2025 World Cup - Not in US

[SteelersWheeler]

1 hour ago, scotchy1 said:

NZ would be interesting, Im not sure if it has enough of the right mix of stadia and many of them belong to NZRFU.

Rugby League Park in Chrischurch has been rented by the NZRU and Canterbury RU since the 2011 quakes.......although you'd be hard pressed to know that as it's now referred to as either Christchurch Stadium or AMI Stadium. It's owned by Canterbury RL!

The codes do work well together here though. The Auckland 9's being an example......there's less bitterness between the codesand I reckon the NZRU would welcome the RLWC should it come here.

Eden Park, North Harbour, Hamilton and Rotarua could potentially all host groups, tapping into a massive Pacific Island/Maori population in that region. Take some games to Wellington and Christchurch, but I'd be stacking it high and selling it cheap in the form of "multi-ticket" offers......Kiwis love live sport......they'll tuen up if you market to them!

[Southerner80]

1 hour ago, Keith989 said:

Also a couple of thousand pounds is a lot of money to a guy coming from a small PI village.

It is... However none of the Tonga team come from Tonga! All NRL or SL and born in Sydney or Auckland bar maybe one player. 

[Damien]

3 minutes ago, Southerner80 said:

It is... However none of the Tonga team come from Tonga! All NRL or SL and born in Sydney or Auckland bar maybe one player. 

There is no need to exegerate. Konrad Hurrell and Solemona Kata certainly come from Tonga so that's at least two.

[Keith989]

9 minutes ago, Damien said:

A big part of that though is because countries like England pay Tonga et Al penauts whilst they themselves reap millions from matches at Twickenham.

That is true but to be fair world rugby gives the PI unions millions in funding every year ,pay for the tournament's they play in and they also fund the Fijian Drua, who are a team equivalent to the PNG hunters. Corruption stories are unfortunately a regular news story there.

 Just look at the case of the missing millions in Samoa, where locals donated their own money to help pay the players wages in the 2015 world cup, but the players recieved none of it. 

[Southerner80]

6 minutes ago, Damien said:

There is no need to exegerate. Konrad Hurrell and Solemona Kata certainly come from Tonga so that's at least two.

Fair enough I give you that. 

[SteelersWheeler]

54 minutes ago, Damien said:

There is no need to exegerate. Konrad Hurrell and Solemona Kata certainly come from Tonga so that's at least two.

3 players in the 2017 squad were born in Tonga and at least 3 had already represented other nations (ie the one they were born in) at Senior level.

I have seen RL fans on aussie forums slag off the AFL world (International) Cup, because it's just a comp full of players from Melbourne......when the reality is teams like PNG, Ireland and GB in the AFL cup are 100% "country of birth" players.

Tonga benefited massively from the defection of traitorous Kiwi's in 2017.......I was delighted to see them smashed up by Aussie this year and hope GB dump on them from a great height next year.....Fiji are the next nation after the big 3, having made the last 3 semi-finals....people need to realise that Tonga is just another NZ side.....and one led by a bloke who thinks he's bigger than the game.

[Exiled Wiganer]

If anyone honestly doubts that those Tongan players aren’t Tongan they haven’t been paying attention. 

[The Future is League]

On 12/4/2018 at 6:31 PM, Clogiron said:

"Last year's World Cup in Australia gave the game a huge boost" but pitiful crowd's unfortunately, if they can be ar**d it looks like going there again. See big Nige is performing upto expectations and still spouting bulls**t.

Last yearS world cup was poorly promoted, as the Aussie Rugby League doesn't want anything to undermine SOO

[eal]

I think a World Cup hosted solely in NZ would be more of a success than the previous joint effort with Australia. Rugby Union and Rugby League mostly coexist happily in NZ, certainly among the sporting public. I am a NZer myself and most Rugby fans I know follow both codes and many people play both interchangeably. I could see many Union fans getting behind the RLWC.

[Pulga]

13 hours ago, Southerner80 said:

It is... However none of the Tonga team come from Tonga! All NRL or SL and born in Sydney or Auckland bar maybe one player. 

Imagine growing up in a Tongan household, Tongan mum and Dad. Your uncle's and aunties are Tongan, some still in Tonga.

You visit them every few years and have great memories from hanging out with all your extended family there.

You learn the Sipi Tau at a young age with your brothers who you thought were also Tongan.

