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World Cup in Doubt…Again


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8 hours ago, Dave T said:

World Cups are always about nations getting the best group of players together despite the circumstances. If teams are weakened that's just life. In 1995 the SL Aussie were excluded from their squad. 

I think the scenario we're talking about now is way beyond even that in 1995.

A World Cup without NRL players just isn't viable, as how can we sell it beyond our small base as top drawer international sport if the world's best players aren't there? 

And I'm pretty sure that once we saw unexpected teams advancing through the tournament, it would no doubt be *RL FANS* leading the chorus about how it was a farce. 

It's a deeply disappointing situation, and no doubt the Aussie powers are not thinking beyond their own short term interests. But RL's deep connection with Australia/NZ means current pandemic circumstances will inevitably have an outsized effect on RL. 

In the end, if postponement was good enough for the Olympics and Euros it should be good enough for us. And as Dave Woods wrote this week, we're already failing to make the most of the World Cup opportunity, given the game is currently in survival mode.

Maybe in 2022 we could make the most of the tournament when it finally arrives. 

 

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12 hours ago, RayCee said:

Am I reading this correctly? The fact that a 14 day quarantine period for NRL players returning home which slightly disrupts their preseason training is sufficient grounds to postpone the biggest event in RL? 

I wish you were reading it incorrectly.  But unfortunately not.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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1 hour ago, Toby Chopra said:

I think the scenario we're talking about now is way beyond even that in 1995.

A World Cup without NRL players just isn't viable, as how can we sell it beyond our small base as top drawer international sport if the world's best players aren't there? 

And I'm pretty sure that once we saw unexpected teams advancing through the tournament, it would no doubt be *RL FANS* leading the chorus about how it was a farce. 

It's a deeply disappointing situation, and no doubt the Aussie powers are not thinking beyond their own short term interests. But RL's deep connection with Australia/NZ means current pandemic circumstances with inevitably have an outsized effect on RL. 

In the end, if postponement was good enough for the Olympics and Euros it should be good enough for us. And as Dave Woods wrote this week, we're already failing to make the most of the World Cup opportunity, given the game is currently in survival mode.

Maybe in 2022 we could make the most of the tournament when it finally arrives. 

 

On the other hand we’ve had Olympic Games boycotts by the whole Eastern Block followed by the USA and they still went ahead successfully.

I have a feeling the only fans complaining about so called lesser teams doing well are the ones who support the nations who can’t be bothered making the effort to compete.

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2 hours ago, Nearenough said:

Australia   % of population fully vaccinated    4.4%

 

thats not really the NRLs fault i wouldnt have thought

But isn’t the plan to vaccinate everyone who wants to by October ?

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1 hour ago, Toby Chopra said:

I think the scenario we're talking about now is way beyond even that in 1995.

A World Cup without NRL players just isn't viable, as how can we sell it beyond our small base as top drawer international sport if the world's best players aren't there? 

And I'm pretty sure that once we saw unexpected teams advancing through the tournament, it would no doubt be *RL FANS* leading the chorus about how it was a farce. 

It's a deeply disappointing situation, and no doubt the Aussie powers are not thinking beyond their own short term interests. But RL's deep connection with Australia/NZ means current pandemic circumstances with inevitably have an outsized effect on RL. 

In the end, if postponement was good enough for the Olympics and Euros it should be good enough for us. And as Dave Woods wrote this week, we're already failing to make the most of the World Cup opportunity, given the game is currently in survival mode.

Maybe in 2022 we could make the most of the tournament when it finally arrives. 

 

There is a very real risk that the increased costs of another year of organising and reorganising kills the tournament dead, hopefully not. 

We do need to consider as well that the Aussie players union tried to kill off the Denver test, but the Kiwis were prepared to come, despite the claims they didn't want to by the Aussie clubs and Union. 

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There is plenty of time to fully vaccinate any players or officials that will come over.

The World Cup organisers have offered to charter planes for the NRL Australian based contingent so they don't have to take flights with the wider public.

The Euro's, the Copa America, the RU Lions tour, the Olympics and more show that the logistical operation behind such tournaments are possible.

This is all about the inconvenience that a World Cup places on the game and the impact that the extra playing weeks and the subsequent quarantine has on players' preparation for the 2022 season.  And it is incredibly sad when other sports move heaven and earth to continue with their international fixtures.

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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9 hours ago, AB90 said:

There’s a little more to it than just the 2 week hotel quarantine return to Aus.

Reality is that if the tournament does go ahead, there will be a huge amount of withdrawals from the Southern Hemisphere sides. So we are going to have very weakened sides comparison to previous years. And not just Australia - where talking New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Cook Islands, Lebanon, PNG. As per the current international rankings, That’s 7 of the top 8 playing nations.

There’s already rumours that none of the New Zealand Warriors players are going to participate (as they are all currently based in Aus and have barley been home for the past 18 months). If true, that crosses New Zealand out of any chance of winning.

Do we really want a half backed competition? 

But if we postpone the same scenarios could happen in 2022 if Covid keeps circulating/ mutating etc !!!
 

