theswanmcr

Also says ‘Schedule is subject to change’. Looking forward to seeing the irreplaceable Team Six usurped by upcoming Team Seven in the next fortnight

And how they compare to their Champions Cup union games which are on shown at the same day/time. Channel 4 will obviously gauge it on that basis.

Indeed. Also to basically say “we’re bigger and better than you and hold all the cards” really isn’t a good way to ‘bring the game together’. No wonder we’re about to get a shiny new bonus third party to help rule our sport - he can’t swallow his pride for even a second.

Man you’re taking one for the team watching the whole of Sunday Brunch! Have they done the King of the Tin biscuit feature yet - the programme is car crash tv, so bad you have to just keep watching it.

No they now have 39 towns/cities who have expressed an interest - so nearly there for the bare minimum required. More to come yet after the official announcement. All encouraging stuff either way.

Some interesting info there - especially the bit about about only this year’s semi-finalists automatically qualifying for France 2025. Good stuff.

Yeah would be worth it just for that! And surely Toulouse supporters, new and exited for SL, want to easily read all about this week’s plans to update Belle Vue

Random point - trying to read the Toulouse statement and, unsurprisingly, it’s all in French! Really all SL clubs should have an English or French website option as a requisite for entry. Random rant over!

Yep only in Rugby League would you find confusion over which one of the two made-up New York teams who have never actually played a game are in which of the two competing part-time leagues. Peak RL

Yep the Confederations Cup idea is still the ideal competition for in between World Cups. Would give ‘emerging’ countries the chance to bid for a smaller major competition and a dry run for a later World Cup. This would have been ideal for say France to hold and gain event delivery experience - instead they are being thrown in with the biggest competition we have. Also from a playing side it would be a meaningful major international competition. Scandalous that this got pulled by our NRL friends.

The main problem with the Grand Final deciding the final ‘winner’ is that we have too few clubs playing too many games to get there. NFL regular season has 32 teams playing just 17 rounds, followed by 14 teams in play-offs and final over 4 weeks. Max 21 games. We have 12 teams playing 27 regular rounds - a ridiculous amount - followed by play-offs and final. Plus the Challenge Cup and teams can play each other 5 or 6 times a season. Hence the low play-off crowds. Less is more people.

Aberavon Fighting Irish Blood, English Heart Big Cockermouth Strikes Again Little Manly, What Now? The Boy with the Thornhill Trojans in His Side Cemetry Gateshead Storm Ask(am) This Charming Manningham I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris St Germain I was bored

Fair enough I got that wrong - was actually thinking of the 2000 final where the evening paper gave away thousands of tickets. In 2013 yes we did sell out but tickets were still on sale close to the day - I guess though that does show good progress and yes that we can do it for a men’s final in England where the hosts were a week away from making the final. Other tournaments/ countries/ venues/non finals etc will be different. The women’s World Cup final was played before the men’s last time out in Australia so if it’s good enough for them…

We’re not going to agree on this which is fair enough - I would add that we are a comparatively ‘small time’ sport regardless of double headers. We want/expect to play big games in big stadiums but seldom sell them out eg last years’ SL final and World Cup 2013 finals at Old Trafford. We do not have that latent audience to sell out a big occasion regardless of who is competing. So what do you practically do? You get Wales to play Italy at Millenium Stadium in Cardiff in 2013 for a prestige opener and show that we are not ‘small time’. But we know that won’t draw a massive crowd so you have a double header with Eng/Aus. Not ideal but without that the Wales game would be in the Arms Park over the road making us look even more ‘small time’. Same goes for women’s game… play the World Cup final as a double header at Old Trafford or play it separately at the HJ in Warrington instead. Which option makes us look more small time? I know which one I’d prefer.

I didn’t say it was an ‘add on’ to the men’s matches - only that in a way you are offering an extra incentive to all parties eg two games instead of one. And as I said you are also increasing the prestige of the women’s final by playing at a big ground. In terms of selling the women’s comp on its own and being confident in that, well there is a long way to go there. Football has only recently brought the women’s cup final to Wembley as a single entity and that is our national game. We are nowhere near that and it will be intriguing to see how the women’s matches at this RLWC go in terms of crowds. Interesting that there - and with wheelchair games - there are plenty of double headers.

Brilliant - and totally agree that Mumby you should book some World Cup games. Looking at just the first 10 games there’s at least 3 there that should be belters in terms of even games - Eng v Samoa, Tonga v PNG and Wales v Cook Islands. And that’s just the men’s tournament and also before the bigger match-ups of the quarter finals start. The passion you’ll see from the players representing their country - especially some of the smaller nations - is like nothing else in Rugby League.

I disagree with you on this. It depends on the sport, local culture individual circumstances. Trying to sell 30K final tickets mainly to fans who know the hosts (men’s) won’t make it is going to be hard. Having the women’s final as an additional incentive will likely help. As well as this you also in one easy swoop put the women’s final on the same footing as a the mens and add real prestige for the players - rather than playing the women’s final in a smaller venue. There are also potential reduced logistical and TV set-up costs etc fir a sport not exactly flush with cash. We are not football - or even Union - where 30k will turn up for even group games in their men’s world cups. And we are not big enough to have totally separate world cups (yet). We need to do what works best for us.

Really good point and would make sense to double or triple up to attract French crowds.

The articles specifically mention 30k for semi finals and final. Which makes sense as it’s highly unlikely the hosts wont make it and Marseille will be too big. So I’d bet on StadiumToulouse (33k) or an each-way chance of Allianz in Nice (36k). Audois will likely know more!

Isn’t that the nature of any survey? What else do you suggest?

Agree - think there is real scope for major growth and TV audiences for this. It is brilliant to watch and actually looks like ‘rugby’ compared to the other code’s version. Brilliant that The Sportsman will show some of these games.

My conspiracy theory - and it has been hinted at on here elsewhere - is that he has been approached/ saw an opening to get involved with the proposed new Cornwall Stadium. Wearing a non-conspiracy hat then it could be seen as another area with no other competitors (I’d have liked to have seen Bristol but you have football and RU there).

Think we’re both roughly on the same page - agree it is a bit of a problem so not discounting it. Like you say it all looks really good and promising this far out and plenty of time to find out what exactly their thoughts and plans are and the focus on legacy is really encouraging.

It will also depend on what the funder (eg national and regional governments) goals are too. Someone has hinted that the spread of venues may be to almost appease smaller towns who are not part of the Union World Cup. If so that would be almost the opposite of RLWC2021 with funding dependant on nearly everything taking place in the North. As long as any ‘random’ places are already fully funded then it’s not a huge problem if legacy etc is focused elsewhere. I’d guess that some of the smaller towns could become centres for the Youth Games too.