One day you stumble across a rugby league forum where a user destroys your world because he makes you realise you aren't actually Tongan. As far back as you can trace your ancestors is apparently a lie because your parents decided to give you a better life in a new country.

 

There seems to be a fair few people in here not involved in the international game at all telling people what their heritage should mean to them.

 

[Southerner80]

2 hours ago, Pulga said:

Imagine growing up in a Tongan household, Tongan mum and Dad. Your uncle's and aunties are Tongan, some still in Tonga.

You visit them every few years and have great memories from hanging out with all your extended family there.

You learn the Sipi Tau at a young age with your brothers who you thought were also Tongan.

One day you stumble across a rugby league forum where a user destroys your world because he makes you realise you aren't actually Tongan. As far back as you can trace your ancestors is apparently a lie because your parents decided to give you a better life in a new country.

 

There seems to be a fair few people in here not involved in the international game at all telling people what their heritage should mean to them.

 

How am I destroying their world.... I am merely saying I feel it does not help the sport to allow a national team to be over 50% made up of players who are not born in such a country as by doing so it makes it unfair for other nations to develop. 

I in no means have any doubt that these proud Men and Women born in Auckland to Tongan or Samoan heritage identity as Such. I would call them Tongan. The issue here is how to make international sport seem fair and not merely a matter of where your diaspora has emigrated to.... That's my point. 

Ultimately France And PNG and Wales develop talent from a young age. The players are not as good as those in OZ or NZ however they represent the development efforts of a national federation and deserve to be supported. 

Allowing Tonga and Lebanon to take all these highly trained OZ born players and use them to make up for a lack of local expertise And resources is not fair at all on France and PNG and would logically make France feel why do we bother? Scotland and Ireland take this debate to a whole nother level!,..... I will acknowledge the Tongan and Lebanese team are acknowledged in those nations... And with them may I add my issue is not heritage merely that they base their whole teams around it, rather than it being a assistance it's the whole show itself! Which is not fair... 

Ps, I think this whole debate is pretty brilliant and this forum is great as most people can do all this calmly.... Guess that's why it's the Greatest Game it's the people not just the sport on the field its what it represents. 

[Pulga]

16 minutes ago, Southerner80 said:

How am I destroying their world.... I am merely saying I feel it does not help the sport to allow a national team to be over 50% made up of players who are not born in such a country as by doing so it makes it unfair for other nations to develop. 

I in no means have any doubt that these proud Men and Women born in Auckland to Tongan or Samoan heritage identity as Such. I would call them Tongan. The issue here is how to make international sport seem fair and not merely a matter of where your diaspora has emigrated to.... That's my point. 

Ultimately France And PNG and Wales develop talent from a young age. The players are not as good as those in OZ or NZ however they represent the development efforts of a national federation and deserve to be supported. 

Allowing Tonga and Lebanon to take all these highly trained OZ born players and use them to make up for a lack of local expertise And resources is not fair at all on France and PNG and would logically make France feel why do we bother? Scotland and Ireland take this debate to a whole nother level!,..... I will acknowledge the Tongan and Lebanese team are acknowledged in those nations... And with them may I add my issue is not heritage merely that they base their whole teams around it, rather than it being a assistance it's the whole show itself! Which is not fair... 

Ps, I think this whole debate is pretty brilliant and this forum is great as most people can do all this calmly.... Guess that's why it's the Greatest Game it's the people not just the sport on the field its what it represents. 

You're not destroying anyone's world. That was sarcasm.

The world is shrinking. Growing amounts of people feel attached to places they don't live in.

The heritage rules are very similar to many major sports. Olympic athletes change "nationality" all the time. 

 

And another point: if you feel you are losing out to miniscule nations like Tonga and Lebanon then maybe that says more about your weak league programs more than anything.

[Southerner80]

1 hour ago, Pulga said:

You're not destroying anyone's world. That was sarcasm.

The world is shrinking. Growing amounts of people feel attached to places they don't live in.

The heritage rules are very similar to many major sports. Olympic athletes change "nationality" all the time. 

 

And another point: if you feel you are losing out to miniscule nations like Tonga and Lebanon then maybe that says more about your weak league programs more than anything.

Tonga and Lebanon development programme is being born in Sydney or Auckland.... 

France develop players who are born And actually play their RL in France.... So should be helped so to grow the game. 

