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Rugby League World Cup 2021 (Merged Threads)


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19 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

If there was a significant and public outcry, from players who may have been selected on merit for Australia and New Zealand then I'd say print up some green and gold and black and white jerseys and let them play. If the players don't make their desire to play known publicly, then I'd much rather bring in the USA and Brazil. Give the game over there (in the America's) a huge boost

Germany and Malta for me:

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, bobbruce said:

The problem with indigenous/Maori teams or any NZ or Aussie team not backed by the NZRL or the ARL is I don’t think clubs would have to release players called up for them. 

It's a postseason tournament though, there won't be any club activity at that time for them to need to be released from.

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It must be made clear to all eligible Aus and NZ players that the reason they will not be taking part as national, invitational, UK based or dual nationality teams is that Vlandis has renaged, defaulted, welched, bottled, chickened out and if they want to take part, they have to depose him. 

Not one backward step from the organisers. 

Edited by JohnM
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1 hour ago, The storm said:

I have heard that the UK government is going to do a deal with the Australian and NZ government. 

 

It may result in a delay to the tournament 

No delays.

It should go ahead on the scheduled dates.

 

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"We'll sell you a seat .... but you'll only need the edge of it!"

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51 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I did think that, we have to lose 6 games from the tournament, but that may be the lesser of two evils of trying to replace them. 

No need.  Cross group games, as in 2013 and 2017.

We lose three games but all 14 remaining teams get three games each.

"We'll sell you a seat .... but you'll only need the edge of it!"

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1 hour ago, Scubby said:

The thing I have been most shocked about is the Jillaroos and Kiwi Ferns - basically had their dreams shattered by the knock on effects of this. This WC was the reason a few of them switched codes, playing at Old Trafford would be the highlight of their lives. The NRL made a decision and then thought, oh #### we will have to pull out the women's and wheelchair teams as well. 

Saying that the women can stand up for themselves and they have done and said nothing. I've looked at instagram and twitter profiles of the leading stars and not one has made a comment. The women and wheelchair players are the one group of people who could bring the self absorbed crp crashing down in embarrassment!

I am sorry, I am not on Twitter myself, but if you are or if anyone else out there is on Twitter, can they start sending messages to the female and wheelchair Australian and New Zealand players and asking them, what do they think? Why are they not questioning in this decision by V’landys Etc
 

Surely they are as furious as so many of the male players are!

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27 minutes ago, Chris22 said:

Well, UK Govt has funded the tournament to the tune of £25M. Cazoo have signed a 7 figure sponsorship deal for the tournament. There are partnerships with huge organisations such an UNICEF, wide-ranging broadcast deals with the BBC.

Then you would have ticket refunds, costs of stadium rentals, infrastructure costs, staffing costs, overheads. Millions already pledged to meet bio-secure demands of the NRL.

In short, I don't know, but potentially huge.

In addition it would be interesting to learn just how much the RFL were planning to earn from a successful tournament. If it is a large amount, and I guess that it is, then the impact upon the game in the UK could be enormous, some have even suggested terminal.

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Sport, amongst other things, is a dream-world offering escape from harsh reality and the disturbing prospect of change.

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1 hour ago, The Rocket said:

This is about the only thing left in the papers now, it`s out of The Australian which is s national broadsheet.

English boss has called on the PM Scott Morrison to explain Australia’s World Cup withdrawal (theaustralian.com.au)

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been dragged into the stoush over the World Cup after one of England’s most powerful officials called on him to explain why Australia was willing to send athletes to the Olympic Games and Paralympics, but not rugby league’s showpiece international tournament.

Rugby Football League chair Simon Johnson, who earlier accused the ARL Commission of cowardice and pandering to their clubs, demanded that the Prime Minister justify the decision, which threatens to destroy the tournament.

“Our government has backed this decision fully,” Johnson said.

“(England Prime Minister) Boris Johnson has spoken to Scott Morrison on numerous occasions. Scott Morrison will have to explain why Australia has no problem sending athletes to the Olympics and the Paralympics, sending his rugby union Wallabies team to England and Wales, but not their rugby league teams.

“It is very difficult to explain. This is a very significant and damaging move.”

I`d love to think this was going to go somewhere but I fear they`ll just dig their heels in now, unfortunately not enough people care.

But this is exactly what we need! There has to be pushback from every possible angle!

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17 minutes ago, JohnM said:

It must be made clear to all eligible Aus and NZ players that the reason they will not be taking part as national, invitational, UK based or dual nationality teams is that Vlandis has renaged, defaulted, welched, bottled, chickened out and if they want to take part, they have to depose him. 

