www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... z1bSKuFaLz I think it would be a great way to promote the game and it would make the competition so much more desirable to win.

www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... z1bSKuFaLz I think it would be a great way to promote the game and it would make the competition so much more desirable to win.

there is'nt a 30,000 capacity stadium in dubai.......unless they are building one at the moment???...

what a surprise the Aussies have bottled hosting it again!

I'd guess they have it in the cricket ground, which holds around 25k-30k IIRC

www.worldstadiums.com/middle_eas ... /uae.shtml this holds 21,000 apparently...looks bigger though?

www.worldstadiums.com/middle_eas ... /uae.shtml this holds 21,000 apparently...looks bigger though?

Certainly looks like it holds more.

Either way, it's big enough to host a game where one team is a 7 hour flight away and the other is 14-15 hours away.

Dubai Rugby union 7's is held in a 50k stadium I think

the IRB would flex its muscles and the sevens venue would become unavailable...

Where did it say that?
I was under the impression that the Storm asked for it as well and did not get it.

Personally, I'd like to see us give it a try if we do ever hope to expand

You're right. The 7's stadium would be the ideal venue. 45k plus capacity and for a one off game it would get a very good attendance. It a pity it couldn't be played on the 7's weekend but 1st week in Dec would just be too early

Its a fantastic idea, whats stopping it happening?

The RFL'll find something, don't you worry

If we want to expand lets take it to an area of Aus, NZ, UK or France etc. which does not have top class rugby league, rather than a place that will have no interest.

Because interest from rich countries that throw around money is important. Not all of them can afford soccer teams.

WTF?

There are thousands of expates working in that part of the world that would love to go to a game like this.

Then there's the emerging ME RL with the likes of Lebanon getting bigger each year, I'm sure all the players/Officials/fans would go out of their way to get to the game.

That's already a couple of thousand people before you even try to sell it to the general public.

And it will also help promote the code in an area that has started to show interest in the game, god knows they won't be seeing one of the top 3 national sides playing over within the next 20 years, this is as big a profile outside of top line internationals they could get.

I think it would be a great idea to host it there. Just hope the rfl dont dig there feet in about it.

Dubai has got to be tried. The reason UK gets over Aus is because the ARL don't really want to know about it.

Another ridiculous thread of the "Ooh, let's market Rugby League to the whole world and spread the gospel" variety, despite the fact that the game can't even market itself adequately at home and expand beyond Sydney, Brisbane and the M62.

Some joker chairman from Manly who suffers from delusions of grandeur reckons the WCC ought to be played in Australia because they'll easily attract at least 80,000 in Sydney or 50,000 in Brisbane..... yeah, right. It wouldn't attract a 5 figure attendance anywhere in Australia due to lack of interest.

Less than a week later, the same joker chairman who suffers from delusions of grandeur is now suggesting the WCC ought to be played in Dubai, where his latest ideal forecast is the need for a 30,000 stadium there. Might attract half a dozen ex-pats from both the UK and Australia, a couple of hundred Rhinos & Manly fans armed with the requisite disposable income along with one UAE sheikh and his camel... or falcon!

Bellend Road or Headingley? Take your pick. That's where it'll be.

the negativity of some fans is crazy! this is a great idea. its the half way point for flights from uk to aus and vice versa; its not an idea of expansion its a marketing idea. the Dubai sevens is a great event and there is no reason this can't be great either,, everybody in dubai is all about corporate events and a social scene and this would be one; I went to the sevens last christmas i spent all of ten mins watching the england match and the rest of the time i was socialising and having fun (barla apperently come here usually). People say no one is interested in rugby league in the UAE what is this based on?? as far as i know from being here my self there is, and OSN sports the major sports channel here would suggest this also as it shows every nrl game over the weekend aswell as superleague, championship and international if there was no demand for it they certainly would not be supplying it. I read some one suggesting the sevens stadium it would be very good but the problem is its only there for a month after that they pack it away...

you sir, are an idiot!

It's a lovely idea. But the MAIN stumbling block is not getting a crowd. It's getting the venue and sorting the tv rights. At the end of the day, Sky will have the main say in where it's held because they'll be the ones showing the game. Would they really want to spend the extra cash involved in setting up a one off broadcast for a minority sport?

I'd love to see the game expand, but I'm not sure that this is the right way to do it. We're not football. We don't have a couple of spare million quid in the game to just throw away on a one off game which, let's be fair, is pretty meaningless to all except the club that wins it and then that's only if that club is a SL one.

Well argued... for an Australian



Particularly an Australian based in Sydney which can't even attract a decent attendance for an international these days, hence why it's completely overlooked in favour of Brisbane and..... wait for it..... Newcastle.

They had to give tickets away for free in Sydney during the World Cup in 2008.

Yeah, pity I'm not in Sydney eh?

Club Rugby Union is just as much of a minority sport yet Sky supported Wasps v Quins in Abu Dhabi in a minority cup game. There is no reason to suggest Sky wouldnt cover a WCC game in the Middle East.

Saracans are playing Biarritz in a Heineken Cup game in Cape Town and Sky will probably show that as well.