Jim from Oz

My thought too I'm just hoping Samoa score a try now And Jnr Paulo seems to have gone off with a head injury…

well it's 230am here in Oz, just watched the end of the women's final, hope the men's final is a bit bloody closer!

https://www.techradar.com/how-to/australia-vs-samoa-live-stream-how-to-watch-rugby-league-world-cup-final-online-from-anywhere

Yep 100%

100% All of this. But you have to add two other very important factors: AFL administrators over the past 30 years have been much more clever and definitely played the long game, plus the overall interest in progressing the game has more importance than the interests of the clubs - So the exact opposite of the NRL! The second vital factor is the fact that the NRL went through the idiotic super league war, which for one gave AFL the biggest free kick in the biggest sports market in Australia: Sydney. To say nothing of the general sports fan in Australia who was turned off by rugby league forever, I am still meeting former rugby league fans in Sydney who say they don’t watch it any more mainly because of that idiotic war and now watch AFL instead.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/make-history-the-rock-urges-samoa-to-take-world-cup-fight-to-kangaroos-20221118-p5bzeg.html

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/clint-newton-rlpa-world-cup-25534342

Fabulous. Who is the guy at the left asking the questions? I've heard his voice all tournament but I don't know who he is. Thanks all.

Tell us more please !

So after a fairly good crowd for Aus v NZ, the Eng v Samoa crowd was very disappointing, especially as we were told 35,000 tix for this game had been sold by the start of the tournament. To state the obvious: something has gone very wrong with the ticketing and marketing of this brilliant event. I thought both semi finals were absolutely outstanding, and while some here who attended have said the Eng v Samoa atmosphere was flat at the ground, it came across really well on TV, so much so that I soon forgot about all the empty seats and just enjoyed a fantastic match of the ages. How good are RL World Cup semi-finals !!! I so wish Samoa were playing NZ in the final; as it is, I fear a thrashing from Australia. But I'll be screaming for Samoa !

TOTAL FOR WEEK 1: 95,243 (average 11,905) TOTAL FOR WEEK 2: 68,875 (average 8,609) TOTAL FOR WEEK 3: 72,198 (average 9,025) TOTAL FOR THE Q/Fs: 51,139 (average 12,785) Aus v NZ: 28,113 Eng v Samoa: 40,489 TOTAL FOR THE S/Fs: 68,602 (average 34,301) UPDATED TOTAL: 356,187 (average 11,873) TARGETS: 2000 RLWC: 263,921 (8,514 per match) TARGET 1 ACHIEVED 2017 RLWC: 382,080 (13,646 per match) 2013 RLWC: 458,483 (16,374 per match) 2022 WOMEN’S EURO: 574,865 (18,544 per match) ORIGINAL TARGET: 750,000

I am ###### off but not because of the ref, I am just deflated that New Zealand got within three points of sending out Australia and them thus missing the World Cup final for the first time since 1954! especially as Australia played relatively poorly in the first half with a lot of errors, they were up against a top-quality Kiwi side, and they still managed to scrape through! I have a horrible feeling now that Australia will win whoever they play in the final by a huge amount… I hope I am wrong however!!!!! all up, an absolutely Fantastic game this morning, the first half was incredible, addo-carr’s try incredible… just so disappointed for the Kiwis!

Agreed !!

Totally spine tingling … and I LOVED the way they all shook hands afterwards. I also loved how emotional the Samoan players were at full-time to realise they've made it through to a RLWC semi final for the first time.

On Sunday I rode in a charity bicycle ride from Sydney to Wollongong … as I was pedalling through the northern approaches to Wollongong, I saw a parked ute with a HUGE Samoan flag flying at the back, then saw the driver standing next to it wearing a Samoan RL jumper … I yelled "GO SAMOA!" as I went by and he said "YES!" He'll be a happy chappy today.

So if (and yes, a fair-sized "if" at this stage) the 2 x semi-finals and the final all sold out to full capacity (approx 170,000), then there remains a faint chance RLWC 2021(22) could ALMOST reach the RLWC target of 458,483.

TOTAL FOR WEEK 1: 95,243 (average 11,905) TOTAL FOR WEEK 2: 68,875 (average 8,609) TOTAL FOR WEEK 3: 72,198 (average 9,025) Tonga v Samoa: 12,674 TOTAL FOR THE Q/Fs: 51,139 (average 12,785) UPDATED TOTAL: 287,585 (average 10,270) TARGETS: 2000 RLWC: 263,921 (8,514 per match) TARGET 1 ACHIEVED 2017 RLWC: 382,080 (13,646 per match) 2013 RLWC: 458,483 (16,374 per match) 2022 WOMEN’S EURO: 574,865 (18,544 per match) ORIGINAL TARGET: 750,000

Interesting (but not surprising) what WIKIPEDIA says about this tournament: The inaugural Federation Shield rugby league competition was held in 2006. This competition is organised by the Rugby Football League and was contested by England, France, Samoa and Tonga.[1][2] England defeated Tonga 32-14 in the final to lift the Federation Shield for the first time. No tournament has taken place since and its future is unclear.

TOTAL FOR WEEK 1: 95,243 (average 11,905) TOTAL FOR WEEK 2: 68,875 (average 8,609) TOTAL FOR WEEK 3: 72,198 (average 9,025) Australia v Lebanon: 8,206 England v PNG: 23,179 NZ v Fiji: 7,080 UPDATED TOTAL: 274,911 (average 10,181) TARGETS: 2000 RLWC: 263,921 (8,514 per match) TARGET 1 ACHIEVED 2017 RLWC: 382,080 (13,646 per match) 2013 RLWC: 458,483 (16,374 per match) 2022 WOMEN’S EURO: 574,865 (18,544 per match) ORIGINAL TARGET: 750,000

IIRC The 1995 rugby league World Cup semi-final between Wales and England at Old Trafford drew 30,000

Fantastic, great stuff! And I’ve just noticed it is on my Kayo sports streaming so I will watch it with interest!

Hello everyone, so glad to hear the positive reports about wheelchair rugby league, was it broadcast on the BBC free to air over there in the UK?

I said ages ago on this thread that perhaps the ticketing system was actually broken … sadly it seems I wasn’t too wrong.

WOTM, surely?