If you really feel France aren't of greater importance to RL then sadly you don't see how to make the sport viable financially at international level..... France actually have TV revenue to offer if they are able to compete and get regular games v the big 3.

Tonga offer gate recipts which while helpful are not significant in a way TV money is, And there is no guarantee Tonga as a RL team will continue to be a big big seller if they played in Auckland 5 times a year. Right now there's a novelty factor... Whether this translates Into a ongoing lucrative brand I don't know.... 

Further show me the rules for other sports.. Yes unfortunately many sports allow for excessive heritage doping however...... RL makes it a farce with nation swapping.... .. There are stand down periods for nation swapping... If its allowed at all........ Show me the rules on switching nations in Union, or Football or even Athletics where it happens a fair bit, but there are caveats. 

Union actually knows how to make money... We could learn alot about which nations to help.... Union help Italy and earn more money for it. We help Tonga and Scotland over France and wonder why our International game is not financially very significant .. Madness....

[Pulga]

6 hours ago, Southerner80 said:

Tonga and Lebanon development programme is being born in Sydney or Auckland.... 

France develop players who are born And actually play their RL in France.... So should be helped so to grow the game. 

If you really feel France aren't of greater importance to RL then sadly you don't see how to make the sport viable financially at international level..... France actually have TV revenue to offer if they are able to compete and get regular games v the big 3.

Tonga offer gate recipts which while helpful are not significant in a way TV money is, And there is no guarantee Tonga as a RL team will continue to be a big big seller if they played in Auckland 5 times a year. Right now there's a novelty factor... Whether this translates Into a ongoing lucrative brand I don't know.... 

Further show me the rules for other sports.. Yes unfortunately many sports allow for excessive heritage doping however...... RL makes it a farce with nation swapping.... .. There are stand down periods for nation swapping... If its allowed at all........ Show me the rules on switching nations in Union, or Football or even Athletics where it happens a fair bit, but there are caveats. 

Union actually knows how to make money... We could learn alot about which nations to help.... Union help Italy and earn more money for it. We help Tonga and Scotland over France and wonder why our International game is not financially very significant .. Madness....

You're twisting my words. Who is saying potential revenue wouldn't be bigger in France?

Tonga has a population of 100,000. With another 80 or so thousand in Australia and New Zealand.

Interestingly there are 110k people of French ancestry in Australia. 25k of which were born there.

 

Maybe the Tongans work harder to get where they are?

 

You also keep bringing up that bodies are "helping" Tonga over France. Prove it. 

I can guarantee you the RLIF isn't any part of it. The NRL has a Pacific scheme where they help their direct neighbours. It's simple geography though. 

The NRL also has an Asian branch. Again, their neighbours. It seems the RFL aren't doing enough to help France.

Union's eligibility criteria are identical to league except they can't swap between two tiers that they qualify for like league. Instead they have talent sitting at home watching the All Blacks when they could be playing for a Pacific nation.

Union does have a loophole to do with the Olympic Sevens. Somehow you can change nationality there.

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=undefined&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjeqdja0Y7fAhUGcCsKHfPOAqAQzPwBCAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.ie%2Fsport%2Fsoccer%2Ffifas-eligibility-rules-explained-29647415.html&psig=AOvVaw2-2KyX-laXCWqOZDYBAtmB&ust=1544303695304055

Soccer's rules are a mess but have the grandparent rule plus a bunch of loopholes. FIFA can even make exceptions for certain players. 

Obviously nobody cares though and it doesn't somehow make a farce of the sport. Funny that.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/migrants-exemptions-expulsions-fifas-eligibility-laws/7247422

[Southerner80]

9 hours ago, Pulga said:

You're twisting my words. Who is saying potential revenue wouldn't be bigger in France?

Tonga has a population of 100,000. With another 80 or so thousand in Australia and New Zealand.

Interestingly there are 110k people of French ancestry in Australia. 25k of which were born there.

 

Maybe the Tongans work harder to get where they are?

 

You also keep bringing up that bodies are "helping" Tonga over France. Prove it. 

I can guarantee you the RLIF isn't any part of it. The NRL has a Pacific scheme where they help their direct neighbours. It's simple geography though. 

The NRL also has an Asian branch. Again, their neighbours. It seems the RFL aren't doing enough to help France.