BTW the whole of greater Sydney and surrounding areas are from 6pm tonight (3 hours ago) going into full lockdown for two weeks as the delta strain spreads. That will not help matters regarding the World Cup, methinks.

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4 hours ago, Dave T said:

World Cups are always about nations getting the best group of players together despite the circumstances. If teams are weakened that's just life. In 1995 the SL Aussie were excluded from their squad. 

There was a court ruling that SL players could not be excluded. They were simply not picked because they weren’t good enough. Or so the ARL said.

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The rumour is that the NRL players will have played too many matches at the end of the season and will not be available for a full pre season or any trial games. Its clearly not in the interest of the NRL to expand the international game when the NRL and Origin is so successful. It would be a massive shame if the efforts of the World Cup organisers to get this tournament right lose out to self interest. Let the players decide if they want to play in it and if it means a World Cup this year without a Kangaroo team this year then so be it.

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7 minutes ago, Dave T said:

This sport is depressing in its desire to find reasons not to stage international comps rather than doing everything it can to make it work. 

It’s not just about players though. Is it financially viable to stage a World Cup if stadium capacities are severely restricted for example ? I guess that’s what the consultation with the government is about, the likely restrictions that they’d have to operate under. No point in staging the competition for the sake of it and losing a fortune in the process.

I’m not prejudiced, I hate everybody equally

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10 hours ago, AB90 said:

There’s a little more to it than just the 2 week hotel quarantine return to Aus.

Reality is that if the tournament does go ahead, there will be a huge amount of withdrawals from the Southern Hemisphere sides. So we are going to have very weakened sides comparison to previous years. And not just Australia - where talking New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Cook Islands, Lebanon, PNG. As per the current international rankings, That’s 7 of the top 8 playing nations.

There’s already rumours that none of the New Zealand Warriors players are going to participate (as they are all currently based in Aus and have barley been home for the past 18 months). If true, that crosses New Zealand out of any chance of winning.

Do we really want a half backed competition? 

There have been tournaments in the past when teams have pulled out, the world keeps turning...

The obvious ones are Man utd FA cup

Russia in the olymipcs twice

Didnt the US pull out of one olympic games?

As mentioned previously the first few world cups..

Imagine the winners being classed as world champions and a country  not even entering.. that would create a lot of talking points and force the hand to play more internationals!

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Currently watching the wheelchair game between England and Wales with my son.

He's enjoying it and asked if this is what we have tickets for. Just felt a bit ###### replying "yes, but it may not happen til next year now".

This sport never stops finding ways to disappoint.

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13 minutes ago, Derwent said:

It’s not just about players though. Is it financially viable to stage a World Cup if stadium capacities are severely restricted for example ? I guess that’s what the consultation with the government is about, the likely restrictions that they’d have to operate under. No point in staging the competition for the sake of it and losing a fortune in the process.

Silverstone is full capacity the day after the cup final, I cant see soccer playing another season with limited capacity so I think we should be ok

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8 minutes ago, Derwent said:

It’s not just about players though. Is it financially viable to stage a World Cup if stadium capacities are severely restricted for example ? I guess that’s what the consultation with the government is about, the likely restrictions that they’d have to operate under. No point in staging the competition for the sake of it and losing a fortune in the process.

There is no indication that the organisers want to move the comp. The NRL leader has said there are concerns from the Aussie clubs. 

If this was around commercial risk I think we would have postponed 6m ago when things looked far worse. 

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4 minutes ago, yipyee said:

There have been tournaments in the past when teams have pulled out, the world keeps turning...

The obvious ones are Man utd FA cup

Russia in the olymipcs twice

Didnt the US pull out of one olympic games?

As mentioned previously the first few world cups..

Imagine the winners being classed as world champions and a country  not even entering.. that would create a lot of talking points and force the hand to play more internationals!

The world keeps turning but circumstances are very different. 

Russia or USA pulling out of an Olympic Games is 1 out of roughly 200 participating countries. 

It’s a different situation here as 70% of all players participating in the upcoming rugby league WC are going to be from Australia and New Zealand. The WC is dependent upon the players in this region of the world. 

The football World Cup equivalent would be if say all the players from Europe and South America potentially withdrawing from a WC.

 

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20 minutes ago, yipyee said:

Silverstone is full capacity the day after the cup final, I cant see soccer playing another season with limited capacity so I think we should be ok

Unfortunately for us we do not have the same influence as the multi-billion industries of F1 and soccer.

I’m not prejudiced, I hate everybody equally

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19 minutes ago, Dave T said:

There is no indication that the organisers want to move the comp. The NRL leader has said there are concerns from the Aussie clubs. 

If this was around commercial risk I think we would have postponed 6m ago when things looked far worse. 

I’m not so sure. All the comments I’ve read from Jon Dutton revolve around half full stadia etc.

I’m not prejudiced, I hate everybody equally

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The way it’s going it’s unlikely that any NRL based players will be travelling anywhere unless things improve in a hurry.

It is getting worse daily down here with the spread of the Delta strain in Sydney.

Talent is secondary to whether players are confident.

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