Not to get into this again but this would be the 'stupid lines' which meant that every team bar one won a game, no team scored more than 52 points against another, two of the three pools were so tight they needed to be separated by points difference and that no team had an easier run to the final than any other in terms of games played (i.e. Four).

FWIW aren't they extending the number of teams anyhow so it will be a different system. But I sincerely hope they stick with the major and minor pools idea, especially if they want to get the crowds in. RU fans may be happy to watch 100 point lopsided scorelines in their World Cups but most RL fans are not.

it would be great to have the opener anf final at wembley, but it would be costly for the fans, wembley and the f.a. have to claw back a hell of a lot of money since wembley was finished and tickets will not be cheap.

the new olympic stadium would be ideal imo for the opening game, as for the final, keep it up north.

Opening game featuring England to be at one of the major soccer grounds in the north not OT

Other group games to take place in RL grounds around the UK

Semi Final double at OT (if allowed but I doubt it)

Final at Wembley

And Aus could win all of them... Well apart from Footy.

Point is.........get everything agreed now, publish schedules and grounds early and let people pay on the drip! Seriously, if the game wants to widen its appeal (and it does) then get people to pay now by direct debit and fill stadiums. Somehow, I won't be suprised if they cock this up, but if they fix dates and venues now, then coach travel/trains/hotels etc can be sorted and by the time the event kicks off, people will only have to pay for beer and food.
As for the new olympic stadium......I am no fan of peering past 8 lanes of running track to see my rugby! Wembley for me....every time. Nothing would beat a full wembley for a game against the Austalians......and the World Cup Final being played at the most Iconic stadium in the world has to be a winner. Old Trafford is fine for the GF, but imagine the media coverage if England were to win their first proper silverware at Wembley since 1966

Even better if there were a few cockneys in the team

Add to that the Champions League final in 2011, 2014 Commonwealth games, and probably the 2019 20-20 World Cup.

Praise the Lord, someone speaks sense. The only reason Union fans want to watch South Africa beat The Vatican 180-0 is because its the only way any tries will be scored.

Rugby League needs exciting and competitive matches to draw in the crowds. A tournament with poor crowds is an instant failure. The 2008 World Cup averaged well above the 10,000 mark IIRC with the final selling out months in advance. A tough task in the middle of the football season for the RFL to sell enough tickets for the tournament to be creditable and a success.

It's been reported elswhere there will be 12 countries next time 'round, and realistically a structure like the last one is to be expected. That suggests 3 groups of 4 (18 group games), two quarter-finals, two semi-finals, the final and maybe 3 ranking games if they continue with those. In other words, 23 or 26 games altogether. With that in mind, venues should be chosen in a similar way to 1995, most in the heartlands but a few more non-heartland ones next time that should include one or two Midlands cities.

In 1995 most stadiums hosted 1 game each, except for Wembley, Ninian Park and Galpharm Stadium. Ninian Park was the only one to hold 2 group games. On that basis, they would need 20-23 venues which would allow some games to be held in Wales, France and the Midlands. All should hold at least 15,000 with no more than 1 or 2 exceptions. All should also able to accomodate a full-length 100 metre field of play, and all should be identically marked with solid, numbered lines so the games all look good on TV.

As in 1995 the Final should be at Wembley and one Semi-Final in Manchester. The other Semi-Final and both Quarter-Finals should be at venues able to hold not less than 25,000.

There should be a sliding scale of ticket prices with family packages (e.g. two adult and two kids' or seniors' tickets for the same price as two adult ones) and discounts when buying tickets for 2 or more games at one time (e.g., 10% off for 2 games, 20% off for 3, 30% off for 4 or something like that). Venues should be picked based on where teams will likely be good draws, e.g. PNG in Hull to draw on Stanley Gene's popularity there. To attract fans to any new stadium used, there should be attractive ticket packages for any such venues.

Surely the opening game England vs Australia has to be played @ Wembley,the organisers would have rocks in there head if they didn't consider it.

