Rugby League World Cup 2013
It will be 5 years since the last RLWC and I'm looking forward to this one, especially as I might be able to go. I'm a huge RL fan and can't wait.Rugby League World Cup 2013
However I live in Sussex and most the games (well virtually all) are in the north of England, which is a shame. I know rugby league's heartland in England is Yorkshire & Lancashire but surely we need to spread our wings a bit to appeal to a wider audience don't you think. Especially at grass roots level too. I would love my boys to get into rugby league and not just have soccer rammed down their throats at school and in the media.
How do you see things going in the world cup? Who is your favourite team to win? Who are you supporting? Any lesser teams who you think might surprise this time round? Do you plan to go?
http://rlifmedia.dyndns.org/docs/Fixtures_Wall_Chart.pdf
GROUP A
Australia
England
Ireland
Fiji
GROUP B
New Zealand
PNG
Samoa
France
GROUP C
Tonga
Scotland
Italy
GROUP D
Wales
USA
Cook Islands Not that keen on league but of course i'll be cheering on England data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Goes without saying I will be supporting England, especially with Sinfield as captain. I think England stand a real chance, but a lot depends on players like Tomkins, Burrow etc staying healthy. It's going to come down to the usual 3, England, Australia and New Zealand, Wales are still a young team (as they showed today) and this will be too soon for them. France might be able to cause an odd upset but I'm not sure iftheir top players will have retired or still be going by then.
I am slightly worried about the whole thing (I think it's a rugby league fan thing to always be pessimistic about things) in terms of attendances and ticket sales. Given what a complete disaster the last WC was that was staged here I just don't want it to happen again. As long as the RFL really go nuts with the publicity and ticket prices are reasonable then there's every chance it could be a success. But the real key will be what it gets in terms of publicity from the tv and papers. I'm sure the BBC and SKY will promote it but the papers need to get in board as well and give it far more space then RL currently gets. England 80 beat Wales 12 today. It is good to see more international games, although shame this particular game wasn't more competitive. I also noticed how empty the crowd / grandstand was, disappointing as it was the national team playing. You cant blame the welsh if their team is that bad data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 I am staunch union fan myself but i might steal myself to watch the odd RL gamedata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I thought Fuji made films btwdata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 \
they tried, first with London Broncos and then with Harlequins who are struggling in the same way that union is struggling up north.Personally i would like to see just one code bringing the best of both codes together as I am sure that would ensure the survival of the game of rugby.Trouble is there is a great deal of opposition to the very notion of union adopting any league aspects such as non contested scrums for e.g.I like lineouts, mauls and rucks but scrums are a pain to watch with all the stop start stop start and the ref constantly blowing for penalties.Matches should be decided by tries and this is where league scores IMO. Woops, sorry about the spelling. MODS, can you change the spelling in the poll please. Thanks. trouble with this WCis that everyone knows its a foregone conclusion Oz will most likely win with NZ an outside chance and England coming in 3rd.The sport is not popular enough world wide to make it a really credible championship Not sure it can be, sorry. You are going to have to live with the shame data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7