2009 Pacific Cup downgraded to a joke..

[Coastbloke]

According to the latest Rugby League Review, the 2009 Pacific Cup between PNG, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Cook Islands is to be played at St Marys Leagues Stadium..

The Samoa vs Cooks game could be a CURTAIN RAISER to the Med Cup at Marconi between Greece, Portugal, Lebanon and Italy...

The Pacific Cup will decide who plays Australia, NZ and England in Australia in the 2010 Four Nations, and will involve NRL and ESL players yet they will play at a suburban oval in front of 500 and one of the games is being mooted as a support to a Cup full of Aussies with Greek,
Portuguese or Italian surnames...!! :x :x

This is just ridiculous..Who is organising this rabble..??

For starters, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and PNG should be playing in their respective countries, and if it HAS to be played on Australia, how about Bluetongue or Parra Stadium or anything but St Marys where you could play the matches over a couple of weeks and publicise the game..What the hell is their capacity...??

Why would Jarryd Hayne commit to Fiji if he is playing park footy at the end of the year...??..Or any other possible Islander International...

 

[roughyedspud]

Are you reading this ECT :lol:

Why would Jarryd Hayne commit to Fiji if he is playing park footy at the end of the year...??..Or any other possible Islander International...

have'nt you figured it out yet?

the really don't want them to commit

 

[Tommy Anderson]

St Marys Stadium is hardly a park ground, the surface is first class and is great for crowds of about 5000 so why play in a massive stadium that is quater full when they can fill a great place like St Marys Stadium

 

[roughyedspud]

the place has 500 seats and 3 grass hills......hardly international standard is it?


don't get me wrong it's looks alright from the pictures i've seen, but it does'nt project the kind of image or stature the pacific cup should have does it?

 

[playdaball]

RL treats PI teams like s&^T - now wonder we can't make proper inroads into the PI.

wAKE UP THERE IS SO MUCH POTENTIAL THERE

 

[East Coast Tiger]

It should be in PNG. I know why it's not, but it still should be. Maybe even Fiji would be keen to host it if they can find a sponsor or govt support. If they are going to be played in Australia, which isn't neccessarily a bad thing, it would be nice if they at least tried to sell them to a broadcaster and play it at an NRL ground or two. The WC games, like Tonga v Samoa, showed that these games can be a reasonably big event.

However these games will still be reasonably well attended for the type of game. The WC quaifiers involving these teams got around 3000 at the same venue (and a couple of others), which is more than the WC qualifiers got in England.

 

[DINGb@T]

For starters they're not going to play it in the PIs simply for costs. There's no point spending a whole lot of money on a comp that isn't going to make any money, especially when the class of football ground they'd be playing at wouldn't be up to international standard. At least in Australia there's plenty of ex pats who will rock up to the games as well as world qualification standard facilities to play on. Aussie based players wont have to leave home and all the teams are at the same dis/advantage as each other playing away from home (does the Cook Islands have a stadium? These are all things that have to be taken into consideration).

Secondly, these games aren't going to make it onto tv, not going to make any tv money, so why bother with the massive stadiums? Better to save the money, rent out a smaller ground that will fill up and use the saved money to make sure we make it through the next 4 years without any cancellations due to a lack of funds. THe aim here is to get a consistant second tier comp going, one that lasts to the next WC and beyond, not take a gamble and hope the thing looks pretty for the cameras.

 

[LeagueXIII]

Why not play it in the PI and sell the TV rights etc?

This is truly a pthetic decision by the idiots that run our game. This sport is seriously being ruined by Australia.

 

[Paullyboy]

Why not play it in the PI and sell the TV rights etc?

This is truly a pthetic decision by the idiots that run our game. This sport is seriously being ruined by Australia.

I appreciate your sentiments and in an ideal world this would be great, but as someone who works in the Australian sport industry (albeit not rugby league) I can tell you it's not quite that easy.

