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Is this a Turning point for the International Game??

Bronco Rob

Juniors
Messages
922
I sincerely hope this is not just lip service from Nigel Wood but hopefully with his appointment as Chairman of the RLIF as well as David Smith's realisation that the International game is vitally important to grow the game, will we see this point in time as a turning point for the International game?

League out to develop a profitable international platform


Kevin Ferrie
Senior Sports Writer



Wednesday 21 May 2014

Rugby League threw away a massive competitive advantage over its rival code by failing to capitalise on staging a World Cup more than 30 years before the 15-a-side game, according to the man now in charge of the sport's international development.

Rugby League threw away a massive competitive advantage over its rival code by failing to capitalise on staging a World Cup more than 30 years before the 15-a-side game, according to the man now in charge of the sport's international development.


Nigel Wood says it is a painful admission, but rather than be bitter or resentful, the Rugby League International Federation's newly elected chairman is focused on absorbing the lesson to be learned and using the knowledge gained to drive forward.
"It is a sobering piece of reflection that we ran the first rugby World Cup in 1954 but we never found a way to commercialise international rugby league," he admitted.
"I can give an explanation and a thesis as to why it's happened, but I can't change any of that. All I can say is that, right now, we've been given a super platform. People are still excited after what the (2013) World Cup did. The potential is there and I'm making it a mission that in 10 years' time international rugby league will be respected by even more people round the globe and be more commercially viable than it is at the moment."
Our conversation took place in Manchester's plush Etihad Stadium during the latest staging of another of the sport's most ambitious events, the Magic Weekend, in which all 14 Super League clubs compete at the same venue.
Wood's "day job" is as chief executive of both the Rugby Football League and Super League, organising and promoting the elite northern hemisphere club game and its supply chains, however he sees himself as an internationalist and wants to see his sport grow.
"This is one occasion where you can look over the fence into someone else's garden and remind yourself that the IRB didn't have a World Cup until 1987, there's only been seven and their expectation in terms of the revenues they're going to generate in 2015 is a quarter-of-a-billion pounds," he said pointedly.
"Within seven cycles they've now got an immensely profitable event, the third biggest global event after the Olympics and the [football] World Cup. I know our challenges are slightly different because we've got fewer nations to start with and more of the elite athletes are concentrated in two, or possibly four countries, but let's adjust to that.
"Now we know what that is, let's adjust accordingly; the World Cup in 2017 has to deliver twice what 2013 did and the World Cup in 2021 has to deliver twice what 2017 did. If you do that we've got a bit of momentum and, the snowball is beginning to turn. Our World Cup delivered £4m. The expectation is that the 2017 World Cup will double that in terms of the bottom line."
Consequently, Wood reckons that this a watershed moment for his sport. "The reason it's a better time to pursue this now is that the World Cup in 2013 has galvanised everybody, it's excited everybody, it's whetted everybody's appetite," he said. "They all recognise what international rugby league could be. Everybody thinks it can be great and, on that basis, there's a bit more belief, there's a bit more commitment."
Yet, as things stand, Scotland's rugby league team are still waiting to find out officially what their schedule will be at this year's European Championships with France, Ireland and Wales, a qualifying tournament to get into next year's glamorous Four Nations tournament with Australia, England and New Zealand.
"That's not good enough," Wood acknowledged. "If a sport expects to be taken seriously, it needs to set out a decade-long calendar. We are on the foothills of an Everest climb in terms of this sport's development internationally.
"It's a very club-centric sport, probably more so than any other sport, but we have now re-established the importance of the international game and the significant way it can add value to the sport."
In saying so, he paid tribute to what Scotland did for the international game last year.
"What happened with Scotland's outstanding achievement is that it defied expectation beforehand," he said. "There was a feeling that some of the nations were just there to make up the numbers and for Scotland to emerge out of a difficult group with difficult opponents has done so much for the sport to demonstrate depth and breadth internationally."
The European Championship schedule is expected to be announced in the next few weeks with at least one match taking place in Scotland.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport...-a-profitable-international-platform.24280383
 

1 Eyed TEZZA

Coach
Messages
12,420
I remember sitting at the Australia v New Zealand game at the SFS at the beginning of the 2008 World Cup, and I could just feel through the opening ceremony that international Rugby League had returned, and that it was finally ready to start growing. It felt like the beginning of something special.
 

RHCP

Bench
Messages
4,784
If only the NRL used their new central contract powers to give better payment to players electing to play for minnows rather than keeping players in the game for the clubs.
 

1 Eyed TEZZA

Coach
Messages
12,420
If only the NRL used their new central contract powers to give better payment to players electing to play for minnows rather than keeping players in the game for the clubs.

It's the Australian Rugby League Commission. You can't expect them to significantly strengthen opposition nations to their own detriment like that.

We all want international rugby league to be as competitive as possible. But lets be realistic about it.
 

RHCP

Bench
Messages
4,784
It's the Australian Rugby League Commission. You can't expect them to significantly strengthen opposition nations to their own detriment like that.

We all want international rugby league to be as competitive as possible. But lets be realistic about it.
Strengthening the game in other countries = more players for the NRL = greater interest = bigger player pool for more clubs = a bigger range of games to sell to a bigger range of markets
 

roughyedspud

Coach
Messages
12,181
by allowing players to be eligible for origin & a 2nd tier nation you'll instantly strengthen the 2nd tier nations...


and before people whinge about it impacting origin....theres not a single player in either team for game 1 that has the option of playing for a 2nd tier nation in any end of season internationals if there is any..


edit...my mistake..didn't see the benches....aiden guerra could still play for italy & ben t'eo play for samoa...

oh my look at origin crumble!
 
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Benny

First Grade
Messages
9,500
Good man Nigel Wood.

I think Asia-Pacific needs to set up a tier competition like Europe.
 

roughyedspud

Coach
Messages
12,181
just watched origin...

what a amazing game,ive never had a problem with the game being a spectacle or the most intense footy thats played in our game...


question though.............what would it matter if the likes of daniel tupou,ben t'eo,aiden guerra etc where able to play for tonga,samoa & italy...really what would it f**king matter????
 

mikeob

Juniors
Messages
783
A great game and tough as. The way to speed up international development is to allow players who aren't wanted by the big 3 to play for the 2nd tier nation they qualify for, whether it's by birth or the grandfather rule.
 

deal.with.it

Juniors
Messages
2,086
Or, better yet, focus on pathways for domestic players.
Guerra would take an aussie shirt of italy any day of the week. I'd prefer him no where near italy's team.
 

gyallop

Juniors
Messages
551
For $20,000 a test 5 star hotels etc v paying his own who could blame him.

The problem with focussing on domestic pathways is who is going to pay for that?
 

Dakink

Bench
Messages
3,135
just watched origin...

what a amazing game,ive never had a problem with the game being a spectacle or the most intense footy thats played in our game...


question though.............what would it matter if the likes of daniel tupou,ben t'eo,aiden guerra etc where able to play for tonga,samoa & italy...really what would it f**king matter????

I agree on this, I dont think it would matter one little bit!
 
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