World Cup in Doubt…Again

[Devon Ram]

Keep putting the decision back is no good , its on or its off just leaving it for another few weeks then another is ok for the teams but what about us the fans, i still have to sort out hotels in Newcastle book travel up to London the longer they leave it the more chance of paying through the nose for hotel & missing out on better price on the train to London.

 

[ATLANTISMAN]

The silence is deafening

Anyone hearing any news as seems like the announcement this week isn't going to happen.

 

P 

[graveyard johnny]

7 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

The silence is deafening

Anyone hearing any news as seems like the announcement this week isn't going to happen.

 

P 

it was supposed to be today - maybe waiting for the aussies to get out of bed?

[Devon Ram]

7 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

The silence is deafening

Anyone hearing any news as seems like the announcement this week isn't going to happen.

 

P 

World Cup decision delayed as organisers try to salvage tournament | LoveRugbyLeague

[gingerjon]

12 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

The silence is deafening

Anyone hearing any news as seems like the announcement this week isn't going to happen.

 

P 

The post two above yours says the next meeting where anything might be announced is on Monday.

There was an announcement yesterday about constructive talks happening.

[welshmagpie]

Read on Twitter (Ian Laybourn, maybe?) that Tonga  and NZ have both signed participation agreements.

[Jim from Oz]

14 hours ago, welshmagpie said:

Read on Twitter (Ian Laybourn, maybe?) that Tonga  and NZ have both signed participation agreements.

Yep NZ confirmed here:
 

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.nrl.com/news/2021/07/03/the-ex-pat-teams-that-could-fill-world-cup-void/amp/

 

Of course, I guess these sorts of  agreements are irrelevant if the NRL clubs say no to releasing players??

 

 

[Toby Chopra]

17 hours ago, Devon Ram said:

Keep putting the decision back is no good , its on or its off just leaving it for another few weeks then another is ok for the teams but what about us the fans, i still have to sort out hotels in Newcastle book travel up to London the longer they leave it the more chance of paying through the nose for hotel & missing out on better price on the train to London.

 

Dude, if the choice is world cup, or no world cup, then they should take all the time they need. Hotels won't even matter if its cancelled. 

Plus, there loads of decent hotel rates for October on offer that will be fully refundable, while train tickets aren't even on sale yet. 

I've booked a refundable Premier Inn room in Manchester for the final that is only costs £14 more than the non refundable booking. I chose to do that even before the current issue blew up because covid makes everything uncertain anyway. 

Let's give them the time they need to save the tournament, if it's at all possible. 

[Scubby]

49 minutes ago, Jim from Oz said:

Yep NZ confirmed here:
 

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.nrl.com/news/2021/07/03/the-ex-pat-teams-that-could-fill-world-cup-void/amp/

 

Of course, I guess these sorts of  agreements are irrelevant if the NRL clubs say no to releasing players??

 

 

They can't stop them for internationals. Signing participation agreements is a big thing. Remember the players are being paid centrally by the World Cup for this.

[Spidey]

2 minutes ago, Scubby said:

They can't stop them for internationals. Signing participation agreements is a big thing. Remember the players are being paid centrally by the World Cup for this.

The only players they may stop is Aussies due to relationship between NRL & ARL. We saw that before when they bailed on the Ashes, English & Kiwi players said #### off I’m playing

 

[Scubby]

14 minutes ago, Spidey said:

The only players they may stop is Aussies due to relationship between NRL & ARL. We saw that before when they bailed on the Ashes, English & Kiwi players said #### off I’m playing

 

Unfortunately for the NRL, the Australian players are also now the Tongan and Samoan and PNG players. They will be left with about 10 Australians who can't play for someone else lol.

[GeordieSaint]

9 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Unfortunately for the NRL, the Australian players are also now the Tongan and Samoan and PNG players. They will be left with about 10 Australians who can't play for someone else lol.

And those 10 will be in the England team… 🥸

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

22 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Unfortunately for the NRL, the Australian players are also now the Tongan and Samoan and PNG players. They will be left with about 10 Australians who can't play for someone else lol.

I say we go ahead with or without Australia. As long as other nations can make it

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

45 minutes ago, Scubby said:

They can't stop them for internationals. Signing participation agreements is a big thing. Remember the players are being paid centrally by the World Cup for this.

The ex pat Aussie team they suggest is very decent. I'd say let them play as this team if the NRL Aussies don't make it

[John C H]

1 minute ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

The ex pat Aussie team they suggest is very decent. I'd say let them play as this team if the NRL Aussies don't make it

Imagine if England still couldn’t win the thing with Australia and Nz fielding expat teams. I’m already expecting to be knocked out before the final but for an expat team to win it, May as well throw the towel in

[Scubby]

18 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

And those 10 will be in the England team… 🥸

I don't know why we don't see this coming. People need to open their eyes. We are one acquisition away from total dominance.

If the NRL looks to invest in (or buy out right) the SL competition in the UK then that is it. Rugby League will effectively become the NFL in the US. And at the moment we are too weak to fight back.

