The World Cup goes ahead

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

The next key thing to happen here is to put tickets back on general sale. Surely they should be going on any second, bearing in mind the UK government have removed restrictions on capacity and clubs have signed agreements?

I've held back as it's all felt a bit dodgy so far, but am happy to now buy tickets and make plans - I understand there is still risk of cancellation, but I'll live with that risk.

I'm in the same boat really. Confidence has been low and it must be incredibly difficult for the marketing team with a limited budget in such unstable times. Buying Leeds tickets for next friday was held off as long as possible by the club let alone the fans.

I think having the tickets on general sale will be a big statement.

[ShropshireBull]

4 hours ago, Mathius Hellwege said:

or at least one and one...

We do have a guaranteed american team, it Jam this time but two gets one of the two big NA teams in. Africa should be no brainer if linked to their annual competition. 

[Mathius Hellwege]

42 minutes ago, Spidey said:

Its not an Economic contest you know 

but the players have to be paid

[Mathius Hellwege]

39 minutes ago, Barley Mow said:

And if, for example, Chile qualified alongside Jamaica, would you then have to add a 3rd...  ...4th or 5th American country until the USA qualified?

as most other sports I would separate Northern America from Latin America, so not really a problem

[ShropshireBull]

48 minutes ago, Mathius Hellwege said:

fair enough, then you need two places for North America as Jamaica is economically not much better than Cook Islands...

Think a country of 3,000,000 is generating a bit more gdp than Cook Islands tbf. 

[Barley Mow]

53 minutes ago, Mathius Hellwege said:

as most other sports I would separate Northern America from Latin America, so not really a problem

I don't think we have enough countries competing at a high enough level to have two North American countries and one Latin American country being guaranteed qualification for our show piece international competition.

You would either have to increase the number of participants (this year's 16 is already the largest number ever) or exclude better teams at the expense of geographical spread (as you propose in expelling Cook Islands). Either way, the competition would be poorer.

I would rather just see the best 16 nations in regardless of location.

I want us to get to a stage where the game is strong globally and those 16 are spread all over the world, but the world cup should be there for when developing RL countries reach that level, not the vehicle for getting them there.

EDIT - Apologies, I seem to have inadvertently become part of hijacking this thread and taking it off topic.           

                      ***   Isn't it great that the world cup is going ahead this year!   ***

Edited July 14, 2021 by Barley Mow

[Mathius Hellwege]

41 minutes ago, Barley Mow said:

I don't think we have enough countries competing at a high enough level to have two North American countries and one Latin American country being guaranteed qualification for our show piece international competition.

You would either have to increase the number of participants (this year's 16 is already the largest number ever) or exclude better teams at the expense of geographical spread (as you propose in expelling Cook Islands). Either way, the competition would be poorer.

I would rather just see the best 16 nations in regardless of location.

I want us to get to a stage where the game is strong globally and those 16 are spread all over the world, but the world cup should be there for when developing RL countries reach that level, not the vehicle for getting them there.

EDIT - Apologies, I seem to have inadvertently become part of hijacking this thread and taking it off topic.           

                      ***   Isn't it great that the world cup is going ahead this year!   ***

RLWC 21 happening is the best news of the week (at least)

 

RLWC 25 qualifiers optimization discussion has to wait, correct

[theswanmcr]

1 hour ago, Mathius Hellwege said:

RLWC 21 happening is the best news of the week (at least)

 

RLWC 25 qualifiers optimization discussion has to wait, correct

Nah - all giddy now and excitedly looking ahead to 2025 too! So qualification (why not)…

5 Europe (France as hosts)

6 Asia/Pacific.

2 Americas. One guaranteed for NA/Caribbean and runner-up plays Latin American winner?

2 Middle East/Africa. So realistically that’s Lebanon plus one African

1 Europe vs Asia/Pacific play off

Sorted

[Barley Mow]

4 minutes ago, theswanmcr said:

Nah - all giddy now and excitedly looking ahead to 2025 too! So qualification (why not)…

5 Europe (France as hosts)

6 Asia/Pacific.

2 Americas. One guaranteed for NA/Caribbean and runner-up plays Latin American winner?

2 Middle East/Africa. So realistically that’s Lebanon plus one African

1 Europe vs Asia/Pacific play off

Sorted

Damn it - drawing me back in!