Firstly no one would pay for the TV rights, and secondly if they wanted to get it on TV you'd be looking at paying in the vicinity of $50k.

It may be hard to believe, but there is some logic behind everything.

 

[jim_57]

Why would nobody pay for rights?

Fox Sports picked up the RU equivalent with 2 poor Australian and NZ teams, I doubt that would rate much better than ours would if we got it on TV.

How little IRL get son TV in Australia is shocking, we won't get the Pacifc or Euro comps and we might not even get all the 4N games live. I havn't heard anything on broadcast rights for the 4N, shouldn;t they be trying to sell it to every country that got the WC and more?

 

[roopy]

If a PI nation put the bucks up they would have it in a nano second.
Till the day they do, it has to be held where it is cost effective for the RLIF to put on.
The most important thing is getting together the best footballers and having the best games played.

 

[LeagueXIII]

Firstly no one would pay for the TV rights, and secondly if they wanted to get it on TV you'd be looking at paying in the vicinity of $50k.

It may be hard to believe, but there is some logic behind everything.

How do we know if we don't try? There are always people in the media saying no-one wants it or it won't rate etc. Just as they said no-one was interested in the WC and it was a joke. I'm sick of people always predicting the future of RL whilst other codes are given opportunities.

Why is Sth African provincial union and NZ union, and numerous rubbish tests shown? What about other non rating sports eg basketball given a chance.

League would rate as people want to see the game in other countries.

I say give it a chance and then judge it, don't judge it before hand.

 

[In-goal]

I'm hoping FOX get's the rights to the 4Nations, as 9 is shizen

 

[hutch]

i bet the pacific islands themselves havnt even been consulted about these games. why would someone like neville costigan continue to play for png if it means playing a test match in st marys, as opposed to having 16000 papua new guineans going nuts for you. this is a joke, the world cup seems to have done nothing for nations outside of the top 3 or 4. we are supposed to be spreading the game throughout the pacific, but will continue fielding teams full of aussies and kiwis with island heritage while the current idiots run our game, not genuine internation test teams who play tests home and away. apart from the obvious costs, what is the other reason for playing this game in aus, not in a pacific island country which would be the best way to promote the sport over there.

 

[bazza]

Why is Sth African provincial union and NZ union, and numerous rubbish tests shown? What about other non rating sports eg basketball given a chance.

These matches have tv crews in those countries covering the games.
The Australian TV station just picks up their coverage cheaply.
For these games they would also have to pay for people to cover the game

Still I think it would rate well - but as I said it would be more expensive for the TV station than just getting someone elses feed/tape

 

[roopy]

With all these teams having an 'ethnic' community in Sydney, you would think SBS would see it as in their charter to broadcast this event - which would mean the broadcast could be onsold to the PI countries.

 

[sting]

noone would want the tv rights, as only a handful of people (ie a few of the people who post on this forum) would watch the game and it wouldn't be worth the money for them.

 

[hutch]

noone would want the tv rights, as only a handful of people (ie a few of the people who post on this forum) would watch the game and it wouldn't be worth the money for them.

what a load of crap! rugby league is the most popular sport on tv in this country, the toyota cup outrates other major sports! play meaningful test matches between these countries in a meaningful tournament, and rugby league and sport fans will watch it. especially in november when there isnt much rugby league being played.

 

[roughyedspud]

just to remind you how we do it 'up here'

the 2009 euro nations cup

24/10/2009

Russia v Scotland - Moscow,russia
Serbia v Wales - Belgrade,serbia

31/10/2009

Ireland v Serbia - venue tba
Lebanon v Russia - venue tba

07/11/2009

Scotland v Lebanon - Glasgow,scotland
Wales v Ireland - Bridgend,wales

14/11/2009

RLEF euro cup final - England

thank god for richard lewis and the RLEF..

 

[obsulete]

I don't think a Four Nations qualifier would be the curtain raiser for the Med Cup, and if someone out there has the money to sponsor a home game in the Pacific Cup then there's still time to make the enquirees.