Canberra to bid for Semi Final

[morningstar]

Would be pretty underwhelming if they get a semi but good they are bidding for pools and quarters...

http://m.canberratimes.com.au/rugby...d-rugby-league-world-cup-20151120-gl3pqw.html

Canberra has been encouraged to bid for a Rugby League World Cup semi-final and a successful Adelaide day-night Test could see the pink ball make another appearance at Manuka Oval.

The ACT government met with RLWC organisers last week and Canberra was well placed to host several pool games — which could include the Kangaroos — and either a quarter-final or semi-final at Canberra Stadium.

The Kangaroos played in front of a sellout crowd for the Anzac Test against New Zealand at Canberra Stadium two years ago, as part of Canberra's centenary.

ACT chief minister Andrew Barr said preliminary discussions looked encouraging for the Australian side to return to the nation's capital for the RLWC in 2017.

He also said they didn't need to bid for a quarter-final, with organisers instead encouraging them to set their sights on a semi.

If the bid for a semi was unsuccessful, with Sydney and Brisbane favourites, then they would be guaranteed a quarter-final instead.

But with one of the semis potentially attracting a smaller crowd, Canberra Stadium's capacity of 25,000 could prove ideal.

Canberra has proven it can deliver big events, successfully hosting seven Asian Cup matches — including a quarter-final — and three Cricket World Cup matches last summer.

Given RLWC chief executive Michael Brown was also in charge of the Asian Cup, Canberra already has a foot in the door.

Barr said that track record was helping attract more events.

"I don't think we'll end up hosting the final, but we are a serious proposition. Their strong preference was for us to host the Kangaroos in a pool game and to look at quarter-finals and semi-finals," Barr said.

"They understand the strength of rugby league in the region and are very keen to have a quality program [in Canberra].

"They saw the success of the Asian Cup and the Cricket World Cup, so no doubts at all that we'll have a good role to play. We are in the box seat for some quality content here."

 

[Evil Homer]

Nice that they're interested but I don't think that's going to happen.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Quarter final - yes. Semi - no.

Either way there's no guarantee of a roos game so they'd have to pay up for a pool game.

 

[DlEHARD]

This process is a great way to get people talking about it and raise the World Cups profile.

 

[CC_Roosters]

This process is a great way to get people talking about it and raise the World Cups profile.

Totally agree. The bidding process in the last WC generated heaps of discussion and speculation which is only good.

Dont have a problem with Canberra hosting and would be great for them to host a QF and some group games. I woupd also like to see a game or 2 in some smaller regional areas like mudgee and toowoomba were the game is popular but they dont often get to see elite teams

Imo the latter stages should be
QF hosts- canberra, townsville, wellington, chrischurch
SF hosts- lang park, newcastle
Final- eden park

Keep it well away from sydney in the knockout phase so we dont get embarrassed by the apathetic nature of the fans in the region. Utilise parra and penrith for the group stage but stay away from moore park and homebush please

 

[Burns]

Whilst my first thought is "Eww, Canberra", we do have a bidding process and if they put in the effort, good for them.

New Zealand should have a semi as main co-host I feel. Final at either Lang Park or Eden Park.

 

[morningstar]

More Canberra news...

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...r-rugby-league-world-cup-20151123-gl5tl1.html

Canberra could host multiple teams during the Rugby League World Cup as the ACT government prepares its bid to host a semi-final.
World Cup chief executive Michael Brown has backed Canberra not only as a venue for games, but the ideal base for teams preparing for the tournament.

He knows the ACT intimately after his time as the Asian Cup boss, which held seven games - including a quarter-final - at Canberra Stadium last summer.

The presence of the world-class Australian Institute of Sport helped draw international soccer teams to the nation's capital during the Asian Cup.

Oman and Qatar both had pre-tournament camps in the ACT, while South Korea and the United Arab Emirates both had their first two games of the tournament at Canberra Stadium.

Brown said Canberra had been an attractive proposition for teams last summer and he expected that to be the same for the World Cup in 2017.

Canada Rugby League has already tweeted their interest in basing themselves in the ACT, after Fairfax Media revealed the Canberra Stadium was in the running to host a semi-final.

"Canada would happily use base in Canberra if we make World Cup!" they tweeted on Saturday.

Fourteen teams will compete at the tournament in two years' time and Canberra was in the running to host pool games, potentially including the Kangaroos, as well as either a quarter-final or semi.

Some teams could look to base themselves at the AIS in the lead-up to the World Cup, while others would arrive in the lead-up to their games.

"It's a fantastic idea and we saw the benefit of that with the Asian Cup and I'd be very keen [to do it again], and I said that to the Chief Minister [Andrew Barr]," Brown said.

"The AIS, I think they hosted three or four teams during the Asian Cup and those guys know how to do it really well.

"It's the obvious place for us to be thinking about putting people ... there's plenty of capacity and plenty of interest."

Brown said there were "28 games up for grabs" and he backed Canberra's credentials to host major events, citing not only the Asian Cup, but last summer's Cricket World Cup and the annual flower festival Floriade.

Like Chief Minister Andrew Barr, Brown felt the final was probably beyond Canberra, with a 50,000-seat stadium the requirement, but said everything else was "on the table".

He said they wanted host cities to help "celebrate" the game and Canberra's background in rugby league made it an ideal venue.

Brown said the allocation of matches would start to take shape in February.

"Canberra is fantastic, it's got a great venue, 25,000 [capacity] is around the right crowd [size] for some of these games," Brown said.

