.

 

I mean, i have watched the recent Canada and Jamaica games (with the USA), i have to say that I feel like "one chair" in the WC2017 for north america might not have been enough, regarding the level and the efforts these teams are making in their RL development. Plus Nigel Wood recently declared that the north american teams will have some buget to face other teams in the world, especially in Europe...

 

Since there is still 3 places left for 6 teams in Europe, would it be possible to extend to 5 places left for 8 teams (and add the Canada and Jamaica?)

 

i guess the european qualifiers matches are already settled in 2016, so i am guessing that it will be difficult to modify but i think it would be good for our Sport

 

what do you think?

[brooza]

I heard the recent news about the extension of the WC2021 to 16 teams. Great news. But i cant stop thinking that we could do such an extension for the WC2017.

 

I mean, i have watched the recent Canada and Jamaica games (with the USA), i have to say that I feel like "one chair" in the WC2017 for north america might not have been enough, regarding the level and the efforts these teams are making in their RL development. Plus Nigel Wood recently declared that the north american teams will have some buget to face other teams in the world, especially in Europe...

 

Since there is still 3 places left for 6 teams in Europe, would it be possible to extend to 5 places left for 8 teams (and add the Canada and Jamaica?)

 

i guess the european qualifiers matches are already settled in 2016, so i am guessing that it will be difficult to modify but i think it would be good for our Sport

 

what do you think?

While I'd personally like to extend the Euro qualification to 4 to get Spain and Serbia in there, the qualifying format for 2017 has been set and needs to stay as is, rather than chopping and changing at the last minute

[Fabou]

Well, yes, you might be right, it might not look very "serious" to change the original plan neither correct towards the 6 eu teams.

 

I saw that spanish clubs have been active on the social media, but i did not have the chance to see them (club and natinal team) in action. Can they manage the russian team for example?

 

for these qualif, I would pick Wales, Serbia and russia btw

[brooza]

Well, yes, you might be right, it might not look very "serious" to change the original plan neither correct towards the 6 eu teams.

 

I saw that spanish clubs have been active on the social media, but i did not have the chance to see them (club and natinal team) in action. Can they manage the russian team for example?

 

for these qualif, I would pick Wales, Serbia and russia btw

I'm incredibly impressed with the way Spain have been making progress, and can see them being a match for Russia.

 

In terms of who I'd prefer to qualify, I'd like Spain, Serbia and Ireland

[sigesige00]

Could you tell me why there is no increase of the number of teams from 14 to 16?  And why are the qualifiers so early?  Lebanon, Tonga and USA have already qualified.

[jannerboyuk]

Could you tell me why there is no increase of the number of teams from 14 to 16?  And why are the qualifiers so early?  Lebanon, Tonga and USA have already qualified.

it will in 2021, the smaller teams might need longer to get the money together to take part perhaps?

[Fabou]

it will in 2021, the smaller teams might need longer to get the money together to take part perhaps?

I would say that they decide in 2016 for 2021, so they might have decide that WC2017 will see 14 countries involved in 2012, and planify the international dates upon this decision... I understand that it is not so easy to modify, even if i really think that, without problem, there could be 2 extrateams that could be interesting challengers.. 

After, I agree to say that it is not that logic that some of the teams have already been tthrow the qualifiers, when in Europe, it will be in 10 months. The money is certainly an issue, but nothing that can stop a dedicate national team i would say

[Yakstorm]

Teams that qualify for the World Cup have their flights, accommodation and insurance paid for by the RLIF. There is also a grant to help cover some other costs.

In terms of why they wouldn't consider adding extra teams for RLWC 2017, being honest there are a range of reasons, the main being financial.

When Australia / New Zealand bid for the tournament they had to guarentee certain revenues (this was to compete with the South Africa bid that included some guarentees). Extra teams don't necessarily equate to extra revenue, but do equal extra cost.

There is also then the fairness factor for who gets those 2x extra spots. Does Europe just get them because they are the only ones who haven't qualified yet? Or do we randomly pick a runners up from one of the other qualifiers? If so who? Jamaica? South Africa? Cook Islands?

It's not a bad thing for quality nations to fail to qualify. It helps change the perception of the tournament and makes the qualifiers more important.

[Fabou]

Teams that qualify for the World Cup have their flights, accommodation and insurance paid for by the RLIF. There is also a grant to help cover some other costs.

In terms of why they wouldn't consider adding extra teams for RLWC 2017, being honest there are a range of reasons, the main being financial.

When Australia / New Zealand bid for the tournament they had to guarentee certain revenues (this was to compete with the South Africa bid that included some guarentees). Extra teams don't necessarily equate to extra revenue, but do equal extra cost.

There is also then the fairness factor for who gets those 2x extra spots. Does Europe just get them because they are the only ones who haven't qualified yet? Or do we randomly pick a runners up from one of the other qualifiers? If so who? Jamaica? South Africa? Cook Islands?

It's not a bad thing for quality nations to fail to qualify. It helps change the perception of the tournament and makes the qualifiers more important.

For me, the question of who gets the 2 extra spots is the real problem. If you consider to open 2 extra spots, It is impossible to find a fair solution. --- I might think that the level of development inside a country (number of clubs, young teams...) should count more than the result in the qualifiers (among the countries that did not manage to qualify via qualifiers), like a reward---

fully agree that the qualifiers must appears really important. the purpose of my first post was more "development oriented", since international competition is the key to development.  

not every teams have the same profitability level, yes, but the world cup is an investment (I think it is Nigel Wood who explained the increase the Union World Cup profit over the past 20 years, pointing out that we could reach the same performances... i think it was more that X10 within 4 world cups time, cant remember exactly, i should look for this article on the internet). Do you have an idea of the costs for one team?

[bowes]

Cook Islands and Jamaica are probably the best sides not to qualify, but I think next time I'd allocate automatic places on the same basis as the 14 spots were decided this time and then have the next best side from each region play a 4 team group with the top 2 qualifying

[sigesige00]

Cook Islands and Jamaica are probably the best sides not to qualify, but I think next time I'd allocate automatic places on the same basis as the 14 spots were decided this time and then have the next best side from each region play a 4 team group with the top 2 qualifying

 

I think that Cook Island's qualification for the last World Cup is very surprising.  The population of the Cook Islands is only 14,000.  What makes their RL national team so strong?  Maybe some NZ players join the Cook Island team, like China's Table Tennis players move to Hong Kong for international competitions?

[bowes]

I think that Cook Island's qualification for the last World Cup is very surprising.  The population of the Cook Islands is only 14,000.  What makes their RL national team so strong?  Maybe some NZ players join the Cook Island team, like China's Table Tennis players move to Hong Kong for international competitions?

There are a lot of Cook Islands nationals living in New Zealand (the Cook Islands are a dependency of New Zealand and so there's some kind of link). They do have a genuine domestic league of something like 7 clubs though

[sigesige00]

There are a lot of Cook Islands nationals living in New Zealand (the Cook Islands are a dependency of New Zealand and so there's some kind of link). They do have a genuine domestic league of something like 7 clubs though

 

NRL should be enlarged to the whole Oceania, and teams from PNG and a Cook Island team (de facto national team) should also participate in.

[bowes]

NRL should be enlarged to the whole Oceania, and teams from PNG and a Cook Island team (de facto national team) should also participate in.

Cook Islands doesn't have the population