It has potential to descend in to farce. Rugby league just about manages to cobble together 16 teams for a World Cup - if the Aussies decide not to bother, well that puts huge question marks over many of the other nations too; you can't tell me that if NRL clubs want to block say Nathan Cleary playing, that they'll then be happy to let players go off and play for Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, even England.
World Cup organisers are desperate for it to go ahead because they've had a load of UK government funding and they could be left with a huge hole to fill if it is called off. Likewise, postponing isn't an option due to the increase of costs by delaying, the availability of grounds and of course the football World Cup.
Nothing to compare with Europe, I agree, but they are having difficulty amassing enough vaccine and are locking down for very small numbers of infections. Shifting wholesale to Queensland is pretty extreme and costly too.
The players will have had enough imo, and they will want a rest at home. They could quite possibly send a well below par squad, just to fulfil the fixture, but to anyone who watches the Aussie game over here it will be a non-event short of SoO stars etc.
All of which would be a pity because there does seem to have been a real effort with this RLWC.
If the people who have made the decision to hold the RLWC21 had to use their own money to put the competition on, I have no doubt that it would have been postponed/cancelled/re-arranged a long time ago!
But, here we are, ploughing on regardless, in the middle of a pandemic where the travel and quarantine rules can be changed at a moments notice.
Is the sport that desperate to be loved, that is feels the need to have to continue headlong regardless of the circumstances and creating what could be yet another massive loss making exercise and further embarrassment for the game.
Do the right thing, and call it off now.
What we don't know are the contractual conditions attached to venues, advertising etc. That could be a tidy sum in itself if cancellation was followed through.
That is, of course, correct, and it does beg the question what sort of experienced contractual negotiators do we have?
Very good, or even excellent is the answer I hope, as the game cannot afford to have to pay these countries off if stricter rules are suddenly applied and enforced.
And, what sort of competition will it be if any National team chooses to send over a weakened squad or decide not to take part at all? Won't it all be a hollow victory for the victors?
For me, the sport simply cannot afford to play fast and loose with other people's cash in exchange for a bit more media coverage that it desperately craves.
Even now we don't know what restrictions will be in force, coming out of it without a deficit will be a success tbh.
Not all the organisers fault to be fair, these things have long lead in times and at that point we were all anticipating being clear and 'normal'.
It is a massive shame because 2013 was really good, went to games at St Helens and the final.
But I feel like it wasn't really followed up.
As for this year, could be majorly embarrassing but hopefully some arrangement can be arrived at where a strong NRL presence is here.
It has potential to descend in to farce. Rugby league just about manages to cobble together 16 teams for a World Cup – if the Aussies decide not to bother, well that puts huge question marks over many of the other nations too; you can’t tell me that if NRL clubs want to block say Nathan Cleary playing, that they’ll then be happy to let players go off and play for Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, even England. World Cup organisers are desperate for it to go ahead because they’ve had a load of UK government funding and they could be left with a huge hole to fill if it is called off. Likewise, postponing isn’t an option due to the increase of costs by delaying, the availability of grounds and of course the football World Cup.
The Aussie Media (Fox Sports / Channel 9 ) seem genuinely mystified that we are going ahead. They must spoken to Peter V'landys. The Aussies haven't signed the participation agreement and with the Australian States continuely and at very short notice closing the door to Australians from other states who can blame them. I don't think its just a question of can't be bothered their are genuine concerns whether the Australian Government / Australian States will allow them to attend or return, or permit them to return with / without quarantine. I guess the other countries NZ, Samoa, Tonga, Lebanon with significant NRL participation could go ahead but whether the NRL players would wish to take part given the risks / constraints / Club / NRL pressures is another matter.
It seems a massive leap of faith on behalf of RLWC. I don't know their contracts / commercial pressures but surely it would be better to move to 2022 and to get it in before the Football World Cup Starts on November 18th. Assuming NRL and Super League can move their seasons forward by a few weeks and their TV Contracts allow them to do this.