Mate he might have made a pigs ear of this one, but christ we wouldn`t want to lose him, he`s a take no prisoners sort of bloke the game over here has been missing, the afl fear him and we know what he did to the union, through his position as CEO of Racing NSW, he put the pressure on Tabcorp (Racing NSW is their biggest customer) to block the broadcast of the union at pubs and clubs across NSW, which they did, he`s ruthless.

A big and strong NRL is still probably the biggest asset the game has presently, and the bigger and stronger it gets probably the best for everyone. It`s interesting that when accused of jeopardising the future on English League the other day, by pulling out of the Cup, Gould said he doubts that English League will fold any time soon, maybe this is how they all feel, there will be plenty of time to rebuild the game up there if we can get our house totally in order down here especially with regard Oz, the Pacific and NZ.

 

Edited by The Rocket
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3 hours ago, Jim from Oz said:

Please email the NRL everybody and let them know how you feel NOW, fan pressure will it be important in salvaging the World Cup

feedback@nrl.com.au

Just sent something but an emphasis  less wanting them to change.... More the fact they have just blown their main advantage over AFL - proper worldwide internationals 

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22 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

A big and strong NRL is still probably the biggest asset the game has presently, and the bigger and stronger it gets probably the best for everyone.

In the spirit of conversation rather than argument, I disagree with this.

If we look at the game in Australia and the UK, in reality little has changed in a very long time. The same clubs and the same cities/regions are at the top table and while some tactical wins are useful against the AFL or ARU, the balance of power in established nations remains pretty static on a macro level.

What would really benefit the game is a high profile international schedule providing publicity and awareness of a game that is taking off in many nascent countries. 

The high profile awareness of events like the World Cup coupled with grass roots development will create an opportunity for our game to break free of its geographical boundaries and become a global sport.

By its actions, the NRL is harming this but they are too introverted to see it (edit to say) or, more likely, they don't care.

Edited by Dunbar
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"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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It’s doubly depressing considering this World Cup was going to be the most competitive and most intriguing , with a handful of sides looking very strong and with justifiably big ambitions . We’ve waited for this kind of scenario as playing talent has become more spread out , and it gets cut off at the knees for spurious reasoning and wanton self interest . This World Cup would have been great , I was really looking forward to it , it had at least a level of unpredictably I can’t remember . It would have been great for the game overall , and across all three competitions , and  the sheer throwaway contempt and disregard from quarters down there really is hard to stomach . All we can do now is go and put on the best show we can and support it best we can 

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A mate of mine was out drinking last night & in is local a Aussie drinks along with a few Yorkies, my mate has a joke said to the Aussie my mate down in Devon has got a downer on your Rugby League team the come back was he wasn't happy plus the yorkie lads has they had planned to go to games. He also confirmed that the players wasn't consulted before the announcement.

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2 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

In the spirit of conversation rather than argument, I disagree with this.

If we look at the game in Australia and the UK, in reality little has changed in a very long time. The same clubs and the same cities/regions are at the top table and while some tactical wins are useful against the AFL or ARU, the balance of power in established nations remains pretty static on a macro level.

What would really benefit the game is a high profile international schedule providing publicity and awareness of a game that is taking off in many nascent countries. 

The high profile awareness of events like the World Cup coupled with grass roots development will create an opportunity for our game to break free of its geographical boundaries and become a global sport.

By its actions, the NRL is harming this but they are too introverted to see it.

During NRL emissary Shane Richardson`s bizarre trip to your country, one of the comments that really stuck in my memory was Richardson`s unguarded comment that the NRL was sick of IRL supporting tournaments where teams were made up of heritage players, I think he called it a great waste of money.

On the face of it you`re probably thinking NRL hypocrite, but I don`t think he blurted out that comment by mistake, it`s probably an insight into NRL thinking down here. I`m wondering if they think what is the point of having these composite teams when there is none or miniscule League activity in those countries. If your going to have heritage teams at least there should be actual on the ground competitions in those countries that will benefit from International fixtures.  Like we`ve got now in the Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, or the Kiwi`s who have an actual team in our comp, otherwise who are you playing for.

We are possibly on the verge of something big down here, if those teams, plus NZ, can put their best teams on the field down here at the end of the season it could be anything.

The other big thing is that the wallabies have never looked so weak, which could provide a real counterpoint if the Kiwis League team or any of the others can put up a good fight and hopefully beat us. If this coincides with the wallabies getting thrashed by the All-Blacks I reckon eyes will pretty quickly turn to the Kiwi national League team in that country as opposed to their union side, at least against us, and that`s who they play most of their union tests against. That will be a massive step into making inroads against union in that country. That contagion could spread pretty quickly throughout the Pacific as well, as both the Fijian and Tongan test teams both got thrashed by the All-Blacks recently. This will benefit League word wide.