Based on this, my prediction is that it would be the same as this year, except we would have USA & South Africa instead of Greece and Italy.

I'm not sure what advantage that is. It would swap two countries where we would like to grow the game for another two - are we deciding we want to grow the game in N America and Africa at the expense of developing European teams? Why not just the best 16 worldwide?

[The Frying Scotsman]

Blake Solly today saying that "playing some high profile matches in New Zealand" should now be more of a priority than the World Cup.

It really shows the mindset down in Australia. The World Cup is nowhere near the showpiece event of the game for these people.

[Keith989]

3 minutes ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

Blake Solly today saying that "playing some high profile matches in New Zealand" should now be more of a priority than the World Cup.

It really shows the mindset down in Australia. The World Cup is nowhere near the showpiece event of the game for these people.

Was that not obvious when they couldn't sell out a world cup final against England in a modest sized stadium?

[theswanmcr]

2 hours ago, Barley Mow said:

Damn it - drawing me back in!

Based on this, my prediction is that it would be the same as this year, except we would have USA & South Africa instead of Greece and Italy.

I'm not sure what advantage that is. It would swap two countries where we would like to grow the game for another two - are we deciding we want to grow the game in N America and Africa at the expense of developing European teams? Why not just the best 16 worldwide?

Ha sorry for drawing you back in

This would ensure we’d at least get 2 from USA/Jamaica/Canada… and in the future maybe even a South American team. Also no guarantee it would be South Africa, some good things going on in the likes of Nigeria. As for Europe, well someone has got to lose out if we want to make it a global competition (and European teams have performed poorly of late so shouldn’t be rewarded with more places).

Disagree about the best 16 worldwide. No sport does that… football would have  just had teams from South America and Europe a few years back in that case. A World Cup in any sport should also be a wider celebration of the game as well as being a competition on the pitch.

And if we keep pushing up standards then of course you can include more teams and go to 20 like the Union lot.

[Smudger06]

3 hours ago, theswanmcr said:

Nah - all giddy now and excitedly looking ahead to 2025 too! So qualification (why not)…

5 Europe (France as hosts)

6 Asia/Pacific.

2 Americas. One guaranteed for NA/Caribbean and runner-up plays Latin American winner?

2 Middle East/Africa. So realistically that’s Lebanon plus one African

1 Europe vs Asia/Pacific play off

Sorted

Seems legit, no real problem with that for me. 

[Smudger06]

8 minutes ago, theswanmcr said:

Ha sorry for drawing you back in

This would ensure we’d at least get 2 from USA/Jamaica/Canada… and in the future maybe even a South American team. Also no guarantee it would be South Africa, some good things going on in the likes of Nigeria. As for Europe, well someone has got to lose out if we want to make it a global competition (and European teams have performed poorly of late so shouldn’t be rewarded with more places).

Disagree about the best 16 worldwide. No sport does that… football would have  just had teams from South America and Europe a few years back in that case. A World Cup in any sport should also be a wider celebration of the game as well as being a competition on the pitch.

And if we keep pushing up standards then of course you can include more teams and go to 20 like the Union lot.

Yeah the aim should be one nation from each populated continent at the least 

[Smudger06]

Just now, Smudger06 said:

Yeah the aim should be one nation from each populated continent at the least 

But if we've got Cook Islands could run an Antarctica team. 

[Barley Mow]

57 minutes ago, theswanmcr said:

Ha sorry for drawing you back in

This would ensure we’d at least get 2 from USA/Jamaica/Canada… and in the future maybe even a South American team. Also no guarantee it would be South Africa, some good things going on in the likes of Nigeria. As for Europe, well someone has got to lose out if we want to make it a global competition (and European teams have performed poorly of late so shouldn’t be rewarded with more places).

Disagree about the best 16 worldwide. No sport does that… football would have  just had teams from South America and Europe a few years back in that case. A World Cup in any sport should also be a wider celebration of the game as well as being a competition on the pitch.

And if we keep pushing up standards then of course you can include more teams and go to 20 like the Union lot.

To be honest I don't have a particularly strong view on which parts of the world should get more or less places, I just don't understand the rationale behind giving an extra place to the Americas when there is nothing to suggest it is deserved on playing merit. We'd simply be swapping developing teams in one part of the world for those in another.

