Rugby League needs a World Championship between RLWCs

[B rad]

Every year there is a discussion about what the game should be doing between World Cups. Tours, 4 nations, and Pacific and European cups are all thrown up. A lot of the time International RL administrators go with those, chopping and changing as time goes by. It's at the point a casual fan doesn't know what international games are coming up. We just had a situation where the winners of the last RLWC Australia still haven't played England the runners-up since 2017 and may not yet if Samoa wins the semi-final this weekend.

Kangaroo/Kiwi tours ignore the Pacific nations, and Pacific Cups ignore England and France. There are more than 4 nations that are competitive since those tournaments use to take place. The game has evolved, there are new nations that are strong now and the international calendar needs to reflect that and give everyone an opportunity to grow and build their brand.

Players need to be motivated to represent these newer nations. If they can tour Europe with the Kangaroos but only play a couple of games with Samoa in New Zealand against non top 3 nations players will go with the Kangaroos. The calendar needs to be even for all nations involved and not promote one nation over another. There can't be an advantage in playing for one nation over another. That goes for payment and facilities as well. 

We need something consistent, something inclusive of all the top nations, something that makes sure the best nations get a chance to play each other each and every year and we need something that has a title players and nations want to win. We can't predict what is going to happen in the world (Covid for example) and we can't predict which teams are going to have injuries, lack of form, or withdrawals of top players just like we can't predict which teams are going to have a window of excellence where all their top players are available and in top form.

 

That's the advantage of an annual tournament featuring the top nations. They all get to play each other no matter what. It works for 6 nations in Rugby Union, and it can work for Rugby League but a little bit bigger and a little bit better. 

 

The format is really simple. Two pools of five nations. A Gold pool for the top 5 and a Silver pool for the next 5 with promotion and relegation each year. The winners of the gold pool are the World Champions for that year. We have 5 because the NRL has stated they want 4 games a year for the end-of-season representative period. They have the money so they will probably have to foot some of the bills as they have done in the past with the Pacific Nations tournaments. If the demand for more international games gets bigger in the future and the brand of the nations grows then the IntRL will be in a position to extend it to more games or add more pools. 

 

So it might look like this by the end of the RLWC depending on rank. 

Example

Gold Pool

New Zealand, Australia, England, Samoa, Tonga

Silver Pool

Fiji, PNG, France, Lebanon, Ireland

Other nations play regionals and win the right to challenge the last-place Silver pool nation to gain promotion. This system also reduces the chance of blowout scores keeping the very top away from the rising nations until they are ready.

 

Depending on who is in the pools determines where games are played. One year England might have all its games at home the next they might have to play all their games in the Pacific/NZ/Aus. New Zealand, Tonga, and Samoa are a good chance to fill out Eden Park with 50 thousand capacity. When they play each other they should play there. Fiji and PNG traditionally don't draw big crowds outside of their home nations. Most of their games should be played at home. If France have to go to the Pacific one year they could play some of their game in New Caledonia. If its safe maybe one year Lebanon might even get a chance to play a home game. Be strategic, look for where the biggest crowds can be created, and don't neglect nations leaving them without a home game for years on end.

This tournament boasts what other annual rugby league tournaments cant. It IS the best of the best each and every year. Tommy Makinson vs the Fox, Joey Manu vs Tedesco. It is the only way to create a rivalry between players and nations on a regular basis. 

 

 

 

 

[hw88]

Surely the RLWC is a World Championship?

That would mean a world cup every 2 years.

Why not just go down the ice hockey route and have a world cup/championship every year? Plenty of internationals then!

[crashmon]

how many topics on this do we need?

[B rad]

8 hours ago, hw88 said:

Surely the RLWC is a World Championship?

That would mean a world cup every 2 years.

Why not just go down the ice hockey route and have a world cup/championship every year? Plenty of internationals then!

It's the World Championship because whoever wins are the "World Champions" for that year. It's a title that adds prestige and motivation. Who doesn't want to be recognized as a world champion?

[Ragingbull]

Another wind up account

[B rad]

49 minutes ago, Ragingbull said:

Another wind up account

Huh?

[AB90]

I’ve always been an advocate of having the World Cup every 2 years as it’s the only thing that provides proper structure to the international calendar especially for the lower tier nations.

[MatthewWoody]

Who puts the money? 

[Sports Prophet]

12 hours ago, B rad said:

It's the World Championship because whoever wins are the "World Champions" for that year. It's a title that adds prestige and motivation. Who doesn't want to be recognized as a world champion?

So if you can be world champion every year, what is your title for winning the World Cup?

[Whippet13]

14 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

So if you can be world champion every year, what is your title for winning the World Cup?

World Cup winners/holders. A Cup competition normally has a knock-out format, whereas the concept proposed by the OP could perhaps be better described as a World "League" Championship since it has regular fixtures alongside P&R.

Mute points though as it won't happen, not least because there is already a calendar in place through to 2026 for a number of nations, including England.

[B rad]

10 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

So if you can be world champion every year, what is your title for winning the World Cup?

World Cup winners/World Champions

Why does it have to be different or why does it have to be determined every 4 years? 

If the Kangaroos go on a tour of England and beat them or the other way around they are not world champions because they only beat one nation that year. 

If New Zealand wins the Pacific Cup then they are not World Champions because they did not beat England or Australia if they did not participate in that Pacific Cup tournament. 

But if there is a tournament with all the top nations, like the one I am suggesting then whatever nation beats the other top nations is the best in the world for that particular year. They are the World Champions are they not?

 

Being recognized as the World Champion would be a massive boost for so many nations if they won it, and they would have an opportunity every year rather than wait and hope every 4 years they are not hamstrung by injuries or suspension for that particular World Cup year. How long has it been since England won a tournament? When has Samoa or Tonga been the World Champion in any team event? Those nations would go crazy if they won the tournament and it would go a long way toward promoting the code. How good would it be for the Kiwis to be World Champions at the moment while the All Blacks are having trouble and, If Australia wins it year in and out, well they deserve their title, don't they.  If any of those top nations have a really strong team and beat all the top nations they should be officially recognized as the World Champions it doesn't matter if it's a world cup year or not.

 

[MatthewWoody]

Do we really think a WC every year would be sustainable? 

[B rad]

4 minutes ago, MatthewWoody said:

Do we really think a WC every year would be sustainable? 

It's not that different from a 4 nations tournament.

It's a 5 nations with a pool B + promotion-relegation. 

When the 4 nations were happening there was a Euro and a Pacific qualifier in the same years.

 

So it shouldn't be that hard.