Maybe at heart this is what their focus is. Organic growth where there is existing League activity, i.e France is where the action is and France should be the focus up there, not wasting our money on composite teams from Lebanon, Greece, Italy, Ireland whoever.

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3 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

During NRL emissary Shane Richardson`s bizarre trip to your country, one of the comments that really stuck in my memory was Richardson`s unguarded comment that the NRL was sick of IRL supporting tournaments where teams were made up of heritage players, I think he called it a great waste of money.

On the face of it you`re probably thinking NRL hypocrite, but I don`t think he blurted out that comment by mistake, it`s probably an insight into NRL thinking down here. I`m wondering if they think what is the point of having these composite teams when there is none or miniscule League activity in those countries. If your going to have heritage teams at least there should be actual on the ground competitions in those countries that will benefit from International fixtures.  Like we`ve got now in the Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, or the Kiwi`s who have an actual team in our comp, otherwise who are you playing for.

We are possibly on the verge of something big down here, if those teams, plus NZ, can put their best teams on the field down here at the end of the season it could be anything.

The other big thing is that the wallabies have never looked so weak, which could provide a real counterpoint if the Kiwis League team or any of the others can put up a good fight and hopefully beat us. If this coincides with the wallabies getting thrashed by the All-Blacks I reckon eyes will pretty quickly turn to the Kiwi national League team in that country as opposed to their union side, at least against us, and that`s who they play most of their union tests against. That will be a massive step into making inroads against union in that country. That contagion could spread pretty quickly throughout the Pacific as well, as both the Fijian and Tongan test teams both got thrashed by the All-Blacks recently. This will benefit League word wide.

Maybe at heart this is what their focus is. Organic growth where there is existing League activity, i.e France is where the action is and France should be the focus up there, not wasting our money on composite teams from Lebanon, Greece, Italy, Ireland whoever.

Brilliant - Oz/NZ/PI teams playing each other in the SH is the start of something big but the same teams competing in a World Cup in the NH is pointless.

Well done on having a NZ team in your league - you may have noticed we have a French one top of the league, and another up there in the Chanpionship.

You couldn’t make it up.

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3 hours ago, The storm said:

I have heard that the UK government is going to do a deal with the Australian and NZ government. 

 

It may result in a delay to the tournament 

Their wont & shouldn't be any delay its October or nothing its time people stopped all this talk of putting it back the stadiums are booked its not only the fact we would be up against the world cup have you thought about the football clubs may be planning work on their stadiums during the world cup shutdown lots of hurdles to think about if its put back pity our so called friends down under don't think about this instead of coming out with statements on Channel 9 "we told them to put it back" ok for you all you have to worry about down under is Cricket & Union.

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29 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

https://mobile.twitter.com/NRLonNine/status/1418919595189149708

Going to be some angry people on here abusing him now…I bet they’re preparing angry emails to an unmanned info@ email to the NRL as I type. 

I mean that shows the intellect of the troll. Good teams care, rubbish teams don't. Doesn't make any sense. 

And he is a club official. 

Edited by Dave T
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3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I mean that shows the intellect of the troll. Good teams care, rubbish teams don't. Doesn't make any sense. 

And he is a club official. 

Aren’t his Bulldogs rock bottom of the league?  He should care more.

Edited by FearTheVee
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3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I mean that shows the intellect of the troll. Good teams care, rubbish teams don't. Doesn't make any sense. 

And he is a club official. 

I mean, he has a point about the bastions of International RL. A month ago, we played a select team, not a National one and couldn’t name who was playing 48 hours before the game. The irony isn’t lost on me. 

That said, whataboutism doesn’t really do much in this instance. 

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1 minute ago, Hela Wigmen said:

I mean, he has a point about the bastions of International RL. A month ago, we played a select team, not a National one and couldn’t name who was playing 48 hours before the game. The irony isn’t lost on me. 

That said, whataboutism doesn’t really do much in this instance. 

We were trying to get a mid-season International in to help prepare for the World Cup - which is one more than Australia.

Strange example to give - that game only existed BECAUSE we care about international RL and desperately wanted to put a game on in the face of great obstacles.

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16 minutes ago, Hela Wigmen said:

I mean, he has a point about the bastions of International RL. A month ago, we played a select team, not a National one and couldn’t name who was playing 48 hours before the game. The irony isn’t lost on me. 

That said, whataboutism doesn’t really do much in this instance. 

I know you didn't like that game, but the RFL with its limited resources have been the cheerleaders of World Cups, test series, 3 and 4N tournaments, mid-season tests, WCCs and so on. 

They often do things badly but their attitude to international RL is far better than the Aussies. 

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