I don’t think we can call the NRL a disgrace when we allow teams over here to embarrass the league without consequence.

It is time to get nasty, tell the NRL that we require all England, Ireland, Scotland & Welsh qualified players released .If they refuse fine the ARL also encourage Fiji, Tonga, PNG & Samoa to do the same as their governing body’s are missing out on a potentially much needed cash handouts.
Can anyone here imagine the stink if England refused to play in the ashes series this winter.
They could have had all their players vaccinated by now ( my son a resident of Sydney has managed to get both his no problem) just stinks of parochial self interest. I hope if they manage to arrange some sort of end of season we can all show our support & fill whatever ground to the roof just to spite the winging cowards.

One where the government should step in and try get their counterparts down under to help move things along. Not holding my breath with this lot though

Not a bloody chance mate.
If this was Football or maybe even Union, there could be a chance of some intervention but, for Rugby League ?
I'm not even sure that Bojo & Co even know that the sport exists.

Theres an easy solution to that! Just bring it back one week next year, so it ends the weekend before the football starts. Huge chance to piggy back on the football hysteria and build up that way.....promote it as back to back world cups....you'd get lots of casual football fans involved. YOu'd also get a few of them reflecting upon their choices after watching a great RL event so close to what will (bar the odd game) be a football borefest!

If we can't promote a WC on these shores immediately before the soccer WC we never can....
get your England flags up 4 weeks early and support us in back to back world cups!!
Want to watch England but can't get to Qatar....RL world cup etc
There's so many ways we could utlise the football Wc by going immediately before it!

This the same prime minister who has put 25 million into the staging of this World Cup? I would think a lot of the MPs around the areas affected by this cancellation might just be starting to kick up a fuss.

Is the Olympics being ridiculed because athletes are having to pull out due to testing positive for COVID?

The only way forward is to continue with the plan to run the tournament. Australia and New Zealand told the organisers 4 minutes before they went public with the announcement that they were pulling out - they hold them in contempt. Treat them with the same respect.

Do you really believe that ?
The biggest problem for the W/C being cancelled will be any further debt incurred by our sport, which is already on life support.

That is not a 1:1 comparison.

If the 100m race had the 3 fastest runners pull out then yeah whoever went on to win it would be a shallow win.

The Olympics has enough athletes in which any such event shouldn't just become a 1 horse race. No more than it would be before any pull outs.

Do you honestly think a world cup without Aus and NZ would mean anything?

An England win would be as shallow as it could get. The final would be the ultimate embarrassment with England probably winning 50-0 or something.

That would be ridiculed and deservedly so.

There are players who don't want to get vaccines and thats there right. Secondly vaccination doesn't mean you don't get covid.

As for threatening to demand damages, good luck with that when there is a pandamic. Any judge would throw it out simply by assessing the risk.

The problem here is the NRL is the biggest and most lucrative RL competition in the world and State of Origin the biggest single game - it is far the biggest series in the game. The NRL is bigger than international RL, it doesn't need an international presence to generate interest - in fact its a hinderance. It a bit like the NFL - its bigger than the sport itself.

Perhaps if we could field a team that beat them they might be more inclined to participate - but we all know they are in a different league - why sacrifice so much for a gentle run out to win the WC

Anyone suggesting push on without them wants their heads examining.
We struggle with credibility with the RL WC as it is. If Aus and NZ don't come, the likely final would be England v Fiji or Tonga. With full sides they would both be competitive....Tonga could probably win the WC over England atm....but the obvious driving force behind this is the NRL....not the governing bodies, who have simply rowed in.

So if not safe enough for Aus and NZ NRL players to travel, the NRL islands players, who make them competitive are not going to travel either. So realistically you're looking at islands sides from local players on the islands or the NSW cup (Championship / lower SL level).

On that basis....england have a procession to the final, probably not winning a game by less than 40 pts, with the final itself probably a 40pt thrashing. It is a non event!