If as you say, someone has got to lose out, I'd make it the least qualified based on playing ability, hence just having the top 16 nations.

You say no other sport does that, but the comparable sports aren't as geographically concentrated at the top level - all our full time professionals are based in 2 competitions in 4 countries and other than PNG & the Pacific Islands, those 4 countries are where the players almost all come from. 

In my opinion there is not the quality of player depth in the Americas to give your proposal any advantage over the current set up.

As you say, hopefully we can keep pushing up standards and in time make such a proposal worthwhile and include more teams.

Edited July 14, 2021 by Barley Mow

[GeordieSaint]

1 hour ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

Blake Solly today saying that "playing some high profile matches in New Zealand" should now be more of a priority than the World Cup.

The WC in 2017 was a prime example of high profile games in NZ. Sadly for Australia, the biggest one involved Tonga… not them (or NZ). Maybe if he wants more high profile matches in NZ, he should help them bid for the 2025 WC (or 2029). 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

On 13/07/2021 at 16:09, Man of Kent said:

Thank goodness. 

I don’t think I’d ever have forgiven the Aussies if they’d have pulled out

Yep, I was beginning to feel a bit like that too. My WatchNRL subscription and NRL Jersey purchases were close to being ditched 

[Odsal Outlaw]

2 hours ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

Blake Solly today saying that "playing some high profile matches in New Zealand" should now be more of a priority than the World Cup.

It really shows the mindset down in Australia. The World Cup is nowhere near the showpiece event of the game for these people.

Absolutely mind numbing comments from him. He worked over here tho so just smacks of having an agenda.

[DI Keith Fowler]

40 minutes ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Yep, I was beginning to feel a bit like that too. My WatchNRL subscription and NRL Jersey purchases were close to being ditched 

Me too, although I mostly buy jarg NRL jerseys.

[The Rocket]

2 hours ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

Blake Solly today saying that "playing some high profile matches in New Zealand" should now be more of a priority than the World Cup.

It really shows the mindset down in Australia. The World Cup is nowhere near the showpiece event of the game for these people.

Blake Solly sees himself as a future CEO of the game down here. God f----ing help us.

Last year he came out and critcised the NRL for not getting enough bang for its` buck for the amount of money spent on grass-roots.

This was only weeks after Cody Walker had been involved in a drunken 1 a.m. street-fight, all caught on camera and plastered over the news for a week, and roughly around the same time as Latrell and his mates flaunted covid rules when they went on their end-of-season hunting and motor-bike riding jaunt. 

League struggles to penetrate into the middle classes despite how much money thrown at it, and that chucklehead blames the NRL and says he knows better.

Incident like the two from high profile players from his club only continue to make the job akin to pushing you-know-what up-hill, and that buffoon was too stupid to see it. And he wants to run the game.

 

[Man of Kent]

‘Surely a greater priority for international rugby league at the end of this season is to play some matches in New Zealand.’

Blake Solly can suck a dog’s lolly.

[Jim from Oz]

5 hours ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

Blake Solly today saying that "playing some high profile matches in New Zealand" should now be more of a priority than the World Cup.

It really shows the mindset down in Australia. The World Cup is nowhere near the showpiece event of the game for these people.

That would have to be the most stupid comment I have ever heard ever in RL, and that is saying something.

Beyond stupid  in its stupidity.

[Jim from Oz]

5 hours ago, Keith989 said:

Was that not obvious when they couldn't sell out a world cup final against England in a modest sized stadium?

True, but the problem was, the organisation of the 2017 RLWC was pretty poor, and the promotion of it was pathetic.

[Jim from Oz]

5 hours ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

Blake Solly today saying that "playing some high profile matches in New Zealand" should now be more of a priority than the World Cup.

It really shows the mindset down in Australia. The World Cup is nowhere near the showpiece event of the game for these people.

I mean, it's basically this: some/all NRL clubs (and we now know for sure South Sydney is one of them, if Solly is saying this) want the RLWC postponed, so they ###### on about quarantine, returning players, 2022 trials etc.

When the 2021 RLWC organising committee work non-stop to accommodate those concerns, Solly responds by saying there is ANOTHER problem – playing some high profile matches in New Zealand – and thus we need to postpone the 2021 RLWC anyway.

It's all just beyond staggering in its stupidity, short-sightedness and self-serving ignorance.