England Mid-Season International

[gingerjon]

48 minutes ago, Spidey said:

Now that England have sorted their fixture out  Have France or Wales (or any others) sorted anything out?

If I put my Welsh hat on (not that I have one) I’d want my players to play for Wales before any combined nations - but they have to have the option first 

Wales have confirmed they won't be playing any mid season's men's internationals.

[welshmagpie]

10 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Wales have confirmed they won't be playing any mid season's men's internationals.

They’ve cited the reason being ‘protecting welfare’ of their players‘ congested season, which is fair.

However, I know from speaking to Brian and Gareth at WRL there’s so much new to it than that.

[ATLANTISMAN]

France will be back next year  

[The Rocket]

Stability coming for international footy

The International Rugby League will make a significant announcement this week. It appears the mid-season Test match period will become a thing of the past, with the end-of-season international window to be extended by another week. The IRL are also in the final stages of building a 10 year schedule which will finally bring some stability and structure to the international game.

 

Just appeared in The Australian.

[Spidey]

1 hour ago, The Rocket said:

Stability coming for international footy

The International Rugby League will make a significant announcement this week. It appears the mid-season Test match period will become a thing of the past, with the end-of-season international window to be extended by another week. The IRL are also in the final stages of building a 10 year schedule which will finally bring some stability and structure to the international game.

 

Just appeared in The Australian.

About the 10th time a schedule has been announced. Believe it when I see it

[Dave T]

7 hours ago, The Rocket said:

Stability coming for international footy

The International Rugby League will make a significant announcement this week. It appears the mid-season Test match period will become a thing of the past, with the end-of-season international window to be extended by another week. The IRL are also in the final stages of building a 10 year schedule which will finally bring some stability and structure to the international game.

 

Just appeared in The Australian.

A thing of the past? I was hoping it was going to start... 

[gingerjon]

6 hours ago, Spidey said:

About the 10th time a schedule has been announced. Believe it when I see it

It's a really retrograde step that benefits the short termism of the clubs.

*Of course* this one will happen.

[Damien]

8 hours ago, The Rocket said:

Stability coming for international footy

The International Rugby League will make a significant announcement this week. It appears the mid-season Test match period will become a thing of the past, with the end-of-season international window to be extended by another week. The IRL are also in the final stages of building a 10 year schedule which will finally bring some stability and structure to the international game.

 

Just appeared in The Australian.

No mid season internationals would be very disappointing and a backwards step. Just playing end of season internationals is not enough and not good enough.

[Tommygilf]

3 minutes ago, Damien said:

No mid season internationals would be very disappointing and a backwards step. Just playing end if season internationals is not enough and not good enough.

Fallow years inbound?

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

2 minutes ago, Damien said:

No mid season internationals would be very disappointing and a backwards step. Just playing end if season internationals is not enough and not good enough.

It’s not a backward step for England, when did England last play a mid season International? There are 2 big problems for England to play mid season. 1 half the team plays in the NRL on the other side of the World. 2 Super League won’t stop playing games for a week. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

8 hours ago, The Rocket said:

Stability coming for international footy

The International Rugby League will make a significant announcement this week. It appears the mid-season Test match period will become a thing of the past, with the end-of-season international window to be extended by another week. The IRL are also in the final stages of building a 10 year schedule which will finally bring some stability and structure to the international game.

 

Just appeared in The Australian.

If every World Cup playing Nation plays in a tournament every year this will be a positive. International tournaments need to take place every year to build up a reputation as the Six Nations has done. Hard to comment too much without the details.

[Damien]

2 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

It’s not a backward step for England, when did England last play a mid season International? There are 2 big problems for England to play mid season. 1 half the team plays in the NRL on the other side of the World. 2 Super League won’t stop playing games for a week. 

There's more to the international game than England. I don't think many would agree with England not playing mid season internationals either, the overwhelming consensus of this board shows that people believe they should be.

[Hela Wigmen]

If it’s in a publication called The Australian, I’m guessing that it’s related to the Southern Hemisphere, so has little to no bearing on what we do in the northern hemisphere. 

[Dave T]

9 minutes ago, Damien said:

No mid season internationals would be very disappointing and a backwards step. Just playing end of season internationals is not enough and not good enough.

