The One

As a fan it’s hard to get interested in this fixture, but it serves a purpose in giving England players a chance to play together against a strong team.

I suppose it depends what the new design is, I’m not a fan of flag designs and would like a chevron on there somewhere. They might have to change the design if the kit sponsors change next year.

Trolling because I have a different opinion to you? Happy to admit I'm wrong on that bit though after seeing your screenshot. They actually sent me two emails, the latest one and the version I have been reading is almost identical to yours but has the line about ticketmaster omitted. I assumed both emails were the same as they have the same subject line and that paragraph is the only difference. Having just checked the first email they sent it does have that ticketmaster line in there. This is the version without it;

Not quite, the email doesn't actually mention anything regarding options for fans with tickets. The website statement does prompt you to sign up to a newsletter for updates when they are announced next week, but when you fill it in it immediately sends you an email which begins with this;

Although I'd probably say it has declined a bit the past few years, the average RL match is still pretty good in my opinion when put up against other sports. Being a fan of rugby league and seeing everything it does to hold itself back rather than grow, can quickly wear you down and make you start losing interest though. My interest is very low at the moment but hopefully it can be reignited at some point.

That doesn't really say anything about fans being a consideration, just that they hope people will continue to support the tournament. I still stand by what I say, they have rightly emphasised that players missing out was a big consideration and that players are a big focus of the competition and why the decision was made, I actually don't think wishing they had emphasised fans are important to the decision too is unreasonable. All the fan mentions are about how fans have supported the tournament and they hope we will continue to support it. I'm a big supporter of International Rugby League, I bought tickets as soon as they went on sale, and I sucked it up when they later went on general sale with more precise seating options. I'm really not aiming to kick the organisers whilst they are down, it's just my honest initial thoughts on the statements I've seen. Like I said, I was aware some people would take exception and I understand that too.

I'll have another look, but as of yet I've not seen anything where it says fans were considered when making the decision.

Not really, I'd find that quite embarrassing.

Happy to be wrong if he did, whereabouts is that?

I might get some stick for this but listening to the press conference has annoyed me a bit tbh. Not once did anyone mention fans who have bought tickets and whether they were taken into account. I fully appreciate there are other more important voices, but with the press release as well, fans who have put money into the tournament seem to be an after thought.

I’m glad they got player input and looking at Jon Duttons statement on Twitter it appears going ahead without some players being able to take part influenced today’s decision a lot. With the decision taking a long time from Oz and No withdrawing, I do wish they would have tried to gain some fan opinion too though. They must have a huge mailing list now they could have used to garner fan feedback, seeing how ultimately fans buying tickets will determine the success of the competition.

Really disappointing but I think they were put it a rubbish position and ultimately had little choice. Not keen that we have to wait a week to hear refund details though.

Anyone comparing this to fans being called names for being from Hull etc are just way off the mark. The difference is Leeds fans, or whichever fans are calling you names, don’t genuinely hate you and think you shouldn’t exist in this country. You don’t get made to feel like you don’t belong or that you’re some second tier of citizen because of your skin colour or name on a regular basis in your daily life. I have family who have to put up with this ###### and it can happen at any time. It’s downright painful to know people feel that way about you, despite knowing nothing about you.

“Officials will have to start fresh negotiations with the BBC, who were due to show all 61 matches across the men’s, women’s and wheelchair events, as well as with stadium and camp hosts.” Bit worrying, hopefully BBC will still be on board for the same number of matches next year.

No attempt at revenge, just would rather have the money in my pocket if it’s over a year away.

I've bought quite a few tickets for the tournament, if I'm honest and I don't take glee in this, if it's postponed I will be asking for a refund rather than moving my tickets to next year. The opportunity to have several hundred quid back at the moment is too tempting over waiting to see if it actually does happen next year. Whether I end up buying tickets again next year is another story but it's not guaranteed.

I was thinking about the free advertising, not making a point about vaccines... Might not be clear off you haven’t seen the advert.

Just seen a government “get vaccinated” advert featuring England football fans. if it goes ahead we should push for a version with England RL fans.

No idea if the tournament is still feasible but I really hope it goes ahead without Aus and NZ. Assuming England would make the final (I realise that’s not guaranteed), it would be a great opportunity for a real feel good story for the other finalist. Just imagine the scenes in Tonga if they got to the final, never mind if they won. I’d doubt they’d care Aus and NZ weren’t in it. Let’s go ahead and get behind it.

I thought the coverage was great

The turnaround from SF1 to SF2 makes it a bit harder as I would have liked to have gone down to London earlier and stayed a few nights before, but I've still decided to get tickets for the Semi Finals and Final. I would have rather been able to choose the seats but at least this way saves me spending ages trying to find seat views on google whilst deciding. Hopefully early purchases will get the better seats from that category. I'm expecting to be able to buy tickets to the group games closer to the tournament, but if I miss out, at least I have tickets for the main ones I want to go to. Last WC over here I was desperate to go to as many matches as possible but my enthusiasm unfortunately has waned a bit since then. With the Semi-Finals and Final, they're must-see because I'd kick myself if England managed to win it and I wasn't there.

One thing that doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the media here, but has been reported on quite a bit in China, is that some of the people who catch and survive this virus have been left with long lasting lung damage. That seems to be ignored when just talking about death rates.