[Toby Chopra]

1 hour ago, Scubby said:

I don't know why we don't see this coming. People need to open their eyes. We are one acquisition away from total dominance.

If the NRL looks to invest in (or buy out right) the SL competition in the UK then that is it. Rugby League will effectively become the NFL in the US. And at the moment we are too weak to fight back.

What's your concern about this scenario? An NRL investment in SL would be a good thing in my view, we need the money and the all risk is on them. What's the downside? 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Toby Chopra

[Scubby]

5 minutes ago, Toby Chopra said:

What's your concern about this scenario? An NRL investment in SL would be a good thing in my view, we need the money and the all risk is on them. What's the downside? 

For club football it makes complete sense but the power it could afford may be frightening. 

It could push through any by law it wanted, deem when players play and are available for non NRL things and when they are not. The RFL and NZRL would move from the current status of virtual puppets to actual puppets. 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

7 hours ago, John C H said:

Imagine if England still couldn’t win the thing with Australia and Nz fielding expat teams. I’m already expecting to be knocked out before the final but for an expat team to win it, May as well throw the towel in

Yep that's the danger. A real one! 

[Toby Chopra]

21 hours ago, Scubby said:

For club football it makes complete sense but the power it could afford may be frightening. 

It could push through any by law it wanted, deem when players play and are available for non NRL things and when they are not. The RFL and NZRL would move from the current status of virtual puppets to actual puppets. 

Yes, that's actually a fair assessment. It may be, however, that we have no choice to accept it, or something similarly worrying. 

It seems clear to me that full-time professional rugby league in England risks slipping into the endgame without a major injection of funds. Whether that's PE, NRL or some other outside entity, each option has significant risks. I suppose we have to decide which one is least worst.

[THE RED ROOSTER]

As one of those who will be travelling to Newcastle, Coventry/Bolton, Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester, the time is fast approaching when the cheap tickets to those destinations come out. Therefore I certainly would appreciate it if any decision was Final to postpone or not postpone - no if's and no but's. and certainly not as in the song from the Oasis album - definately maybe which is we have at present.

Rant over

[Davo5]

https://www.zerotackle.com/how-australia-continues-to-rig-international-rugby-league-in-its-favour-106501/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Zero+Tackle&fbclid=IwAR22j_-aRKYsn5wbAa-qGUuVt7mQ8mfdx0LUTmLFHYnE8hwV56LTTZxsHE8

[UTK]

8 hours ago, Davo5 said:

https://www.zerotackle.com/how-australia-continues-to-rig-international-rugby-league-in-its-favour-106501/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Zero+Tackle&fbclid=IwAR22j_-aRKYsn5wbAa-qGUuVt7mQ8mfdx0LUTmLFHYnE8hwV56LTTZxsHE8

Interesting summary that covers a wide range of issues. Plenty of things that are spot on, plenty that are rubbish as well.

Glad we've sorted out the referee nationality issue, the culture around referee-bashing in RL is disgusting and one of the biggest issues we face as a game IMO (I'm sure there are issues with this in other sports but I'm not really qualified to discuss them). Eliminating the possibility that a referee may be perceived as biased at international level is a good step to reduce the chance for these cretins within our game to take a swing at a referees credibility.

The rules should probably never have been allowed to change for this WC, all international matches played this WC cycle were played under the old rules and therefore no-one has played the new game at international level yet. In reality this doesn't really disadvantage anyone as both SL and NRL play under this variant but nonetheless the rules should've been reassessed following the WC by the IRL before embarking on the next cycle.

The role of the media point is a complex one and a real problem in Australia, the assertions relating to lack of recognition of certain WC matches and in particular the To'o/Luai comment just do not reflect reality at all. The author must have been living under a rock as prior to those guys being selected in Origin, they were consistently discussed within all major Australian RL media as providing a great opportunity for Samoan success at the WC, as well as the whole Samoan coaching issue. A real structural issue does exist in the media however, in that the NRL's  Free-to-air broadcaster and the traditional WC/international broadcaster are major competitors. This leads to a situation where International games are not plugged on the NRLs widest platform to RL fans, as the broadcaster has no interest in supporting its competitor. It's nice to have multiple bidders for International RL however this is definitely an unfortunate consequence of this broadcast diversification.

[Devon Ram]

On 04/07/2021 at 10:02, THE RED ROOSTER said:

As one of those who will be travelling to Newcastle, Coventry/Bolton, Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester, the time is fast approaching when the cheap tickets to those destinations come out. Therefore I certainly would appreciate it if any decision was Final to postpone or not postpone - no if's and no but's. and certainly not as in the song from the Oasis album - definately maybe which is we have at present.

Rant over

Being saying this for a few weeks was starting to look at hotels in Newcastle for the weekend (got tickets for both games) Emirates up & back in a day but still hope for a decent price on train. its time somebody said yes or no not all fans live up north & some off us need to book hotels & trains long before October. 

 

[Derwent]

5Live sports news bulletins today have been featuring a clip of Lindsay Hoyle expressing his opinion that the tournament should be deferred until next year.