You can link them, fine, but going on about them is for the Sin Bin.

Crack on.

Do it without Oz and NZ!

And announce it asap!

Invitational squads, replacement countries, byes - who cares. Just host it! If Oz/NZ change their mind within reasonable time then so be it but don't hang around waiting for them.

The world cup is bigger than them and too important to postpone/cancel - regardless of what they might think.

I believe that something close to 67% of the players at RLWC 2013 came from Australia or New Zealand.....the NRL clubs have supported the ARL/NZRL stance...so where are we going to get the players to play in this RLWC?

Will fans and more importantly sponsors expecting to see the best players in the world still pay to sponsor or watch scotland v Italy in Newcastle when the game will be at best League 1 standard........Without the NRL players England will probably face PNG at Emirates in London......whilst whomever gets through the other side of the draw will await to be pummelled in the final.....all broadcast on BBC to a million viewers who will notice the swathes of empty seats.....
...and then you'll have the fall out......probably a loss making cup that could well cripple the game in the UK for decades.

Sorry, but as much as I abhor the decision made by the ANZACS, they have killed this stone dead!.....I'd cancel the whole thing and start planning for France 2025.

The aus/nz/nrl players want to play, so let them come and play. The world cup relies on players, not the NRL nor any one country's inward looking administrators.

And frankly, there are plenty of teams worth watching that aren't auz/nz.

All the various pacific islands, PNG, england and france alone = more than enough to have a decent competition and get as much RL on the BBC as possible. Getting RL on BBC is the single most important thing in my eye. RL is doing gangbusters in south hemisphere and needs more free-tv/BBC exposure in the NH.

Don't forget, this event is not just mens either - its also womens and wheelchair. They don't rely on NRL say so at all - and will also hopefully add to BBC being RL-dominated for a long period of time in a bit of a sport vacuum.

The time is now - all plans have been made and will be very very difficult to delay by a year - if they let NRL clubs/etc bully them out of doing it now then NRL clubs/etc will simply continue to be bullies.

And do you really think any UK/global neutral will care that whichever Oz star isn't there? Of course not. Watch the olympics now - does anyone know who anyone is until they start watching? No! Does anyone care who is missing that day due to injury/doping bans//Russian bans/boycotts/covid/whatever reason? No!

The sport needs to prove that it is bigger than the domestic game in one country.

The NRL clubs pay the players wages and insurance.....mot sure about you, but if one of my staff were to ignore my instructions to not put themselves in harms way or play games and get injured, I'd expect them to either adhere or resign.


Good luck with that...

Pick the NZ/Aus players based in Europe.

There aren't enough of them.

Hammersmith Hills Hoists would probably win it

80 days to the world cup and all we hear from the RLWC committee is how badly done to they are and nothing of the tournament or how it is going ahead or cancelled.

Just over 2 months to kick off and no one has a clue if it going ahead.

Unfortunately, it's not just Australia and New Zealand, it's all of the NRL players and the nations that they would represent.
Even England would be at half strength, which as we saw in the warm up game a few weeks ago, isn't great.

Unless players that want to take part from the NRL are allowed to do so, it's game over.

The only issue for me here is that Australian atheletes and sportsmen for pretty much every other sport on the planet are finding ways to compete overseas and yet, the NRL say no and that, is just plain wrong.

They are putting their domestic competition above everything else and to the detriment of the rest of the world.

How can this be right ?

It's no wonder the game is going down the pan.

RLWC is to be postponed....announcement later this week. [urlhttps://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugby/arid-40351961.html[/url
Refunds, sponsors walking.....I can't see this happening next year, but if it does, the Aussies are in for an eye opener when they see how small the sport is compared to the FIFA jamboree we will be up against....

Its the correct decision and I dont think the situation is as bad as you suggest.

Most sponsors are used to disruption right now and will be understanding, in some cases their logo will now be on the website and posters for a whole year longer which is a benefit to them.

Yes the Football World Cup gives a challenge, but there are still some empty nights during that tournament, not every group game is must see and the BBC share coverage with ITV so will still have some free slots. A bonus is it means the Football grounds we have booked will be empty.

Also gives them a chance to rethink a few of the games as they now have months of live sales data to see what is selling and what isn't.

If the dates are kept the same, there is only a one-week overlap.

Good spot.

Also just read the Football will kickoff on Monday 21st Nov, so that weekend is free for the Semi's. It is just the final we may need to move, but even then its really only clashes with an England game that creates a massive problem. We may need to ask BBC and Old Trafford if they can be flexible on kickoff time, pending final decision when 5he Football draw is made.

No confidence in them coming next year or for a few after that. Covid isn’t going anywhere and unless we find a way of going over the top of the NRL, they’ll ride the excuse for as long as they can. We’re simply kicking the problem down the street for 12 months. It’s 12 months they need to use getting in to the players Unions to work out a fall back plan.

When will Australia and NZ commit to come to the postponed tournament, and will they pull out again after committing (like NZ did this year). That is a question for Mr Dutton to answer. I wish him well.

A very sad day for our sport. The game will end up being a Northern curiosity with the same niche audience as sheep dog trials. The NRL will end up fighting with Aussie rules for the hearts of a small tiny country, they have left the door wide open for the Union borefest to take over. & probably soccer to eventually take a big slice of their audience as it has a vast international competitive programme. I can’t forgive the cowardly self centred attitude of the NRL clubs who have destroyed the game I have played, coached & suported since the early 1960’s. At least it will allow us to finish our season by extending the time to allow all clubs to complete the missed games. I don’t think we will ever see another Australian side in the UK again, which is all the more depressing as we have just watched their hockey & soccer teams competing today in Japan. I am at a loss for words to express the contempt I hold the cowardly actions of the Australians & the NRL.

We should pump some lottery money into rugby league, then we'll batter the aussies at it like we do at sports they're supposed to be good at like swimming and triathlon

A massive first step would be to get RL 9's as an Olympic competition...

Oh good. we can all go on enjoying it as we have done for it's 125 years and counting as a "northern curiosity"....

This is so bloody frustrating. My thoughts were that the WC should go ahead without Aus and NZ but I know that was always unlikely and impractical. The NRL has got the game by the short and curlies. They are clearly liars, putting their competition before the international game under the pretext of player welfare and they are using their (undoubted) strength to hold the rest of the game to ransom. The NRL has put the WC organisers in an impossible position but giving in to bullies never ends well. I don’t know how but the RFL needs to take the lead now in shifting the balance of power in the game back towards the northern hemisphere.

Edit - Will moving to a 10 team Super League be the answer? I’m not so sure it will.

It's not what I wanted to see but it's not unexpected. I personally would have ploughed on with it because this has basically killed off the international game now.

Premier League, Serie A, La Liga are all having to deal with the world cup being played in Qatar in the middle of the season next year. Yet our world cup (which will now get zero coverage thanks to it probably ending the week before the FIFA world cup starts) is postponed because one domestic league can't bear pushing the start date back by a fortnight.

Do people still wonder why we get no coverage in the press? We're a gimmick laden joke of a sport that's happy to pee it's heritage down the drain.

What happens next year when Australia is still not at zero cases?

I'm guessing it won't stop the aussies and kiwis sending teams to Birmingham for the commonwealth games but as well all know this decision has shaft all to do with player welfare.

There can never be a power shift as long as players in SL are paid so much less.