Union's eligibility criteria are identical to league except they can't swap between two tiers that they qualify for like league. Instead they have talent sitting at home watching the All Blacks when they could be playing for a Pacific nation.

Union does have a loophole to do with the Olympic Sevens. Somehow you can change nationality there.

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=undefined&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjeqdja0Y7fAhUGcCsKHfPOAqAQzPwBCAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.ie%2Fsport%2Fsoccer%2Ffifas-eligibility-rules-explained-29647415.html&psig=AOvVaw2-2KyX-laXCWqOZDYBAtmB&ust=1544303695304055

Soccer's rules are a mess but have the grandparent rule plus a bunch of loopholes. FIFA can even make exceptions for certain players. 

Obviously nobody cares though and it doesn't somehow make a farce of the sport. Funny that.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/migrants-exemptions-expulsions-fifas-eligibility-laws/7247422

The RLIF unfairly advantages Scotland, Lebanon, Tonga over France And PNG above all with the nation swapping. A player can change their mind last minute or not make the OZ squad and turn out for Italy or Tonga or Scotland.   The excessive use of heritage players I still feel should not happen, however the nation swapping is the glaring difference between our sport and others.....

Show me any team at the Fifa World Cup who had the nation swapping going on of Tonga or Lebanon. Or even the heritage percentage... 

This basically screws over France, PNG and Wales and makes a bit of a farce on the wider publics eye when you explain how JT went from NZ team to Tonga team in months and the same with Fifita. While I don't doubt their passion and sense of national identity, none of this helps RL. 

Union actually have some common sense. Sure a Tonga with ex ABs would be very strong... It would probably ko France, Argentina, and even Scotland.... So that's millions of viewers done with the tournament at the group stage.... 

Look Soccer suffers when England don't make a tournament or Germany don't. We are a small sport globally. We can't afford to not push our financial powerhouses... To grow the game France should be pre qualified for every WC and be guaranteed games v big 3 every year.. It won't matter if they win.. It brings them to the table... Italy in Union have brought more money in... So would France in League if treated right.... Frances deplorable history towards RL does show signs of changing...... Macron recognised the CCF win of Les Dracs...... And the thing with France is if RL grows there so will Europe....... France is the gateway to Europe... 

France is basically the be all and end all for International development. Get France good and the whole sport will grow well in Europe. 

The USA and Canada will never really be more than enthusiastic amateurs maybe some semi pro  as there is not culturally room for RL... Harsh but true. By all means support and maybe there is room for a second TWP style team however I don't see how you develop youth talent.   As the young boys and girls can so easily play CFL NFL style or Union or 7s and our game out there does not really have a compelling narrative to compete with those two.. Nor is cost of equipment a issue so to put them off NFL which is like RL a working class game. 

Jamaica on the other hand fits in as below for Polynesia ie can be a place to bring talent through. NFL can't really grow here as too pricey for all the equipment and also above all the amazing thing they got right in Jamaica is to get schools and colleges playing.... Look at where our great game is popular, North England, pockets of Wales and South of France, NZ, PNG, pockets of Polynesia... They play at school... That's the key to all of this! And it's sadly why RL has not grown as much as it should as Union has done down the years some nasty things to hold back access to RL which I have posted elsewhere I feel Is a violation of human rights... 

Polynesia and Melansia, while they can definitely grow these nations as a breeding ground for talent and efforts at youth And development level should be supported with a view to players getting pro deals abroad....

Actually playing in the islands will  loose money for the game if we decide to host matches there so it should not be a focus... Rather get them playing and touring Europe. If the game can be grown in Europe there will be a demand for teams to play against.... 

Let's just have credible laws on nation swapping and get rid of This silly tier idea. The heritage issue I can concede while it goes against the spirit of sport and fairness is not as much of a  farce like the nation swapping is.  

Let's hope the IRLF realise a world Cup of 10 credible teams is actually far better than 16 when you need to have crazy rules on eligibility to make the numbers up. Personally I feel 12-14 teams well seeded And with France and PNG given groups with development nations would make sense... Heres how a 14 team WC could be seeded for 2021.

Ie group A and B 3 to QF. 

A Eng, OZ, Wales, Lebanon 

B NZ, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa

Group C and D 1 to QF. Cross group games. 

C France, Jamaica, USA

D PNG, Italy, Russia. 