"It's really a matter for the ACT government what they want to bring to the table.

"We had a great experience in [Canberra for] the Asian Cup, the Cricket World Cup worked out really well, you've done things like Floriade.

"We want to celebrate diversity of cultures and countries. We want to celebrate playing the game. We want the host cities to tell us how they want to be part of the celebration.

"I'm a great fan of Canberra ... I've seen first hand."

 

[The Great Dane]

Considering the time of year that the games will be played is the time of year when Canberra is the most starved for big ticket sports entertainment, the crowds will show up, probably in bigger numbers then in places like Sydney and Brisbane for the games between the smaller nations.

Anything including the Kangaroos would be a sell-out, and though I doubt that they'd sell-out, anything including England and NZ (though I'd assume that all of NZs' games will be played in NZ) would still draw pretty large crowds as well (I'd conservatively estimate anywhere from 12-20 thousand locals alone depending on their opponents, marketing of the games and other variables).

If I was planing it I'd give Canberra a mix of smaller pool games and maybe 1 quarter or semi final (more realistically a quarter, but you never know), because I really reckon that we'd draw more then the average in Australia for games between small RL nations like Wales, Scotland, France, Canada, the USA, etc at that time of the year.

 

[miguel de cervantes]

Knowing Barr the Canberra government will be bringing the strict minimum to the table.

 

[The Great Dane]

Totally agree. The bidding process in the last WC generated heaps of discussion and speculation which is only good.

Dont have a problem with Canberra hosting and would be great for them to host a QF and some group games. I woupd also like to see a game or 2 in some smaller regional areas like mudgee and toowoomba were the game is popular but they dont often get to see elite teams

Imo the latter stages should be
QF hosts- canberra, townsville, wellington, chrischurch
SF hosts- lang park, newcastle
Final- eden park

Keep it well away from sydney in the knockout phase so we dont get embarrassed by the apathetic nature of the fans in the region. Utilise parra and penrith for the group stage but stay away from moore park and homebush please

Speaking strictly about what's likely to happen (and not what I'd like to see happen), there's next to no chance of the final being held in NZ (even if it should be), and there'll definitely be finals games held in Brisbane and Melbourne.

It's even less likely that any games will be held in towns like Mudgee and Toowoomba, all the games will be held in the larger more recognisable cities like your usual suspects (all the places that have NRL teams) plus a few in Wellington and Christchurch, and maybe even a few in places Dunedin, Perth and Adelaide.

Realistically the hosts for the finals will be-
QF- Christchurch/Wellington, Auckland, Canberra/Townsville/Newcastle, Melbourne.
SF- Brisbane/Sydney, Auckland.
GF- Brisbane/Sydney or maybe Melbourne considering that the like to spend more then the should bidding for big sporting events.

It's unfortunate because in a perfect world that's not how I'd spread the games around for maximum effect for the spread of the game and sharing of wealth within the game, but it is what it is.

 

[The Great Dane]

Knowing Barr the Canberra government will be bringing the strict minimum to the table.

I doubt it.

I'm no fan of his at all and he may be a massive AFL fanboy, but when it comes to getting large sporting events to come to Canberra Barr is normally more then willing to open the purse, even for RL on the rare occasion that representative games have been within our reach.

He did it for the Asian cup games and to get the socceroos to play here a few times, he has done it for cricket many times and he did it to get the Kangaroos to come down in 2013.

He may spend exorbitant overs to the AFL whenever he can, but he isn't normally too tight with the purse strings when it comes to other major sporting events either, I'll give him that.

And to be fair to him the NRL has rarely entertained the idea of representative RL being played in the ACT, and on every occasion in recent times that our name has come up as a possible venue the game has gone somewhere else except once, and I doubt it has been him or the ACT government that has been the problem in most cases.

 

[Raiderdave]

we won't get a semi final Canberra stadium isn't large enough. I'd of thought the 1/4's would be double headers & this would be perfect & ensure sellouts. Say 2 games in Newcastle .. NZ & England to play their games there 33,000 assured. & 2 games in Canberra featuring the Kangaroos in one of them. 26,000 assured. Semi finals in Brisbane ( Australia V ??) & Wellington ( NZ V England ). Final at Eden Park.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Double header quarter finals at 30k-odd venues would be pathetic. Play one in nz for a start.

 

[axe&smash&crush]

No Canberra is too small. Big matches need to be in Brisbane, Sydney or Auckland

 

[Tigers1986]

Canberra Stadium is too small for a semi final. They can have pool fixtures. in fact, most of the 'suburban' grounds should get the pool matches to expand into the community, save for the 'big' clashes of Australia/NZ, NZ/England, Australia/England.

Quarter finals at Eden Park, SFS, Suncorp and AAMI Park, semi finals at Eden Park and Suncorp, Final at ANZ Stadium. Too easy.

 

[Walt Flanigan]

I think stadiums the size of GIO are perfect for quarters. We're talking games like Australia v France and England v Samoa. Attendance would be embarrassingly small in the bigger Stadiums.

 

[Billythekid]

I think stadiums the size of GIO are perfect for quarters. We're talking games like Australia v France and England v Samoa. Attendance would be embarrassingly small in the bigger Stadiums.

Totally agree with this. We would be better off having sold out stadiums in places like Canberra, Newcastle or Perth than a half full Sydney stadium. Semis and the GF obviously need bigger stadiums but otherwise smaller stadiums are better imo (except for big matches like England vs Australia).