CAN I ASK our readers to cast their minds back four years to October and November of 1999 when the Bartercard Rugby League Tri-Nations Tournament was held in Australia and New Zealand, featuring the Kangaroos, the Kiwis and the Lions.
And can I ask our readers to recall the squeals and howls of derision which came especially from the Australian Board of Control when they were asked to stage matches in Brisbane and Sydney, two rugby league strongholds, at that time of the year.
Having told every man and his dog in both hemispheres that nobody could ever promote rugby in October or November when the season has been over for the best part of a month, they even switched the trial to Auckland in New Zealand, to the great inconvenience of those fans who had travelled from Britain to watch it in Sydney.
And they continue to support the view that there is no call for a mini Lions Tour of Australia as their spring and summer months encroach.
Well then, what about the current Rugby Union World Cup, the tmal of which will be held even two weeks later than the rugby league's Tri-Nations eqivalent and for which attendances are expected to top the 2 million figure?
If union games between Scotland and the USA can attract 53,000 spectators to the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, France v Scotland 80,000 supporters in Sydney and Wales v Italy 25,000 fans in the Bruce Stadium in Canberra - all rugby league strongholds then why not the 13-a-side code?
If non events like Australia's 142-0 annihilation of Namibia in Adelaide, Canada's clash with Tonga in Gosford and Japan's appearances in Townsville can be staged before full house crowds then why not a rugby league Test match or Tri-Nations game in such places?
Quite simply, the only answer is the gutless, self interested and spineless approach of the Australian governing body and their representatives on the equally useless International Board who consistently place the demands of their own club competition before anything else in world rugby.
Perhaps it is because Australia is such an isolated continent, far away from all others, that they ever look inward and promote and adulate their Premiership above every other event - a similar outlook to the Americans who .continue to laud their successful baseball. '
and gridiron football clubs as world champions when no-one else in the world plays the games seriously.
In newspapers and on. TV and radio the supporters of the league code Down Under have sought to denigrate the Rugby Union World Cup by ridiculing the many mis-matches which have occurred in the opening weeks of the competition, mis-matches which have,in the opening two weeks attracted over a million spectators.
Since the days of Ken Arthurson, Bob Abbott, John Quayle and company, who held office when overseas tours and innovative competitions were the order of the day, Australia has contributed little to any prospect of international competition within its borders. And its excuses have been without foundation.
The Rugby Union World Cup is delivering more than egg on the faces of those members ofth_Australian Board of Control, who continue to insist that any Tri,Nations tournament must be played in England for the next three years and not in rotation in all three countries.
And the 15-a-side code is proving a huge embarrassment to those who insist that there is no interest in a Lions party visiting Australia.
What of that wonderful word 'marketing' that the Australian Board of Control were supposed to be masters of? How come rugby union can market and sell an event to the public, not only in rugby league strongholds but even in places like Tasmania where there is little interest in either code when rugby league insists it cannot?
How come rugby union can, as with the Olympic Games, marshal an army of willing volunteers in cities and towns around Australia to help organise and promote the matches as special events when rugby league tells the world of rugby league that at this time of the year everyone is relaxing on the beach?
It is because one sport wants to do it and the other one, rugby league, cannot be bothered to do it and wishes to continue wallow, smugly, in its own locally-inspired competition.
If the Australians believe that they can promote international rugby league by visiting England every year with their Test team and club champions then they are deluded and so are the members of the International Board.
If the British supporters, now filling our grounds to capacity and players of the quality of Paul Sculthorpe, Brian Carney, Kris Radlinski and company are not allowed to realise their ambitions and dreams by following or representing their country on a bigger stage abroad then it will be little wonder that they begin to look more closely at the game that will allow them to do so.
The Rugby Union World Cup has exposed the hypocrisy and the excuses made by the Aussies who have constantly poured scorn on .the possibility of holding any events out of season in October and early November.
For the simple truth is that for the same reasons they transferred the final of the Tri-Nations Tournament in 1999 to Auckland, they cannot be bothered to sell and market any event which might detract from the image of their Premiership as the be all and end all of world rugby league.
If they continue their Ostrich-like stance, ignore the lessons from their union rivals and in October and November bury their heads in the sands on Bondi Beach, then as with the Americans and their gridiron football they will soon be world champions of nothing.
