Rugby League World Cup 2021 (Merged Threads)

[LeeF]

1 minute ago, RP London said:

The international game is in trouble now.. the World Cup if moved to next year will be swallowed by the football world cup in qatar... newspapers and tv will be all about that and people will just forget about us. 

And that is IF it goes ahead. 

The shot in the arm the tournament would have been for the game on the national consciousness here has gone and they cannot expect it to be as "in your face" as it would have been with a fee pass this year. 

Sponsors are not going to line up to come on board now, what we have will hopefully stay but not sure we will get anymore because the impact it will have will be less, the coverage they will get will be less. 

The games will continue to diverge to be almost 2 different sports without an international game to hold it together. 

Its an utter joke and its the insularity of the NRL at its finest.. 

No international game and my interest will fall away for sure.. i'll still keep an eye out but wont be as avid a fan as i was.

Not just the international game but the domestic game in Europe is now in even bigger trouble

[Toby Chopra]

I just hope we've got enough governmental and sponsor guarantees to ensure we don't make a loss on the tournament. If that's the case, press on, and we live to fight another day. 

Edited July 22, 2021 by Toby Chopra

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, LeeF said:

Not just the international game but the domestic game in Europe is now in even bigger trouble

Fair to say this has the potential to be a proper disaster for the game.

[dkw]

Absolutely pathetic, disgusting from those nations who have no interest in the players and only self interest in their clubs. Cut all ties with them, let them have their ###### little sport "down under" and invite all the other countries into a fully integrated international calendar for each year, no entry for the pathetic NZ and Australians. Honestly I hope we just tell them to sod off then, carry on the world cup with 2 invite teams made from any players from their pathetic competition that has the balls to come and play.

[Mark S]

Soft cnuts!

Edited July 22, 2021 by Mark S

[Jim from Oz]

I should be angry but I just haven't got the energy … after 46 years of lavish devotion to the game since age 11, I think this time it's defeated me for good. 

This "decision" by Peter V'landys is a complete and utter disaster for the game. Maybe I'll write a polite but firm email to him and the ARLC … but I'm just too over it all to do it now.

[Tommygilf]

Sad really but the NZRL and ARLC could have just picked a team of players from the Aussies and Kiwis already in Europe and very few people in the RLWCs audience would have actually noticed.

[Mark S]

Postpone it until Spring/Summer next year. No point going up against the Union World Cup. 
 

im sure that the club game can take a break for 6 weeks.

[The 4 of Us]

26 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

The competitions postponed because of Covid were postponed to this year

They were. But if COVID suddenly switched off on Monday there’d be no problems with the Olympics would there. 
 

The reality is that the NRL have done a very good job so far isolating their players from the wider community. That just doesn’t happen here and SL would not have the income to do what the NRL has.

There have been stories this week that there is a risk that SL may have problems seeing the season through as more players contact COVID and team risk not getting to the 18 game threshold. 
 

At the moment, I think 2022 has to be the right option. 

[RP London]

7 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Fair to say this has the potential to be a proper disaster for the game.

The more i sit here and stew and think on it, the more I am done with the it.. If the sport doesnt care then why should i.. 

i've got irons in the fire with eagles about developing a couple of things with both work and the Rugby club i coach at.. not sure i can be arsed now as what does the game actually offer to the kids or to business anymore.. no national presence and this game is going to just retract and retract.

 

[Moove]

3 minutes ago, Mark S said:

Postpone it until Spring/Summer next year. No point going up against the Union World Cup. 
 

im sure that the club game can take a break for 6 weeks.

RUWC is 2023 I think.

If the NRL don't want to disrupt their preseason trial games there's no way they'll want to disrupt their actual season.

[Spidey]

1 minute ago, Moove said:

RUWC is 2023 I think.

If the NRL don't want to disrupt their preseason trial games there's no way they'll want to disrupt their actual season.

