I liked the look of the MK Stadium when they played Chelsea at the weekend. It would make sense to use the stadium (maybe a future semi final?), 30k capacity, north of M25 so easier for us all to get back from but still close enough to be classed more or less as "London".

a bolder move would be to play scotland vs england in scotland, maybe at hearts and market it as a battle with the auld enemy. scots usually turn up to any sporting event when it involves playing england, and you would get a decent numer of travelling england fans going up for a weekend away in the capital. surely even the rfl could market this one.

Again, I don't really see the point in spending big money on marketing an event to a group of people that, however interested they are, have nothing to follow it up with. Fine if Scotland is a strategic development area but I don't think it is. If 10,000 people from Edinburgh love it and want more RL what do they do, unless we have Magic Weekend back up there in 2017?

One event should follow another, have Magic in a city, then follow it up with an international in the same year to build on the first marketing effort.

It would ve great for the game to have the profile to take games on the road and guarantee sell outs / but with the limited financial and marketing resources that the sport has we have to do things a bit smarter.

For Me all England games must be in ENGLAND

So for me

Rd: 1

Scotland V Australia - The game to be In Scotland (not too familiar with stadia 20k max capacity one though)
England V NZ (wigan)

Rd: 2

Scotland V NZ
England V Australia (Id be happy with an Olypic Stadium or Wembley double Header)


RD: 3

England V Scotland (Headingley if the bulldozers are not in If not Huddersfield)
Australia V NZ (Langtree)


Final:

City Of Manchester

Lets avoid Old Trafford. The only thing in it's favour is the capacity, but most seats are uncomfortable; and I hate the narrow in-goal, it's going to cause a serious injury one day.

Got to start well:

Round 1:
Double header at Wembley (I would prefer the Olympic Stadiums size but having gone to it in November I thought it was a bloody awful stadium)
England v Australia
Scotland v NZ

Round 2:
Australia v NZ - St Helens/Wigan
Scotland v England - Huddersfield

Round 3:
Double header at St James Park
England v NZ
Scotland v Australia

Final at Etihad

I've got to say I preferred the old Tri Nations format of playing each team twice. Gave the comp more "heft" to it and kept it in the media for longer. If England don't make the final it's effectively over and done with in 2 weeks.

League Express reckons-
Rd 1-
Rd2- Ricoh- Aus v NZ & Eng v Sco
Rd 3-
Final- Anfield

In the gaps somewhere 1 match in London, 1 in Scotland, others in the heartlands

Scotland vs England at Coventry would work best. A poor selling game in the north but smashing the Scots and lots of points make it a good sell to a newbie.

NZ vs Australia would be a good bet for London as the last game at the Stoop got some real interest going with the ex-pats. Unless they fancy trying the Olympic Stadium again, which was a great success last year.

England vs NZ/Australia will work anywhere in the north or London. Hull for the NZ game is a good bet as they have a poor record there. A win against NZ will get us into the final and that means £££ for the RFL. Maybe Wigan for the Australia game as that gives Lancashire a game.

The other two Scotland games are hard sells regardless of where they are. Maybe have these as double header openers?

Anfield sounds exciting but if you think there is no leg room at Old Trafford then you have never sat in the Centenary stand.

'More or less London'? Ask an AFC Wimbledon fan about MK being 'more or less London'!

I think Anfield is a great suggestion, it's an historic world famous ground with a great atmosphere, and with the new tier they are bulldog capacity will be approx 54k with new corporate facilities. Liverpool is also a massive northern city where we don't get much coverage (despite Widnes and Saints not being too far away)

Not keen on the ideas of Coventry and Milton Keynes, both places aren't the kind that would attract many northern fans to go down for the weekend like London would, and we would need thousands of fans to travel from the heartlands to make it work.

The aim is to attract other supporters from around the country, not just northerners.

Buy Sky Sports memberships, products from advertisers, merchandise etc, thus giving us a better negotiating position for TV and advertising deals. Go to the odd game when in the UK, or make special trips to watch finals etc. Take up playing the game. Spread the word that rugby league actually exists so others might get involved. I used to think along the same lines as you but when i thought about it more there is still a lot to be gained from putting events on in areas where there are no pro clubs nearby.

If it is Anfield, I feel sorry for the people who get tickets at the back of the bottom tier of the Anfield Road End. It's like watching the game through a postbox back there.

But we can get that AND the possibility of "new" people going to clubs if we hold the games in areas where there is at least some RL pro or semi pro presence. Newcastle or Manchester for instance.

England v NZ & Scotland v Australia - Murrayfield or either of the Auld Firm stadiums. Doddle to get to by train, Virgin Trains are now in partnership with the RFL and hopefully they can get some sort of ticket deal involved.

England v Scotland - Heartlands,

England v Australia - Wembley (sod it, what's to lose?)

Scotland v NZ - Firhill? 10k capacity, Glasgow?

Final - Anfield, Etihad

They should do an England - Scotland, New Zealand - Australia double header in London. That way it's a pretty much guaranteed win for England and hopefully a close, good quality game for the Antipodean population. Preferably at Wembley as the Olympic Stadium is a poohole of the highest order.

If there is to be a game in Scotland, if they have it in Glasgow the logical choice will be Firhill. If they decide to take it to Edinburgh, then Tynecastle or Easter Road could be a possibility.

I'd love to see Scotland v England at Ibrox but it just wouldn't be feasible.

Especially as the natives wouldn't know who to support.

I wonder if the four nations will be launched and venues announced this weekend, with England coach Wayne Bennett and all the Aussies over.

It's quicker and easier for fans east of the pennines to get to MK and Coventry than it is liverpool. Theres also plenty of amatuer clubs in the vicinity of both as well as other Southern based fans that make up at least half of the tickets sold for Internationals at the big London venues so tbh 'Northerners' need not hold out for reduced tickets as per to make it worthwhile.
Anfield is outdated with crappy seating, the Anfield area itself is a complete dump in a not very nice area.
If the RFL go with Anfield for one of the big games I for one wouldn't bother attending.

Bloody hope so but I'd reckon for the sake of a few days, they'll do it after the World Club Challenge, or at least on the night of the Rhinos v Cowboys game (when they've sold all the tickets & can start plugging the next lot!).
Read the other day that despite all of the Anfield chat, Elland Road and Etihad are still favourites for the final

Cant be much longer, I think the world cup tickets went on sale about start of march so I would reckon that would be a good bet. Any of those 3 stadiums would be fine for the final, about right size to have a genuine go at filling cos international attendances are going up and whatever you might think about the bbc they have been plugging the game more; a few years ago they wouldn't have put the test series on. I for one am going to try to get to all the England game where ever they end up.

If only there was a east-to-west motorway, linking, say, Hull and Liverpool.

Oh....

The venues should have been announced and tickets made available in November following the NZ Series, right off the back off some exposure and positivity around England RL.

I'm not sure why the RFL seem to leave it so late.


World Cup Tickets should be announced at least my May to allow fans to plan their journeys over to Aus (or wherever else).