Wales vs Lebanon at Swinton

[RigbyLuger]

Have they missed a trick not playing this is actual Wales?

[gingerjon]

9 minutes ago, RigbyLuger said:

Have they missed a trick not playing this is actual Wales?

Yes.

Next question.

[DavidM]

Or Beirut 

[Number 16]

1 hour ago, RigbyLuger said:

Have they missed a trick not playing this is actual Wales?

They are utterly clueless. 

Which other sport would do this and play a game only a small handful of miles away from their own country?

No wonder our sport struggles to grow.

[Damien]

It's not even in Swinton, it's at a lower league RU ground in Sale. At least keep the money in the game.

[Jughead]

Mention of targeting the Lebanese community in the Greater Manchester area, which is something I didn’t even consider. It’s a shame that the Welsh fans in Wales weren’t a consideration. 

[crashmon]

Should have been played in wales.   Only in RL do you see this

[The storm]

There must be a significant lebanese commnity that we dont know about in the Sale/Carrington area. 

This match must surely be played in colwyn bay

[Eddie]

23 minutes ago, The storm said:

There must be a significant lebanese commnity that we dont know about in the Sale/Carrington area. 

This match must surely be played in colwyn bay

Or anywhere in Wales. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Ridiculous that it's not being played in Wales. 

[Big Picture]

As ridiculous as it sounds that this won't be played in Wales, let's be honest that the Welsh public likely won't know any of the players in the Welsh team now that Regan Grace isn't in it.  Even with him there they still might know any of the players.  It likely wouldn't get a better crowd there than in Swinton.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

32 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

As ridiculous as it sounds that this won't be played in Wales, let's be honest that the Welsh public likely won't know any of the players in the Welsh team now that Regan Grace isn't in it.  Even with him there they still might know any of the players.  It likely wouldn't get a better crowd there than in Swinton.

You're probably right when it comes to the attendance. Looking at past Welsh attendances in Wales, you're probably hovering round the 1,500-2,000 mark for a game against a smaller nation. Way I see it though is if that's the kind of attendance we're expecting in Swinton then it might as well be played in Wales. Heywood Road only holds 3,000 people anyway so it's not like they are hoping to get much more than it would get in Wrexham or Colwyn Bay. Taking it to a ground that small, there's even plenty of Welsh domestic league football grounds in the north of the principality that hold that sort of number, plenty of places to play it. I really don't see any need for this to be played in Swinton. 

[Leyther_Matt]

Heywood Road hosting an international fixture is honestly just another level of RL ridiculousness. Fancy getting players coming over from the over side of the world to run out at a ground that still has terracing made from cinder and railway sleepers.

(Not a slur against Swinton who I have always had a huge amount of time for)

[Dave T]

Utterly rubbish and unambitious. Expect to see a Scotland game at Fev or Workington announced too. 

I expect this is all about costs, this ground is probably near to their training camps so the bus ticket will be cheaper. 

[Big Picture]

5 minutes ago, Dave T said:

Utterly rubbish and unambitious. Expect to see a Scotland game at Fev or Workington announced too. 

I expect this is all about costs, this ground is probably near to their training camps so the bus ticket will be cheaper. 

If you're right (and I suspect you are) it's yet another illustration of what a huge job IMG has taken on with the game.

[Futtocks]

Is England the host of the RWC or the UK? If the former, then you stage the matches in England. Never mind that Wales is next door. We had the same fury about Scotland last time England hosted the World Cup.

We'll be getting the "why can't the French play their group games in France?" posts next/again. 

There's certainly an argument about which English venue gets chosen for which match, but I don't know what Swinton offered in their bid for inclusion.

[jim_57]

2 hours ago, Futtocks said:

Is England the host of the RWC or the UK? If the former, then you stage the matches in England. Never mind that Wales is next door. We had the same fury about Scotland last time England hosted the World Cup.

We'll be getting the "why can't the French play their group games in France?" posts next/again. 

There's certainly an argument about which English venue gets chosen for which match, but I don't know what Swinton offered in their bid for inclusion.

This is a warm up, not an actual WC game.

[Colin James]

1 hour ago, jim_57 said:

This is a warm up, not an actual WC game.

Presumably to access funding for marketing, permission to use the RLWC name and logo etc it has to be hosted in England.

Also a possibility that this was originally planned to be played at Colwyn Bay but had to be re-arranged, Swinton's away league fixture against North Wales in September has been moved because the ground is unavailable.

[The Partisan]

Would there be an expectation that the qualifying home nations play any warm up games in the UK for the France 2025 tournament?  Especially if against non home nations opposition.  

Or should all warm up games be played in the nation/s hosting? 

 

[Big Picture]

12 minutes ago, The Partisan said:

Would there be an expectation that the qualifying home nations play any warm up games in the UK for the France 2025 tournament?  Especially if against non home nations opposition.  

Or should all warm up games be played in the nation/s hosting? 

 

I wouldn't think so.  Unless I'm mistaken soccer World Cup warm up matches are never played in the host country, they're played in one of the countries playing in those matches.

[fearnowt]

To be honest I'm just glad that Wales are playing.

Colwyn Bay and Wrexham are out for different reasons. The pitch is being relayed with a 4G surface at Colwyn Bay (thankfully to rugby standards), which is affecting both Crusaders and RGC (the regional union club). Our last home game against Swinton is less than four weeks away and we still don't know where it is being played!

As for Wrexham, it's just too expensive. I have seen the word "rugby" mentioned a couple of times in their argument to get public finding for their new stand, but I don't think we'll ever see rugby of either code played there again.

[jim_57]

2 hours ago, Colin James said:

Presumably to access funding for marketing, permission to use the RLWC name and logo etc it has to be hosted in England.

Also a possibility that this was originally planned to be played at Colwyn Bay but had to be re-arranged, Swinton's away league fixture against North Wales in September has been moved because the ground is unavailable.

Genuine question, would there be any such funding/marketing set aside to be allocated for warm up games like this? Wouldn’t that all be allocated to the main event?

[steve wild]

For info, we at Swinton Lions were approached directly by the competing nations who were looking for a mutually convenient venue for the game, based on the location of their respective World Cup bases.  Heywood Road might be modest in size (just over 3,000 capacity), but it has a good number of seats and excellent corporate and bar facilities etc.  The ground is 4 miles from the venue for the World Cup Final, and within the Trafford & South Manchester area where Swinton Lions are doing a fantastic amount of development work via one of the fastest growing Foundations in RL. The ground is 2 minutes from the Manchester Metro System, 2 miles from the M60 Manchester ring road, and 3 miles from Manchester airport . There is also a sizeable Lebanese community in and around Manchester. Swinton Lions are facilitating the game, and not Sale rugby union club , with whom we have a fantastic partnership. I’m a bit disheartened to read some of the negativity on this thread , & it would be great if non-Super League but nevertheless ambitious clubs such as Swinton Lions, who are trying to do their bit to enhance their own reputation and do something for the wider sport, got a little more support for their endeavours. If you live in the Manchester area then why not buy yourself a ticket from our website, and then judge on the actual facts as to whether or not it’s been a success on 8 October. Everyone is welcome !

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Wales do seem to have a bit of a history of doing this. I remember them playing Jamaica in Wakefield a few years back and there was only just over 1,000 or so people in. Ended in a draw if I remember correctly. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Wales are based in Preston and Lebanon in Leigh for the World Cup so the most mutually convenient location for the game would have been Victory Park in Chorley, a ground with a similar capacity to Heywood Road and a bit of RL history as well it must be said. There we go, location sorted!