Or a 12 team WC Could be 3 pools of 4 with the top 2 in each group. and two best thirds all going through to the last 8. Or the top 3 in group A And B and the top 2 in group C. A development WC could be ran along side this for another 4-8 nations with the focus on proper international development. No teams with more than half of the players born in Sydney. 

A 12 team WC. 

A Oz, Eng, Lebanon, Jamacia 

B NZ, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa

C France, PNG, Wales, USA. 

Tbh I feel the 12 team WC outlined would be ideal.... 

The development WC of 4-8 teams could be the likes of Italy, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Philippines, Canada, Ireland, Norway. Money will be a big issue here to get this funded. So will probably be viable for a Europe only based WC... Personally I would keep The WC in England and France period for financial reasons.... England having 75% of games, France getting 25%.

 

 

[Sports Prophet]

19 hours ago, Southerner80 said:

How am I destroying their world.... I am merely saying I feel it does not help the sport to allow a national team to be over 50% made up of players who are not born in such a country as by doing so it makes it unfair for other nations to develop. 

I in no means have any doubt that these proud Men and Women born in Auckland to Tongan or Samoan heritage identity as Such. I would call them Tongan. The issue here is how to make international sport seem fair and not merely a matter of where your diaspora has emigrated to.... That's my point. 

Ultimately France And PNG and Wales develop talent from a young age. The players are not as good as those in OZ or NZ however they represent the development efforts of a national federation and deserve to be supported. 

Allowing Tonga and Lebanon to take all these highly trained OZ born players and use them to make up for a lack of local expertise And resources is not fair at all on France and PNG and would logically make France feel why do we bother? Scotland and Ireland take this debate to a whole nother level!,..... I will acknowledge the Tongan and Lebanese team are acknowledged in those nations... And with them may I add my issue is not heritage merely that they base their whole teams around it, rather than it being a assistance it's the whole show itself! Which is not fair... 

Ps, I think this whole debate is pretty brilliant and this forum is great as most people can do all this calmly.... Guess that's why it's the Greatest Game it's the people not just the sport on the field its what it represents. 

I understand your concern and believe you have valid points. This may sound very simple, but to me, a duck born in a stable is still a duck. 

France and Wales et al just have to lift their game.

[Southerner80]

12 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

I understand your concern and believe you have valid points. This may sound very simple, but to me, a duck born in a stable is still a duck. 

France and Wales et al just have to lift their game.

Fair enough, I can concede on heritage for parents being Just how it is despite disagreeing with it and feeling it is unfair to have 90-100% heritage  .... . However the nation swapping is a farce without a stand down period... And harms the sport. 

If the IRLF said its 3 years stand down to swap nations I would feel we have reasonable rules. At present our rules are a farce. 

[MatthewWoody]

The so called "nation swapping" is what made the World Cup actually decent.

[Southerner80]

14 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

The so called "nation swapping" is what made the World Cup actually decent.

Disagree. It meant Lebanon dumped France out in a close game and meant we even had the farce of a Scotland team at the WC plus a Ireland team that featured players who will be unlikely to play for them in any non WC match. 

I would feel given there is so little domestic RL in Scotland surely Serbia merited a place ahead of them? Ditto Russia with Ireland. If seeded right would not be 100 pt blow outs to OZ rather a 50-60 pt margin against PNG or Wales or France.   

Lebanon even without nation swaps and even with less reliance on heritage would still be competitive with the likes of Wales and France And PNG and Samoa, Tonga if fair rules on heritage and swapping. 

I'm not in favour of a larger WC if it means a even greater amount of players are born in the North of England or Sydney or Auckland...... We need to be promoting real international development and as such favouring the nations who do this.... 

We need to expand our footprint. That we had so many teams from the British Isles and Ireland, plus Australasia says we are not really a global game as much as we would like to be and more efforts should be made to address this... 

[Pulga]

14 hours ago, Southerner80 said:

The RLIF unfairly advantages Scotland, Lebanon, Tonga over France And PNG above all with the nation swapping. A player can change their mind last minute or not make the OZ squad and turn out for Italy or Tonga or Scotland.   The excessive use of heritage players I still feel should not happen, however the nation swapping is the glaring difference between our sport and others.....

Show me any team at the Fifa World Cup who had the nation swapping going on of Tonga or Lebanon. Or even the heritage percentage... 