That’s the way to call their bluff. A summer RL World Cup would be a different beast altogether 

[Mark S]

The RFL need to arrange a 3 team tournament made up of England, France and Combined Nations. 

[The 4 of Us]

27 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

The environment has got worse since then and it’s certainly no sign of improving on either side of the world so I have no issue with that. 

However, it would have been better and more professional if this news wasn’t leaked, that they’d had this conversation behind closed doors and the RLWC came out with a statement advising they were postponing for a year. It just makes us look small time and disconnected this way

Absolutely don’t disagree with that but it’s symptomatic of our sport and things like this can prove fatal. Claire Balding currently on prime time BBC Breakfast talking about it.

It feels like typical back of the fag packet decision making from the sport. The reality is that other countries generally think we’re all a bit bonkers in this country, especially at this time, and perhaps the sport here should have been a little more open to a postponement rather than forcing the decision last week against obvious opposition.

I wonder if they have issues with costs and lack of insurance for this October. If so, the problems become even worse.

As I said on another thread, the NRL provides most of the players for most of the other teams, including NH ones. I suspect that their clubs will also now be turning the screw and it won’t be long before the other teams fall in line. 

[JohnM]

A clearly very angry Claire Balding live on BBC  1 Breakfast TV this morning. She says it's incomprehensible. She says if the All Blacks and Wallabys can come here this autumn, why not kangaroos and NZ. 

[Chris22]

This article shows why next year is a non starter.

Shame Aus and NZ don't want to come. Assuming the other Pacific Islands do, we still have a good tournament.

The NRL don't seem to realise that their players aren't superstars over here. The vast majority don't know them, especially the target audience of this tournament.

Disappointing, but let's crack on.

[Spidey]

Just now, Mark S said:

The RFL need to arrange a 3 team tournament made up of England, France and Combined Nations. 

What about Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Jamaica etc etc. we shouldn’t be leaving those nations behind who are all invested in this tournament 

[Spidey]

Just now, JohnM said:

A clearly very angry Claire Balding live on BBC  1 Breakfast TV this morning. She says it's incomprehensible. She says if the All Blacks and Wallabys can come here this autumn, why not kangaroos and NZ. 

Good on her

[Jim from Oz]

"ARLC Chairman Peter V’landys said player wellbeing and safety must come first."

Have the players actually been ##### asked ???!!!!!!

[Jim from Oz]

Did Peter V’landys actually tell RLWC 2021 officials of this decision beforehand??!!

[Tommygilf]

2 minutes ago, JohnM said:

A clearly very angry Claire Balding live on BBC  1 Breakfast TV this morning. She says it's incomprehensible. She says if the All Blacks and Wallabys can come here this autumn, why not kangaroos and NZ. 

Absolutely.

[jacobus]

23 minutes ago, RP London said:

 

No international game and my interest will fall away for sure.. i'll still keep an eye out but wont be as avid a fan as i was.

I am starting to get to that stage. 

Catalans are top of the league but the bigger picture I see for the game more than takes that edge off. 

[Tommygilf]

1 minute ago, Jim from Oz said:

"ARLC Chairman Peter V’landys said player wellbeing and safety must come first."

Have the players actually been ##### asked ???!!!!!!

Indeed 

Perhaps world cup organising two invitational XIII is the way to go. 

Gold and Green Vs with the White and Black Vs?

[Jim from Oz]

3 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Indeed 

Perhaps world cup organising two invitational XIII is the way to go. 

Gold and Green Vs with the White and Black Vs?

Hopefully that will be the contingency plan … postponement till next year is a non-starter for so many reasons IMHO … 

[Whippet13]

3 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Indeed 

Perhaps world cup organising two invitational XIII is the way to go. 

Gold and Green Vs with the White and Black Vs?

Invite an Australia XIII and NZ XIII - it's how Tonga have operated the last few years due to their internal governance dispute, the Official Tongan RL were suspended from international competitions when they beat Australia.