WC Tickets

[Dave T]

4 minutes ago, Damien said:

When Northerners wince at that God knows what people from the rest of the country think. I know some people liked Rugby AM but for me it was unwatchable.

It wasn't for me, but it was a show on a minor channel that you had to go looking for, so it found its market.

That market should never be identified as a 44k crowd for a top class international in London. 

I'm a proud Northerner, but I have an issue with people assuming that I'm not looking for quality food and drink and entertainment. 

As I say it's a shame as the fanzines used to be a highlight. 

[Damien]

7 minutes ago, Dave T said:

It wasn't for me, but it was a show on a minor channel that you had to go looking for, so it found its market.

That market should never be identified as a 44k crowd for a top class international in London. 

I'm a proud Northerner, but I have an issue with people assuming that I'm not looking for quality food and drink and entertainment. 

As I say it's a shame as the fanzines used to be a highlight. 

Fanzones are absolutely great things. Kids love them and they give off that event vibe. Done badly though they are useless and arguably do more harm than good when it comes to perceptions of an event. This is perhaps even more so with the London event crowd that have been to NFL games etc.

It is hardly enticing to sponsors or potential sponsors to be greeted with Phoenix Nights as you get to the stadium either. 

[Damien]

7 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I'm a proud Northerner, but I have an issue with people assuming that I'm not looking for quality food and drink and entertainment. 

Oh, I just assumed that because you were a Warrington fan 

[THE RED ROOSTER]

I would have thought it was common knowledge from a few months back that any decision on the RLWC being held in 2021 will be made in May 2021. Similar to the NFL who will not announce their fixtures until the second week in May. This will include the four International Series matches due to be played at White Hart Lane / Wembley.

There are good points made in this thread about international travel and one point that needs consideration here is what is the point of hosting an World Cup, which is a celebration of the international game, if the rest of the world cannot attend.

It is not anticipated that the Australian borders will open until late 2021 / 2022 at the earliest. To the extend that cricket board officials are discussing moving the Ashes Series back from November - December 2021 to December - January 2022.

Any decision to open borders beteen countries will be bi-lateral and dependent upon vaccination levels in the respective countries, and dare I suggest it, vaccination passports.

The good news here is that sports in this country will be open for spectators, so if the RLWC is postponed there is a case for lengthening the Super League season and in doing so removing the three games in 10 days fixture fiasco.

[ATLANTISMAN]

2 hours ago, THE RED ROOSTER said:

I would have thought it was common knowledge from a few months back that any decision on the RLWC being held in 2021 will be made in May 2021. Similar to the NFL who will not announce their fixtures until the second week in May. This will include the four International Series matches due to be played at White Hart Lane / Wembley.

There are good points made in this thread about international travel and one point that needs consideration here is what is the point of hosting an World Cup, which is a celebration of the international game, if the rest of the world cannot attend.

It is not anticipated that the Australian borders will open until late 2021 / 2022 at the earliest. To the extend that cricket board officials are discussing moving the Ashes Series back from November - December 2021 to December - January 2022.

Any decision to open borders beteen countries will be bi-lateral and dependent upon vaccination levels in the respective countries, and dare I suggest it, vaccination passports.

The good news here is that sports in this country will be open for spectators, so if the RLWC is postponed there is a case for lengthening the Super League season and in doing so removing the three games in 10 days fixture fiasco.

AGREE 100%

[The Rocket]

21 hours ago, Odsal Outlaw said:

I think from an English perspective we’ll be fine to host the tournament this year - I think the big unknown is how the RLPA downunder will act, you wouldn’t put it past them to boycott.

I`m a little bit mystified by that comment, the RLPA are a toothless tiger down here that pretty well does what ever it`s told.

Plus I`d be fairly certain that 99% of players can`t wait for the opportunity to play in a big tournament in the northern hemisphere, that would be stuff they would dream about, 70 000 at Old Trafford, these blokes all watch EPL, NFL and see the big crowds in foreign countries. You have to think about this from an Australian`s perspective.

 

3 hours ago, THE RED ROOSTER said:

t is not anticipated that the Australian borders will open until late 2021 / 2022 at the earliest

The Prime Minister was talking about three months the other day, so was the boss of Qantas.

We have 2-week quarantine for in-bound travelers now, which after a few stuff ups they seem to have to have `perfected` could this be an option if there is any lingering doubt about Covid.  

Teams and there crew could go into camp, probably still train, but just have regular testing.

Personally because it never got so bad down here I suspect everyone will be fully vaccinated by august/september and anyone coming from the Pacific would follow the same protocols as they entered OZ before they flew onto Europe. 

[Odsal Outlaw]

1 hour ago, The Rocket said:

I`m a little bit mystified by that comment, the RLPA are a toothless tiger down here that pretty well does what ever it`s told.

Plus I`d be fairly certain that 99% of players can`t wait for the opportunity to play in a big tournament in the northern hemisphere, that would be stuff they would dream about, 70 000 at Old Trafford, these blokes all watch EPL, NFL and see the big crowds in foreign countries. You have to think about this from an Australian`s perspective.

 

The Prime Minister was talking about three months the other day, so was the boss of Qantas.

We have 2-week quarantine for in-bound travelers now, which after a few stuff ups they seem to have to have `perfected` could this be an option if there is any lingering doubt about Covid.  

Teams and there crew could go into camp, probably still train, but just have regular testing.