This basically screws over France, PNG and Wales and makes a bit of a farce on the wider publics eye when you explain how JT went from NZ team to Tonga team in months and the same with Fifita. While I don't doubt their passion and sense of national identity, none of this helps RL. 

Union actually have some common sense. Sure a Tonga with ex ABs would be very strong... It would probably ko France, Argentina, and even Scotland.... So that's millions of viewers done with the tournament at the group stage.... 

Look Soccer suffers when England don't make a tournament or Germany don't. We are a small sport globally. We can't afford to not push our financial powerhouses... To grow the game France should be pre qualified for every WC and be guaranteed games v big 3 every year.. It won't matter if they win.. It brings them to the table... Italy in Union have brought more money in... So would France in League if treated right.... Frances deplorable history towards RL does show signs of changing...... Macron recognised the CCF win of Les Dracs...... And the thing with France is if RL grows there so will Europe....... France is the gateway to Europe... 

France is basically the be all and end all for International development. Get France good and the whole sport will grow well in Europe. 

The USA and Canada will never really be more than enthusiastic amateurs maybe some semi pro  as there is not culturally room for RL... Harsh but true. By all means support and maybe there is room for a second TWP style team however I don't see how you develop youth talent.   As the young boys and girls can so easily play CFL NFL style or Union or 7s and our game out there does not really have a compelling narrative to compete with those two.. Nor is cost of equipment a issue so to put them off NFL which is like RL a working class game. 

Jamaica on the other hand fits in as below for Polynesia ie can be a place to bring talent through. NFL can't really grow here as too pricey for all the equipment and also above all the amazing thing they got right in Jamaica is to get schools and colleges playing.... Look at where our great game is popular, North England, pockets of Wales and South of France, NZ, PNG, pockets of Polynesia... They play at school... That's the key to all of this! And it's sadly why RL has not grown as much as it should as Union has done down the years some nasty things to hold back access to RL which I have posted elsewhere I feel Is a violation of human rights... 

Polynesia and Melansia, while they can definitely grow these nations as a breeding ground for talent and efforts at youth And development level should be supported with a view to players getting pro deals abroad....

Actually playing in the islands will  loose money for the game if we decide to host matches there so it should not be a focus... Rather get them playing and touring Europe. If the game can be grown in Europe there will be a demand for teams to play against.... 

Let's just have credible laws on nation swapping and get rid of This silly tier idea. The heritage issue I can concede while it goes against the spirit of sport and fairness is not as much of a  farce like the nation swapping is.  

Let's hope the IRLF realise a world Cup of 10 credible teams is actually far better than 16 when you need to have crazy rules on eligibility to make the numbers up. Personally I feel 12-14 teams well seeded And with France and PNG given groups with development nations would make sense... Heres how a 14 team WC could be seeded for 2021.

Ie group A and B 3 to QF. 

A Eng, OZ, Wales, Lebanon 

B NZ, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa

Group C and D 1 to QF. Cross group games. 

C France, Jamaica, USA

D PNG, Italy, Russia. 

Or a 12 team WC Could be 3 pools of 4 with the top 2 in each group. and two best thirds all going through to the last 8. Or the top 3 in group A And B and the top 2 in group C. A development WC could be ran along side this for another 4-8 nations with the focus on proper international development. No teams with more than half of the players born in Sydney. 

A 12 team WC. 

A Oz, Eng, Lebanon, Jamacia 

B NZ, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa

C France, PNG, Wales, USA. 

Tbh I feel the 12 team WC outlined would be ideal.... 

The development WC of 4-8 teams could be the likes of Italy, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Philippines, Canada, Ireland, Norway. Money will be a big issue here to get this funded. So will probably be viable for a Europe only based WC... Personally I would keep The WC in England and France period for financial reasons.... England having 75% of games, France getting 25%.

 

 

I guess there's no convincing you. The swapping is easily the best thing to happen to the game in 20 years.

Like I said, without it there is just talent sitting on the sidelines. If you didn't enjoy the Tonga v England, Tonga v NZ and Fiji v NZ games at the last WC then there's never going to be a way to convince you otherwise. 

"You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into".

 

Going on to say that France is basically the Messiah of international rugby league is a joke.

This "either/or" mentality is also incorrect.

It seems nobody outside yourself cares about it so I'm not too worried.