Quite simply the only realistic options they have are i) get them back onside ii) defer to next year iii) create some sort of micky mouse NZ and Aus sides based on SL players (or worse a combined Australasian side....This is RL...I would not put it past them)

i) is extremely unlikely now they've gone public and were probably looking at 1-200k daily cases by the time it comes around. iii) makes the game look a joke, although in true RL fashion is probably the most likely

, in which case the comp is probably dead in the long run as sponsors will inevitably withdraw.

The only sensible one is ii) Next year.

Bring it forward by a week next year so the final finishes before the Wendyball WC. Gives you a perfect platform to market it as back to back world cups....get your flags up early, and pull in some football fans to go to matches etc!

Yep the TV ratings wouldn't be pretty either. A couple of 40 point thrashings would see interest die v quickly and the final wouldnt be well watched either.

I don't know the real reasons behind the NRL’s decision - the concerns over health risks, quarantine, annual leave, delayed season start etc are all valid but seem to me to be solvable with a bit of imagination and goodwill on their part. My worry is that this seems like blackmail and giving in to the Aussie demands just gives the impression of weakness and will result in the international game being further weakened to virtual non existence. If the Pacific Islanders can’t raise full strength teams (presumably it’s up to their own governing bodies not the NRL) then I don’t think there’s any alternative but to delay til next year. But, if Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, PNG etc can raise teams I’d put England ‘A’ in place of Australia and a Combined Nations All Stars in place of NZ. A bit weird I know but it would actually be a more competitive and unpredictable competition. Oz and the Kiwis can just play each other ad nauseam.
Does anyone know if the women’s and disability teams are affected by this decision?

More like vaccine island.



To my way of thinking, if they're not doing this because of safety issues by that logic they're not going to travel for any international tournaments again because this thing is in circulation and will be around indefinitley and we need to live with it.

Maybe but, it's reasonable to assume that, with regards to the virus, we and they will be in a better position at some point in the future and any excuse not to travel will be gone or, at least massively reduced.
I agree with KevsHead that, IF they wanted to participate they would find a way, after all, most/every other sport seems to be doing so.
Cricket is carrying on on the international stage, Union, Tennis, Golf etc, etc and of course the Olympics.
There may well be some genuine concerns regarding the virus and it's fair to assume that there will be some issues during the tournament but, they really dont seem to be trying to take part or in fact even wanting to(unless they have asked for certain things that are not in the public domain (bio secure bubbles or something ?).and if they are ducking the World Cup, there really is no hope for the international game at all. It's scandalous.

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... ssion=true

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/r ... ssion=true

Their Union sides are touring over here in the Autumn. It’s got nothing to do with player welfare and everything to do with NRL arrogance. Play it without them and make them qualify for the next one, make sure it’s recognised in the rankings and if they don’t release Australian based players for the other nations fine them.

Surely they can simply point at the numerous SL games being called off and say that's the reason why.

Like it ie not no NRL games get called off due to covid while in England it's frequently seeing RL games cancelled.

In fact has any other sport in the UK seen as many called off games like Rugby League has?

NRL and SL are domestic league competitions not international campaigns.

This is because the ARLC are cuckholded by NRL. Fine make sure their international teams pay for it. If they want to play in the next work cup make them send teams to Georgia or Serbia on a Tuesday night during the NRL season to qualify.

That is a problem, but on the flip side it means Premier League grounds will be empty and they may be up for the bar takings during a dead month.

I've long had concerns over the new format anyway. The last few world cups they did two good groups with more teams going through, and two groups of smaller teams with only the winner going through. This meant closer group games and the smaller teams who made it through to the Quarters were at least in-form.

This time they went with spreading the teams out so we've got poor Greece facing England in their first World Cup run out, which will be a landslide even if England rest a few players.

A competition without two of three top sides isn't worth holding - move on to 2022

Wrong!
They’ve chosen not to travel and their unilateral decision shouldn’t be allowed to derail the whole tournament. I don’t know what a modified World Cup would look like but the teams that do take part can only play what’s in front of them. There’ll be a new name on the trophy and that’s what will go in the records.

Who'd trust them not to bottle out again?