2029: NZ & Pacific. 2033: USA.

[jim_57]

Agreed, It sounds good in theory but what would be the gate on a game held in Samoa, Tonga or Fiji ?
I'm guessing there is a reason Union rarely play there ?

I'm guessing NZ, Aust, PNG and Fiji would play all thier games at home and the final held at Suncorp.

Looks like they will hold every 2nd world cup in a 'risky' location ( France, USA ) and the others in more bankable locations, eng and aust/nz

Hawaii was mentioned in the article which would make sense for a USA game or 2. PNG & Fiji for their pool games and maybe a quarter final in PNG. Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu also mentioned but I’m not sure how viable they’d be. One not mentioned that could work is a France game in New Caledonia.

It looks like they’d prefer a NZ & Pacific World Cup without Australia from those quotes but that is probably a long shot. I can see it going back to the “safe” option of NZ/Australia with a few games in PNG & Fiji, maybe Hawaii for a couple of games.

 

[Perth Red]

Would be good if feasible to play pool games in the Islands and the finals in Aus and NZ to get the crowds and money.

NZ and PI Stadiums
Fiji 15k
PNG 15k
Samoa 12k
Hawaii 50k
Tonga 10k
Auckland 30k/50k
Wellington 34.5k
Christchurch 30k
Dunedin 30k
Hamilton 25k
Rotorua 25k
Nelson 18k

Theres certainly enough stadiums 10k plus available to host it in NZ and PI's.

Maybe an opportunity to push for increasing PNG stadium capacity if a number of games are played there? 15k seems too small for the fanatical fans. May also encourage NRl to take some games there. I'm sure they could fill a 25k stadium for an NRL game and Kumuls games?

 

[The Penguin #6.]

Would be good if feasible to play pool games in the Islands and the finals in Aus and NZ to get the crowds and money.

Stadiums
Fiji 15k
PNG 15k
Samoa 12k
Hawaii 50k
Tonga 10k

Maybe an opportunity to push for increasing PNG stadium capacity if a number of games are played there? 15k seems too small for the fanatical fans. May also encourage NRl to take some games there. I'm sure they could fill a 25k stadium for an NRL game and Kumuls games?

I posted this exact same idea on another forum. Would have the probable advantage of packed grounds and local flavour being beamed back into Oz and N.Z. lounge rooms at a good viewing time ( I think kick-off times could be fairly flexible in these countries). Which would then have the advantage of giving the tournament a bit of momentum before it came onto the mainland for the quarters in appropriate mid-sized stadiums, where one-offs could pull a crowd for e.g. Newie, Townsville, Canberra, Bankwest, Perth (?), Melbourne, N.Z. before moving on to the bigger stadiums for the final three big games.
The trick would to be to avoid the sight of embarrassingly empty stands that we`ve seen in England which has affected that tournament`s momentum amongst the wider public, even if the P.I. games were only break-even propositions.

 

[docbrown]

Thinking about a Pacific World Cup with a similar pool format to 2021 (so 6 games for each pool - 24 pool games total) - and depending on which teams end up in which pool:

Pool matches:

New Zealand (spread around 6-7 cities - some double headers) - 11 games (3 featuring NZ, 3 featuring Samoa, 3 featuring Tonga and 2 others) - potentially Samoa & Tonga could have 1 home game each in their own countries bringing it down to 9
Port Moresby - 3 games (featuring PNG)
Honolulu - 2 games (featuring USA)
Suva - 3 games (featuring Fiji)
Noumea/Port Villa - 2 games (1 each) (featuring France)
Melbourne/Townsville/Canberra or Perth - 3 games (1 each) (featuring Australia)

Quarter Finals: Brisbane, Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin
Semi Finals: Sydney and Wellington
Final: Auckland

 

[England87]

It is not feasible for Samoa/Tonga/Fiji/PNG to 'host' (aka not just a one off game where they are playing) a genuine international tournament.

 

[docbrown]

It is not feasible for Samoa/Tonga/Fiji/PNG to 'host' (aka not just a one off game where they are playing) a genuine international tournament.

I honestly doubt Samoa and Tonga can but Fiji and PNG could host multiple games. Visiting team security is the big problem in PNG though. I'm sure with 7 years of planning they could figure it out though.

 

[England87]

What is possible for a NZ & Pacific Island World Cup

Eden Park (final)
Mt Smart (3 pool games, 2 Quarter Finals)
Wellington (semi final, 1 pool game)
Christchurch 18k (3 pool games, Quarter Final)
Hamilton (3 pool games, 1 Quarter Final)
Dunedin (semi final, 1 pool game)
Rotorua (3 pool games)
Palmy ( 2 pool games)
Whangarei (2 pool games)

Suva x 2 pool games involving Fiji
Apia x 2 pool games involving Samoa
Nukofolua x 2 pool games involving Tonga

 

[Perth Red]

If each pool has three games then 2 each in the hosting nations city and one on the road except NZ and PNG who would have all three in their respective countries.

So Tonga 2 games in Tonga, Samoa 2 games in Samoa, Fiji 2 games in Fiji
PNG 3 games in PNG, NZ 3 games in NZ
2 games in Hawaii, remaining games across NZ and a few in Oz but not in Brisbane or Sydney (ie Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Newcastle, Townsville and Canberra)

Finals played in NZ, Sydney and Brisbane
Final in NZ

That could work as a nice balance of spreading the tournament around the pacific but keeping it financially viable?

 

[England87]

This pipe dream stuff with Hawaii is never happening.

 

[Perth Red]

This pipe dream stuff with Hawaii is never happening.

what? Vlandys will have conquered America by then surely?

 

[jim_57]

This pipe dream stuff with Hawaii is never happening.

If we were talking about an NRL team you might have a point but one or two games for a World Cup is entirely doable.

Tonga & Samoa used to play a game there each year at the massive Aloha Stadium, Ohana Cup it was called.

 

[Perth Red]

Get Samoa there against the USA with the rock promoting it. Reckon it would do ok.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

What would be the benefits of helping the game in the USA?

Playing devils advocate, let's say in the next decade a professional comp starts and they have some success. They would have more money than the nrl or esl and could then pillage all the top talent. The NRL and esl would become a feeder comps to the usa. I guess on a positive they could also take Unions top players leaving them devoid of stars.

At the moment it's pie in the sky stuff but who knows what will happen in the next decade.

If you love Rugby League, that's a nice problem to have

 

[Wb1234]

Brilliant

Union never bothers with nz or the pacific islands hosting wc

it will be just as profitable as a wc in Australia which struggles to sell seats. I’m sure png will host too

final at Eden park will be good

 

[Wb1234]

What would be the benefits of helping the game in the USA?

Playing devils advocate, let's say in the next decade a professional comp starts and they have some success. They would have more money than the nrl or esl and could then pillage all the top talent. The NRL and esl would become a feeder comps to the usa. I guess on a positive they could also take Unions top players leaving them devoid of stars.

At the moment it's pie in the sky stuff but who knows what will happen in the next decade.

Imagine if the English had this attitude in 1908 and never toured Australia because it would make rugby league stronger

if the USA became the strongest nation in world rugby league that would be a good thing