 

[Southerner80]

Actually France do have the potential to be the messiah of international RL... If they could be a strong team capable of beating NZ and England once every 5 games and Australia once in a Blue Moon. Ie like Argentina in Union.     Given that even now France can get 10k for a home game or more, and have a Glorious history in International RL (they have beaten OZ 9 times or more)... They are the focus. 

France need home games v England, Oz and NZ. Every year... At least one of those 3 needs to go there. PNG should be supported too, as a touring side to Europe. 

The best thing to happen to international RL in the last 20 years I would say is the Dragons as they saved RL in France. 

As for me being the only one who feels like I do about heritage doping and nation swapping... We both know that is not true.... There are others on here who object to one or both of these things. 

I guess we agree to disagree And let's see what the RLIF do.. 

All I can say is RL has alot to learn a about making money and which markets to prioritise..... 

I just hope one day to see a competitive strong 4-6N of teams of predominantly home grown talent ... And France, Wales, PNG, Fiji to some degree as a big player pool  all show promise for this in a way Tonga And Samoa and the Cooks don't... So prioritise the French, Kumuls and Wales..... 

If you had Oz, NZ, PNG and Fiji regularly touring France and England with the odd game in Wales and England regularly going down under to play Oz And NZ with the odd game against Tonga or Samoa selections in Auckland or Sydney that's a very very good international game and competitive too....   8 decent teams would be a strong international game. 

Prehaps the way round some of this is to call the team what it is, ie a Tongan Heritage select 13 And not the international team of Tonga and as such as its a invitational side, not a full international the issue of credibility and nation swapping is not there.. As this would not be a world Cup team thus protecting the integrity of the international game, while providing a tough test for England down under or prehaps taking on a Aussie PM13. Not Australia. 

[MatthewWoody]

Tonga and Fiji actually beating the Kiwis.

Tonga coming very very very close to beating England.

That's what made the World Cup interesting.

But hey, let's renounce to it.

[Southerner80]

1 hour ago, MatthewWoody said:

Tonga and Fiji actually beating the Kiwis.

Tonga coming very very very close to beating England.

That's what made the World Cup interesting.

But hey, let's renounce to it.

None of this actually makes much difference in the finance's of RL or does much to push the game beyond OZ NZ and England. 

Further, Tonga beating a NZ team with players who played for them 6 months before isn't quite the same as in Union Fiji going away from home to France and picking up a win.... That means alot more as those players can't just swap over to another team And some of them at least 40-50% are actually born in Fiji... 

To be a true World Cup we need to think about how to grow the game in markets where it has a following but its not that big, yet there is huge potential for revenue .. Ie France and France.. 

[MatthewWoody]

To be a World Cup it needs to provide high level games 

[Chamey]

4 hours ago, Southerner80 said:

None of this actually makes much difference in the finance's of RL or does much to push the game beyond OZ NZ and England. 

Further, Tonga beating a NZ team with players who played for them 6 months before isn't quite the same as in Union Fiji going away from home to France and picking up a win.... That means alot more as those players can't just swap over to another team And some of them at least 40-50% are actually born in Fiji... 

To be a true World Cup we need to think about how to grow the game in markets where it has a following but its not that big, yet there is huge potential for revenue .. Ie France and France.. 

20 born in Fiji, 2 Aus, 1 England from the match day 23 that beat France. And almost all of them came through either the Fijian Drua or 7s programme, there's an insane amount of talent just waiting for someone to give them a chance.

If you provide the PIs with job opportunities they will take them. Even just a 9s series touring Sydney (x2), Melbourne, Auckland +1 rotational would do wonders for the PI teams, as it will act as a shop window. Get Aus, NZ, PNG, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa +2 local (to the event) invitational sides.

Two pools of four, play each other. That's 12 games on the 1st day, then 2nd day top 2 from each pool goes through to Cup pool, bottom two through to plate pool. Cup and plat pools do a round robin, then C1 v C2 for the title, C3 v C4 for 3rd, P1 v P2 for 5th, P3 v P4 for 7th. 16 games on the 2nd day.

Pay the PI players £1,000 each per weekend, for cost of £240,000 a year, and only residents of the respective islands are eligible, by the time you roll in everything else, there's no way that it'll be a net loss of over £1m, chicken feed to the NRL, yet it'd create a massive boost for the international game.