I agree it could and unfortunately I think it will turn into a massive farce which could potentially break the game in this country.
Australia has, for sensible reasons, attempted to keep Covid to an absolute minimum where, after many U turns etc we lost that idea almost before we started. We are still chasing its tail.
The federal system as in the USA places responsibilty with state and federal bodies, separately and jointly which complicates things somewhat.
The NRL teams have made massive efforts to keep the league going and are now hunkered down in Queesland, families joining them about now. Prior to that Storm had been away from home for weeks. This sort of family disruption far exceeds a few days isolation at home and shouldn't be confused with that. Players will be more ready for a break than any usual season.
I will be surprised if the NRL roll over. They have their focus firmly fixed on player recovery and a full season next year. Their TV deal pays them and will take priority. Even without Covid it would have been a stretch but with the past disruption it will probably be considered too much.
Reported that Australia and New Zealand have officially withdrawn from the RLWC21. Not unexpected. What next? I would guess that it will be cancelled.
Maybe go ahead with a watered down competition, involving teams who are prepared to travel and possibly, an Exiles team of Australasian players based in UK.
I can’t see much point to playing it, if Australia and New Zealand don’t take part.
Of course it doesn’t help that only 12% of people in Australia are fully vaccinated against Covid and only 17% have had one dose, and the same in New Zealand.
“Australia has, for sensible reasons, attempted to keep Covid to an absolute minimum where, after many U turns etc we lost that idea almost before we started…. I will be surprised if the NRL roll over. They have their focus firmly fixed on player recovery and a full season next year. Their TV deal pays them and will take priority. Even without Covid it would have been a stretch but with the past disruption it will probably be considered too much”
10/10 for your prediction sandgroper. Now the whole tournament should be put back until 2022, but with so much money invested, will it?
Not surprised, and bitterly disappointed in equal measures!
The NRL is currently in a "re-located bubble" so how's that gonna affect the players from the likes of PNG, Samoa, Fiji, etc? Will they now similarly pull out?
We've not won the World Cup since the "via the back door" triumph of '72, but I'm afraid I'll have precious little satisfaction in having our name on the watered down RLWC21, should we win it!
It's gonna be a financial disaster, so even though Jon Dutton (who has my huge admiration, and sympathy) has said "It's on!" is it too late for a(nother) re-think?
Yeah, I know it'd be a case of the tail wagging the dog, but is a World Cup without the Aussies and Kiwis, a World Cup? In my opinion, it's not!
If it goes ahead, will I still be at all the games? Of course I will, but I suspect there's thousands out there that won't be!
Spelly.
Zero point to having it now.
This is an NRL decision, not a player welfare one. Australia and NZ are sending other sporting teams abroad, their women footballers played yesterday in Japan.
ANZ have asked that the tournament be deferred to 2022 but they've a lot of work to do to meet that. They have a strict isolation policy, their vaccination program is useless and their population is sh*t-scared of getting a blood clot from the AZ jab, which is the jab they've procured en masse. So, they're having to lockdown due to low cases in an attempt to squash the virus. That approach, in an un-vaccinated environment, will see them fighting this for years.
Very poor attitudes from Aus/NZ but hardly surprising. Their distain of anything not NRL centric is clear to see but in one sense I do see their position. Albeit we have “apparently” come through the pandemic the numbers are rising frighteningly quickly and all the guarantees clearly haven’t quelled their fears.
The quandary now is the commitments/sponsorship/TV deals and the space in the calendar next year if postponed with the FIFA World Cup in the autumn next year.
I’m a bit bemused as to why the big triumphal “it’s on” announcement happened last week when the ARL/NZRL commitments weren’t set in stone.
As usual RL will be seen as a laughing stock either way we go and this could really be a fatal blow for the international game (let’s face it will the SL clubs be as disappointed as us fans if it gets canned for this year???) 🤔