The mid-season window should be firmed up and expanded, not scrapped. Having one window a year will lead to years where teams do not play at home, which needs to be avoided. It's a real backward step. 

[Damien]

5 minutes ago, Dave T said:

The mid-season window should be firmed up and expanded, not scrapped. Having one window a year will lead to years where teams do not play at home, which needs to be avoided. It's a real backward step. 

Exactly, we should be building not taking away. That's what I thought we were working towards but obviously not. As usual all we have seen is years wasted with plans, talk and nothing really being done.

2-3 mid season games shouldn't be too much to ask with 3-4 end of season. No mid season games just means losing all momentum and having no international game to sell to fans, sponsors and tv companies for 11 months of the year.

[Dave T]

7 minutes ago, Damien said:

Exactly, we should be building not taking away. That's what I thought we were working towards but obviously not. As usual all we have seen is years wasted with plans, talk and nothing really being done.

2-3 mid season games shouldn't be too much to ask with 3-4 end of season. No mid season games just means losing all momentum and having no international game to sell to fans, sponsors and tv companies for 11 months of the year.

A few years back it looked like we would have 9s, an 8 team tournament and a world Cup as part of a regular cycle. 

Now I don't have a clue what is coming up and whether there will be a 2025 World Cup following the rights being taken from the US. 

[Damien]

Just now, Dave T said:

A few years back it looked like we would have 9s, an 8 team tournament and a world Cup as part of a regular cycle. 

Now I don't have a clue what is coming up and whether there will be a 2025 World Cup following the rights being taken from the US. 

The worst thing is it should all be so simple. Even at the most basic level a simple structure is relatively straight forward, we've seen hundreds of decent ideas and variations on here. Even just mid season tri nations tournaments for each hemisphere would give a couple of games to teams. End of season 4 yearly cycles for the World Cup, northern and Southern hemisphere 4 nations and maybe tours for the other. We had cycles like that set in stone for decades, it shouldn't be that difficult. 

[Jim from Oz]

We've been waiting 10 years for this 10-year cycle !

[Jim from Oz]

Over the past few years the mid-year Pacific Tests in Oz have been building up nicely, drawing big crowds and much interest … that it is all to be scrapped is SO very rugby league ! 

[The Rocket]

15 hours ago, The Rocket said:

IRL are also in the final stages of building a 10 year schedule which will finally bring some stability and structure to the international game.

I`m just hoping against hope that `stability and structure to the international game` means more engagement between the northern and southern hemispheres in non-WC years.

Let`s hope the "extension of the end of year international calendar by one week" means more incoming tours for you, and possibly though maybe less likely England, France (?) participating in tournaments down here.

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

Depressing to read this this morning. Frustratingly, there could easily be a mid-season international window if Origin moved to 3 consecutive weeks. The problem is the Aussies don't want to do anything that risks Origin being devalued as 'the highest level of RL'. Very disappointing.

[Mathius Hellwege]

12 hours ago, Dave T said:

A few years back it looked like we would have 9s, an 8 team tournament and a world Cup as part of a regular cycle. 

Now I don't have a clue what is coming up and whether there will be a 2025 World Cup following the rights being taken from the US. 

this was the perfect scenario, I agree (plus the regional tournaments and the promised comeback of the tours, especially the ashes series

[Mathius Hellwege]

7 hours ago, Jim from Oz said:

Over the past few years the mid-year Pacific Tests in Oz have been building up nicely, drawing big crowds and much interest … that it is all to be scrapped is SO very rugby league ! 

They cannot be this dumb..I mean they will continue the SOS...and game 2 ist reserved, so why not play at least the Polynesian and Melanesian Cups (that were incomprehensibly killed for an Oceania Cup that could have bee played out in autumn, they just wanted to prevent UK-NZ in June...)

[Man of Kent]

Bonkers when so much good work is being done with the Pacific Islands/players. They could be playing ‘Origin’ fixtures of their own, ie Fiji vs PNG etc. 

[Mathius Hellwege]

35 minutes ago, RugbyLeagueGeek said:

Depressing to read this this morning. Frustratingly, there could easily be a mid-season international window if Origin moved to 3 consecutive weeks. The problem is the Aussies don't want to do anything that risks Origin being devalued as 'the highest level of RL'. Very disappointing.

yes, three weeks would be perfect

you could to an England-NZ Series or European Champipnship...