Personally because it never got so bad down here I suspect everyone will be fully vaccinated by august/september and anyone coming from the Pacific would follow the same protocols as they entered OZ before they flew onto Europe. 

The RLPA seemed heavily involved in sabotaging the Denver test 

[Copa]

The prudent view would be to plan for no fans flying from Australia for the event.

Rugby League players will get permission to leave to play in the event.

[The Rocket]

1 hour ago, Odsal Outlaw said:

The RLPA seemed heavily involved in sabotaging the Denver test 

I`m not sure I understand where you are coming from, are you talking about player availability because that would have been the clubs dragging their feet, and from what I remember both teams had pretty decent squads there anyway, I can`t remember if they were at full-strength.

Even if they weren`t at absolutely full strength I don`t imagine that would made a great deal of difference to an American audience who generally wouldn`t know one League player from the next.

My impression about that Test was just that the whole thing was poorly thought through and the bloke who ran it was a bit of a charlatan. One-off games like that in the U.S, nearly always disappoint, the same happened when they took a SOO game there once.

But as far as the RLPA goes at the moment, they really just seem to toe the line on everything, which I personally haven`t minded, especially given that we are going through so much change at the moment, they could have made it so much more difficult, and it`s been really good to see the players on the same page as the NRL driving the game forward.

[Man of Kent]

4 hours ago, The Rocket said:My impression about that Test was just that the whole thing was poorly thought through and the bloke who ran it was a bit of a charlatan. One-off games like that in the U.S, nearly always disappoint, the same happened when they took a SOO game there once.

It was a tester for awarding the 2025 WC to North America. Or not, as it transpired!

[The Rocket]

44 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

It was a tester for awarding the 2025 WC to North America. Or not, as it transpired!

I never knew how that was ever going to work, I can`t imagine how they would have generated any atmosphere around the games or tournament, I don`t know what was going on there, the whole idea was bizarre.

I suppose the whole idea was born out of desperation because everyone was worried about OZ holding it again after the flop that the last tournament was perceived to be here.

Speaking about that, I may as well come clean on that, I often hear on here about what a dud that last tournament was but I got to say I watched the whole tournament on TV, going to the games wasn`t an option for me, and I enjoyed the whole thing, yeah sure the Kiwis flopped but that wasn`t a big deal for me, yet I often hear people on here saying what a dud it was, so I have never really understood that criticism.

That may well be because I`m just a one-eyed Rugby League supporter who was just happy to see all the different national jerseys and wasn`t really looking at the whole thing objectively.

 

[Eddie]

8 hours ago, Odsal Outlaw said:

The RLPA seemed heavily involved in sabotaging the Denver test 

Maybe because that was a terrible idea, whereas the World Cup isn’t? 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

8 hours ago, Odsal Outlaw said:

The RLPA seemed heavily involved in sabotaging the Denver test 

The Denver test match was played. The comment that the players union may boycott the World Cup is ridiculous 

[Man of Kent]

1 hour ago, The Rocket said:

I never knew how that was ever going to work, I can`t imagine how they would have generated any atmosphere around the games or tournament, I don`t know what was going on there, the whole idea was bizarre.

I suppose the whole idea was born out of desperation because everyone was worried about OZ holding it again after the flop that the last tournament was perceived to be here.

Speaking about that, I may as well come clean on that, I often hear on here about what a dud that last tournament was but I got to say I watched the whole tournament on TV, going to the games wasn`t an option for me, and I enjoyed the whole thing, yeah sure the Kiwis flopped but that wasn`t a big deal for me, yet I often hear people on here saying what a dud it was, so I have never really understood that criticism.

That may well be because I`m just a one-eyed Rugby League supporter who was just happy to see all the different national jerseys and wasn`t really looking at the whole thing objectively.

 

It was quite poorly attended in Australia, that’s why it’s seen by some as a dud.

Not by me though, there were some great games, England did well and arguably the Pacific nations ‘came of age’ .

I particularly enjoyed Tonga-NZ, Fiji-NZ and Lebanon-Tonga, the crowds going wild in PNG was a joy, and the England-Tonga semi had one of the most dramatic endings (and most deafening crowds) I’ve ever watched in any sport. 

[Odsal Outlaw]

10 hours ago, The Rocket said:

I`m not sure I understand where you are coming from, are you talking about player availability because that would have been the clubs dragging their feet, and from what I remember both teams had pretty decent squads there anyway, I can`t remember if they were at full-strength.

Even if they weren`t at absolutely full strength I don`t imagine that would made a great deal of difference to an American audience who generally wouldn`t know one League player from the next.

My impression about that Test was just that the whole thing was poorly thought through and the bloke who ran it was a bit of a charlatan. One-off games like that in the U.S, nearly always disappoint, the same happened when they took a SOO game there once.

But as far as the RLPA goes at the moment, they really just seem to toe the line on everything, which I personally haven`t minded, especially given that we are going through so much change at the moment, they could have made it so much more difficult, and it`s been really good to see the players on the same page as the NRL driving the game forward.

Point i’m making is that the RLPA put the whole Denver test in doubt right up until the last minute and so it was never given whole hearted support to enable it to achieve full potential (which I accept may still not have been enough BTW, but we’ll never know)

The link to WC was just the point that if they chose to raise safety concerns etc. or player welfare again then they could harm the WC. From what you’re saying it sounds like they hold much less weight than I thought so could all be ok!