Confirmed - [urlhttp://www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=20544[/url

It's the right move, it'll sell out quickly.

Ridiculous and bizarre. Perhaps they will give Tony Archer refereeing duties to partly cancel out the obvious bias of having the game at the Piedome?

Why isn't this being played at City's ground or Old Trafford? Where is the ambition?

The already weak creditability of the competition has reached zero now!

Or why isn't been played in Australia or played outside of the NRL pre season?

Neither would sell out. The RFL wants to make as much profit as possible, and paying a fee to hire Old Trafford or Eastlands, and then having thousands of empty seats they can't sell would diminish their cut.

There have been some years that this fixture has failed to get 20,000 and there the decison made is correct. Its been played at Wigan before (Saints v Melbourne--13K turned up) and Wigan played Manly at Central Park. Why go to a football ground when the game can keep the money in RL?

The Australians are never keen on staging this fixture and when they did last didnt Wigan win it it Brisbane's back yard??

Good from the point of view that the money will stay in RL, if the RFL had hired the Reebok Stadium or Anfield then money would have gone to Premier League football teams. Wigan Athletic could only get 16,000 to watch the team with most history in British football on Wednesday, time for Wigan Warriors to show them that Wigan is proud of its rugby league history, sell every seat at the DW Stadium and beat the Saints.

ppppssstttt....3 words.....premier league football




the real question should be...why is'nt it being played at the millenium stadium when magic is on??...give the team wigan are due to play a bye and have wigan play st george instead..

Cant wait, will be a sellout

Eastlands and Old Trafford are not avaliable, neither want RL playing on their surfaces (apart from the GF of course) Even if they did, id expect the fixture to attract 30k Max in Manchester

A 25k sellout looks much better than 30k with half the seats empty



Good question

I'm going. Looks a belting game.

I was of the understanding that St George HAD asked to stage this game in Oz.

If it clashes with the Annual Charity Shield against Souths Sydney, Saints are going to send a half squad over to contest the WCC as opposed to the Storm that sent a 2/3 squad over a few years ago.

the ARL & RFL are at war at the min....

if the RFL can get one over the ARL by having wigan stuff a understrength st george side at a snowy,windy wigan...they'll do it

I get your point but..
Would it be the ARL?
This game is a Club game so I would have thought it was the NRL.

If Crusaders are wound up,Let Saints play Salford and then Wigan can play St George.

Wished for a neutral venue but oh well, I cant wait to watch 2 of themost historical teams battle it out!

And roughyed; stop nicking my ideas

which one?

Wigan and who else??

If your referring to St George that team died when they merged with the Illawarra Steelers hence the name St George Illawarra Dragons. So the title that they won last year was their first.

True.
They're still St George though

Can't wait for the Champions to get stuck into St George in front of a capacity DW Stadium...!!!!
Bring it on!!!!

That in itself would devalue the event, and no real value to the magic concept.

It would be lost in the clutter.

If there was any year that you would want to bring the WCC to Australia, this would have been it.

The Wigan name and brand is probably the most powerful of the English clubs, I have no doubt that the game would have drawn a few more then they would at the DW if played in Sydney.

Yeah the last time the WCC was in Australia was 94, Wigan defeated Brisbane in front of 54,000 mid year.

Quality Wigan side that one!

Nah give us a couple of years playing it over here and then move it over there when people get bored of watching us win it all the time



I actually agree it should be played in Aus at some point especially if it is Wigan v one of the big aussie clubs like Brisbane. Suncorp sadium would be buzzing, like you say there was a huge crowd for the last one in Aus.

This event would feel alot bigger if it only came around once every 2 years.

what do you know???? your a clown!!!!

I personally don't think the game would work being played in Aus. In a ideal world then yes but it is seen as just a pre season friendly to the Aussies and they don't attach any more importance to it than we do to our boxing day games.
And I am not saying this because I am a Leeds fan, but we always talk about this big team historically of Wigan, and for me they are as I grew up with there dominance so for me they are probably the big name. But in aus do they really think that now? With recent years they have had a barren spell will they still be held in the high regard that certainly my era had for them?