Lucky 2013 for rugby league?

I don’t mean to be a grouch – honest I don’t – but you’ve really got to hand it to the RFL. When is the best time to launch a Rugby League World Cup and a critically important one at that?

How about at 8.00pm on a sub-zero Tuesday night after the first editions of tomorrow’s national newspapers are all safely put to bed? Check √. On the eve (or thereabouts) of an announcement confirming the location of the 2018 round-ball global extravaganza – you know the one currently hogging the world headlines thanks to a BBC Panorama gallant exposé/traitorous act* (*delete according to preference) of alleged bribes within FIFA? Check √. The day after publication of the only two newspapers guaranteed to give the event in-depth coverage, League Express and League Weekly? Check √. And two days after the UK’s only monthly rugby league magazine, Rugby League World, goes to print, thereby ensuring it misses the story entirely? Check √, with a dirty great big pink bow on. God forbid that the trade press should be allowed to get anyone excited, eh?

Still, mustn’t grumble. At least the RFL is actually willing to stage the thing again and there are several things to like about this, the freshly unveiled 14th such tournament, aside of course from the fact that it is going to be on at all.

That the venue of tonight’s ‘kick-off’ event was Salford’s new MediaCityUK development is clearly a good sign. Even the Red Hall bods can see how important a MediaCity presence is going to be for rugby league in the years ahead, so kudos for clocking on to that. It is also good to see that the coalition Government has been persuaded to get behind the 2013 World Cup which will be jointly hosted by England and Wales.

Speaking in the promotional video, Prime Minister David Cameron says: “This government is right behind the RFL. As one of the sports that this country holds closest to its heart, we know what a privilege and honour it is to host this tournament and I’m fully confident that the RFL will do the United Kingdom proud and I look forward to working closely with them to make sure it is a great success. The next decade promises to be one of the most exciting in our countries history. There will be the Olympics, the Cricket World Cup, hopefully the Football World Cup and the Rugby League World Cup. Coming so soon after the Olympics, the RFL have the opportunity to ride on the crest of that wave and host and truly memorable tournament.”

The Welsh First Minister, Carwyn Jones, pitches in: “It is a privilege for Wales to be given this opportunity. We saw tremendous success during the 1995 World Cup when Wales was host to numerous fixtures and the Welsh public came out in force to support their home team and to witness some of the world’s greatest players. With Rugby League enjoying a new found growth in Wales in recent years and with the sport having been played in schools throughout the country for the past eight years, we are confident that hosting games in venues such as the Millennium Stadium will be a great way of helping boost the sport in Wales. Hosting such an event will also provide a welcome financial boost to those towns and cities who secure the right to host fixtures, training camps and house the playing squads and with the potential for many visitors set to be attracted to these shores, the economic impact has the potential to be great.”

It’s also a good idea to invite bids from towns and cities to host the individual rounds, hopefully ensuring a bit more civic pride and community involvement than was experienced last time around. It’s crucial, though, that this doesn’t just mean towns and cities in the north of England (and Wales). Wembley stadium appears not to be getting a game, which is a grievous omission in my view, but there’s no reason at all why London and the midlands should be ignored as a result of the understandable urge to capitalise on the so-called heartlands. All in all, a happy medium needs to be struck where a growing international sport is showcased to the nation, of which those who keep it going week in and week out are made to feel a part.

One other very important – nay vital – aspect is the date on which the carnival is held. Ideally that would be in the height of summer, the middle of the domestic season – a scenario that could easily be arranged here in the UK by an earlier start to Super League, the ditching for a year of the Millennium Megabore and England’s mid-year Test match. For god’s sake let’s avoid the disastrous weather nightmares of 2000. Look out of the window. This might well be the week of the 2013 World Cup final. Need any help with digging your car out, anyone?

Probably the best thing about 2013 though is that the RFL appears to have found some balls with regard to the numbers taking part. Although 16 nations would have been a more wieldy number than the 14 announced – and allowed for the inclusion of such strategically important countries as Lebanon, Russia and the USA without recourse to qualifiers – 14 is better than the 12 that Australia had earlier suggested would be the case and most certainly preferable to the 10 who appeared down under in 2008, successful though that tournament was for everyone but England. Are we serious about growing this sport on the global stage or not? Fortunately, if RFL chairman Richard Lewis is to be believed, it appears we are.

“Our aim is to build on [the success of 2008] and to deliver a profitable tournament that further enhances the international game across the globe and raises the profile of the sport in the UK,” he said, although much as ever will depend not only on the promotion of the competition – on the evidence so far, must do better – and indeed its structure. Oh yes, and England and Wales will need to go well too. Semi-final stages for both would seem to be the minimum requirement – although some might suggest that, given the stakes, nothing less than an England victory will save rugby league from its seemingly unstoppable descent into national sporting obscurity.

Happily, then, the way the tournament pans out would seem to give the host nations the best chance possible of matching those expectations. Two groups of four (A and B) and two of three (C and D), with a cross-group game per nation in groups C & D to some extent avoids the controversy of Papua New Guinea’s ‘super group’ predicament last time around. At this stage in the game’s development, Rugby League World Cups can’t really avoid an element of contrivance, but let’s at least try and make things as fair as we can.

England surely ought to make it out of Group A and into the quarter-finals alongside Australia (three each from Groups A and B qualify) while the scrap between Fiji and Ireland should be fascinating to behold. Similarly, world champions New Zealand are a quarter-final shoe-in but who with out of France, Papua New Guinea and Samoa is anyone’s guess. In Group C, Scotland will fancy their chances against Tonga and a European qualifier from Russia, Lebanon and Serbia, although it certainly won’t be easy. Surely, though, Wales will be too strong for Cook Islands and an Atlantic qualifer from Jamaica, South Africa and the USA. Then again, given the developing strength of the Americans, who knows? One thing’s for sure, the Rugby League 2013 World Cup looks anything but predictable and that can only be good for the RFL’s intention to: “host the most successful Rugby League World Cup of all time.”

Here’s hoping that is exactly what does happen although, please, can we ensure that this time everybody knows about it?

RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP 2013 STRUCTURE

Group A: Australia, England, Fiji, Ireland. Group B: New Zealand, France, Papua New Guinea, Samoa. (Top three in each group to advance to quarter-finals).

Group C: Scotland, Tonga, European qualifier (from Russia, Lebanon and Serbia),. Group D: Wales, Cook Islands, Atlantic qualifier (from USA, Jamaica and South Africa) (Top team in each group through to quarter-final. Group C and D nations also play cross-group game ie Scotland v Atlantic qualifier; Tonga v Cook Islands; Wales v European qualifier).

Advertisement