For a few reasons. I think we've all got out of the habit of going to Wembley in recent years and the cost of the ground would put loads off.

I'm a Wigan fan and we've got a cup semi coming up but the chance to go to this Wembley does not appeal one bit because I know it is one huge expensive rip off. If they moved the cup final back to Cardiff I'd be a happy bunny. Of course the chance to win a cup appeals greatly but not the ground anymore. It's historical value is gone for me.

For a match guareenteed to involve England fair enough play in at Wembley but a NZ v Aus final at Wembley would be poor in my view. The Tri Nations crowd in 2005 for example was 32% down when GB wern't involved in 2005 compared to 2004. The ground looks bad enough with that always empty corporate area the tv cameras focus on opposite. Looks dreadful!

If they can get the final at Old Trafford thats where it should be in my view. Especially now OT is nearly as big as Wembley in capacity.

The other bad thing about 2000 was Sky broadcast it (albeit in parternship with the BBC) and if I recall England v Australia at Twickenham and the two semis at least kicked off at 6pm at night. Definetly need afternoon kick offs at weekends.

We need more ambition that that tbh

Weve done the first bit, what we need to do now is ensure we also are playing our WC at big venues and getting games on national tv to ensure we get good exposure.

This is RLs big chance....we need to market the hell out of it and market the WC as the 'RUGBY WORLD CUP' we have as much right as union do so lets use it, create some confusion and pick up new fans as a bi product.

Then when the Rugby (sic) World cup comes around in 2015 joe blogs average soccer fan who gets drawn in will be sat there going...why is this world cup not a patch on the last one



Lets get in there first, show the country our game, and let the product do the talking.

THE RUGBY WORLD CUP. Use large venues similar to union along with games at Salford (new ground), Saints (New Ground), Wigan, Huddersfield, Hull cheap tickets, double headers etc, sell the hell out of it. Have the smaller games in the heartlands where they wil get decent crowds and england games in expansion areas.

Other stadiums I would use would be; Old Trafford - Eng Vs Aus - Derby - say England v NZ, Swansea - say Wales V NZ, Reading - say Aus V Nz, Cardiff Soccer ground- Say Wales. Semi Final double header CofManchester with a final at wembley.

With smaller grounds like Wires / Doncaster / Widnes / Harlequins holding smaller pool games.

Therefore you would have a list of venues as such -

Wembley 90k
Old Trafford 75k
C of Man 50k
Derby 30k
Cardiff 30k
Swansea 25k
Reading 25k
Wigan 25k
St Helens 18k
Salford 20k
Huddersfield 25k
Doncaster 15k
Widnes 14k
Warrington 14k
Harlequins 13k
Wire / leigh 13k

For me thats 15/16 perfect venues suited to RL and can be matched to match the tie that is being played. THat list is as impressive as the union boys list and keeps more money in our game.....We have expansion areas, while also having rugby played at 9 grounds of the 16 that are RL grounds!

This is our chance to really make something of our game and IMO we've got to grab the bull by the hornes otherwise we could really end up as a secondary sport come 2015 once the union boys get all the media hysteria.

Think big, sell Sell sell, get the game on national tv (split contract with sky) and get the games sold out. Every club in the country should be given tickets to sell an allocation like union do, and i would start making links with the Soccer clubs NOW whos grounds we are using to ensure we get big crowds.....it can be achieved but just needs planning, foresight and a bit of balls!!!

The RFL you MUST stand up and be counted for the future of our game on this one!

Oh and us the fans.....Every one of us should make it priority that we attend a number of games.....we've got to support the game.

It should definitely be in London, but I'd be inclined to look at a slightly smaller venue like Emirates Stadium. The 1995 opener only drew a bit over 41,000.

Just watched Sky Sports News and as usual we were made to look like a second rate sport in comparison to Rugby Union. Sky gave several minutes to officials and ex-players Greenwood and Carling and we were lucky to get 1 minute of Tony "you know" Smith.

Mind you the Rugby Union were able to state the stadiums that they will be using like Old Trafford, Elland Road in the north, Wembley and Twickenham in the South and the Millenium Stadium for a couple of games plus other stadiums here and there.

They were also able to say that the RU competition would have prices as low as £7 for some games with the highest price being £81, and they expect people from the four home nations plus France, Italy, Romania, etc, to also attend in numbers. They also expect to make roughly £300 million on the competition.

All this and their competition will take place 2 years after ours!!!! I wonder if we will see 10,000 Aussies ove here for the competition. Then again maybe not.

this attendance isnt good enough
if it had been in brisbane there would have been a much higher crowd
we should learn from that in 2013
take the games to the heartlands and tried and tested venues where we know people will turn up!

another essential is it MUST be on the BBC, the 1995 cup was on tv and I have so many memories of that tournament, 2000 was on sky and i dont know much about that save the final and the games i attended

hopefully we can start building to this
every international the coaches and players need to be talking about the world cup

I think theres a gap in the international calendar for 2012
if so we should play 3 ashes tests at Wembley, Old trafford and Elland road as a way to build the profile going into 2013

Good for them. We've got enough time to sort out how much we're going to charge, and where we're going to play. Now is not a time to panic!

For Tv rights in the UK I wouldnt let SKy any where near them. Let it go to a Free to Air TV channel (If the BBC want it make sure it is all broadcasted on BBC2 or 3 and no regional opt outs.)

Let them pay peanuts if they wish, you can make it up on international rights.

For the next 4 years the RFL should be banging this competition at everyone. And lets get some decent sponsors and not Leeds Met, Irn Bru etc

Big names needed.

Just seeing News at ten and we get a mention but the union gets full wack but I am guessing that the announcament in Singapore didnt have a big press conferance like the Union one.

At the moment it looks like a PR disaster against the RUGBY WORLD CUP and I`m pretty dissapointed.

RU had a Bid process(however manufactured) with the details being widely circulated in the press even before todays announcement.

Was it even common knowledge that there was going to be an announcement today for the RL world cup.

Drawing a line under today we need to move forward quickly.

We need a tournement structure and venues decided quickly. Tickets should be on sale by next year.

We need structured qualifying which EVERY RL playing nation can enter.

The last tournament blew out the notion there is little appetite for an international rugby league tournament within our game.

There were some great games among the "lesser nations"

We can`t fear blow out scores and we need to have a wide appeal to the game.

It has to be profitable but we have to avoid the totally manufactured grouping last time which would be ridiculed in the UK and felt like a tri nations bolted on to a world cup.

The 3 things I would Like the powers that be to consider would be

1 Give our world cup a unique Brand - RU has won that battle already. We have great brands in RL - challenge cup, grand finals, state of origin, superleague lets create another thats is ours.

2 Get 12 teams in minimum and aim for 16 for the next one as part of this I would suggest an emerging nations rep team with players selected from teams that fail to qualify max 3 from a nation.

3 England should play the defending champions NZ in the first game.

I would therefore like to see a seeded draw of

GRP1 GRP2 GRP3

ENG AUS Emerging nations
NZ PNG Q4
Q1 France Q5
Q2 Q3 Q6

All first round games double headers

1st 2nd & 3 in grp 1 and 2 into Last Eight
1st & 2nd in group 3 into Last eight

Then have a finals series or a traditional quarters whichever makes more sense financially.

The poor crowd for the Oz V Fiji game was never going to be a big crowd.
The game had no bearing on anything and Australia does not have a large Fijian immigrant base unlike Samoans. Tongans and Kiwis.
It was a training run for Australia so that figure represents the interest.
Australia should have played England in the first game at Suncorp, the Aussies never got chance to see an Oz v England game in the heartland.

Considering the NRL is set up only for the purpose to run the elite 16 team NRL competition I don't think they would give a flying Cunningham.

The more I think about this decision, the more of a disaster it looks like it will be.


Just think about the audience for the game.



Yeah, good support in the North of England, but no one else in the UK will care at all. And please....I don't need bullsh*t about how they give a stuff in Wales or Scotland or Ireland, you're talking about a few thousand people at best!


So the biggest drawcard of the tournament, England, cant pull a crowd outside of Manchester, Leeds and Hull. Wow.....what a great footing for the World Cup.


The people that support Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France are out numbered by the people that care about Samoa that its a disgrace they ever thought of sending the WC to the Northern Hemisphere.


Expect it to be the last WC for a good 10 years or so.

As someone in that "Heartland", not seeing England play was not a problem at all.


Instead we got to see quality teams like Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

Having a hissy fit LF?



The issue with the World Cup is to stop thinking about it solely in terms of a sporting competition, and far more in terms of an EVENT. This is what was done pretty well in Aus last year, and I suspect next time round here that angle will be bigger and better. If you do that, given the advance notice, there's no reason why you can't sell out say the opening fixture (Eng v Aus presumably), semis and final a long way in advance.

I'd also let les frogs play their games in France, and market the comp in the same way.

Only by making it an event will you get any kind of crowds to games not involving the big 3 (or 4 if you include France) and not just have spectators limited to league fans. Choice of venue will also be important there.

In terms of TV, I'd suggest that Sky have to release matches in their entirety to free-to-air (even if this reduces TV revenue, as said, it should encourage bigger sponsors to get involved), and get ITV + BBC to bid for those rights, which would include obligations to show games.

Hopefully the RFL have learned a lot from the last time they hosted the WC, and from the way it was run in Oz.

BTW LF and co, there's no way you can point to 15k for an Australia game as anything other than cr*p. The Wallabies would fill SFS/any venue they choose for a WC game against anyone.

Thats because the Wallabies have more than one opponent who is anywhere near up to standard. I've written more about this decision here: www.leaguefreak.com/news.php?readmore=659 And yeah, I'm p*ssed off about it. The 2008 World Cup was an amazing success that did so much for the Rugby league playing communities in the Southern Hemisphere. The people that drive the game world wide. Now...well, we all remember what happened in 2000.

Thats because the Wallabies have more than one opponent who is anywhere near up to standard. I've written more about this decision here: www.leaguefreak.com/news.php?readmore=659 And yeah, I'm p*ssed off about it. The 2008 World Cup was an amazing success that did so much for the Rugby league playing communities in the Southern Hemisphere. The people that drive the game world wide. Now...well, we all remember what happened in 2000.

You actually make some good points in that article and talk sense for once LF.

HOWEVER, the RFL have 4 years to get themselves in gear and prepare for this. They managed it in 1992 and 1995 afterall.

My thoughts would be to keep the same format as 2008 only swap PNG and France.

Group A:

England/Australia/France/NZ - games to be played in class A stadiums

Group B:

Wales and 2 Qualifiers - games to be played in South Wales

Group C:

Scotland/Ireland/PNG - games to be played in either class B stadiums or Scotland and Ireland.

Obviously with relation to stadiums it depends upon new grounds and renovations, but i'd try to split it evenly between Lancs and Yorks.

The Major semi finals will be at Hull, Huddersfield or Wigan and the final at Wembley.

The minor semi final (group b v group c winner) at a class B stadium such as Widnes or Warrington, whilst the 'positional games' will be at smaller venues.

Imagine this as an itinerary:

Group A:

England v NZ - Wigan
Australia v France - Widnes
England v Australia - Hull/Huddersfield
France v NZ - Leeds
England v France - Doncaster
NZ V Australia - Twickenham Stoop or wherever Quins are then

Group B:

Wales v Qualifier - Bridgend

Qualifier v Qualifier - Bridgend

Wales v Qualifier - Cardiff/Swansea

Group C:

Ireland v Scotland - Castleford

Scotland v PNG - Halifax

Ireland v PNG - Bradford

Winner B v Winner C - Warrington
B2 v C2 - Halifax
C3 v B3 - Bradford

Semi Final 1 - Wigan
Semi Final 2 - Huddersfield/Hull

Final - Wembley

Like I said, grounds are subject to those build. Maybe St Helens or Salford could be used for example.