Expanding the international schedule (formerly a "plan" thread)

[Hollywood Jesus]

OK, so I stole strat's title. Sorry. This thread is a little different as it centres around the International Calendar and how to restructure it so that it becomes:

a) an attractive and important part of the season and
b) tempting enough so that players would consider staying loyal to teams such as Scotland, Tonga etc instead of always opting for Australia due to SOO every year

It will require the ESL and NRL to co-ordinate their schedules so that they can play matches at the same time and thus theoretically allow as many players as possible to travel to wherever they are needed in order to represent. This would not always happen to its fullest extent, but the other benefit is the weekend of television would contain pure rep matches from both hemispheres that would be a delight to watch.

4-YEAR DRAW

OK, a few bits of info to get started with.

When playing in mid-year games in the Southern Hemisphere (SH), Pacific Teams will probably only be able to draw from NRL talent as ESL players will not always be released. When a Pacific team is sent to the Northern Hemisphere (NH) they could join up with ESL players there to form their strongest team. As such, SH games will probably best be played as openers from larger games, or at smaller stadiums such as Penrith or Townsville (where they might draw a larger crowd).

Pacific Origin is, in essence, a combined Tonga/Samoa/Fiji/Cook Is. team that would play NZ in a 3-game Origin series that ran concurrently with SOO.

PI is, basically, the Pacific Origin Team that stays together to compete in the 6 Nations tournament.

"Guest" teams would be emerging nations not involved in this draw that could come for tours. If a different "Guest" team was brought every year, each nation would only have to organise a 2-3 month sabbatical from their homelands once every 4 years. The three spots might go to Russia, Lebanon and the US? An Affliliated States team (WA, SA, Vic, NT etc) might also get a run.

ANZ team is ex-pat Aussies and Kiwis in ESL. Playing GB would become an AZNAC weekend tradition (which they should have no damned problem with considering we went and fought for the Commonwealth!)

SH team would be Aust, NZ, Pac Islands - one required from each nation minimum - drawn from ESL players wherever possible. SH = Southern Hemisphere

NH team would be GB, France, Russia, Lebanon, US - one required from each nation minimum - drawn from ESL wherever possible. NH = Northern Hemisphere

Ab XIII would be an Aboriginal Invitational team.

FPP = First Past the Post Competition.

The year would be divided into 3 sections: ANZAC weekend, Mid Year and End Year. In the first two sections, all Club games across the world would be suspended. End Year would come after NRL/ESL seasons finished.

********************

YEAR 1
ANZAC Weekend
South. Hem: Aust v NZ........................ North Hem: GB v ANZ
Samoa v Tonga.................................PNG v France

Mid-Year
SH: State of Origin........................................NH: GB v France (3 Tests)
Pacific Origin............................................ ....Lebanon v Russia (Opener)
PNG v Guest (2/3 games)

End Year
SH: Nil............................................... .........NH: Six Nations
.................................................. ...................(Aus, NZ, GB, Fra, PI, PNG)

YEAR 2
ANZAC Weekend
SH: Aust v NZ.............................................NH: GB v ANZ
Samoa v PNG..............................................Tonga v France

Mid-Year
SH: State of Origin......................................NH: Eng v Ire v Scot v Wal
Pacific Origin............................................ (Play opponents once each, FPP)
PNG v Guest............................................. .France v Russia/Lebanon/US

End Year:
SH: Tri-Nations...........................................NH: Five Nations
.................................................. ..............(France, Tonga, Samoa, PNG, Russia)

YEAR 3
ANZAC Weekend
SH: Aust v NZ...........................................NH: NH v SH
Tonga v PNG
Samoa v Ab XIII

Mid-Year
SH: State of Origin.......................................NH: Great Britain v France (3 Tests)
Pacific Origin............................................ ...US/Russia/Lebanon? (Opener)
PNG v Guest

End Year
SH: Six Nations...........................................NH: Nil

Year 4
ANZAC Weekend
SH: Aust v NZ............................................NH: GB v France
Tonga v Samoa
PNG v Ab XIII

Mid-Year
SH: State of Origin......................................NH: Eng v Ire v Scot v Wal (FPP)
Pacific Cup............................................... .France v Russ/lebanese/ANZ
(Sam, Tong, PNG, NZ - FPP)

End Year
World Cup

********************

Now, it's probably not ideal, but it solves some problems.

Pacific teams now play regularly, so players will fully declare for them more. In addition, the upper echelon of players who have problems because they can't play Origin - Mateo, SBW - now have that opportunity.

Pac Islands team would pretty much immediately rank #4 and be a competitor against Aus, NZ and GB. Would vastly improve the international scene.

NZ would benefit from playing together during the year. Would vastly improve the international scene.

France would start playing regular matches against decent teams other than GB. Would vastly benefit the international scene.

Combined teams such as PI and GB would get regular opportunities to split and play as individual nations, most especially in WC year. Would benefit the WC and vastly improve the international scene.

Have at me, mateys!

 

[mark123]

I am very glad people are talking about leagues future. And whats more - having positive things to say about it!!!!

I like what you say. For my iopinion, anything that gets league nations playing more tests is a good thing. Your version may not get onto our calendar as is, but its a good demonstration that putting a larger emphasis on tests. The breadth of what you have written, the scope, is what I believe should happen on the int. rl. calendar. No more of having only a few rl test teams....everyone who plays should have one, and they should be playing, and we should be supporting them no matter where they are at on the playing field, and we should be supporting all the local comps that we can.

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

We should absolutely be supporting international teams.

Samoa v Tonga at CUA for the WC will absolutely BLOW the stadium apart. To think we won't be capitalising on it by staging a return match next year is just ridiculous. There are going to be smaller nations that will get the chance to see their stars run around at the end of the year, they'll get excited, and then we'll dish absolutely nothing up to them in 09 and we'll be back to where we were last year - with a stale international scene which offers no variety or unpredictability.

 

[Parra]

Are you a soccer administrator, or just practicing?

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

You don't think it would work?

It's not that much of a change to what's currently on offer or on the table:

*There's already talk from the NRL of making the ANZAC Test a stand alone weekend
*There's plenty of rumbling about the need for SOO to be stand alone
*We already have end of season fixtures

All we need to do is take these opportunities and utilise the potential we have on offer to offer a smorgasboard of international rugby league to feed the hungry public masses and give the players what they want.

 

[Parra]

Now I understand - it's the old loaves and fishes trick.

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

Slightly different. More of a case that, when handing out the loaves and fishes, you actually hand the whole damned lot out and not leave 75% of what's there sitting around, uncomsumed.

The fisherman and bakers get the opportunity to make something from their craft and feel good about being productive and feeding people, and the people actually get fed.

 

[johnkolc]

HJ, I like it, particularly the Pacific Origin team. Do you plan on sending it to the NRL/ARL/whatever the international one is called and getting them to respond to you about it?

I reckon it'd be a shame to waste all that effort you have put into it.

 

[Hollywood Jesus]

I'd much prefer to go about it another way.

Basically, the NRL has its head up its arse so sending them anything will lead to nothing.

There are, however, other ways to go about things. Ways that could be more successful. I'll look into those first.

I've got a few other ideas I've been tossing about in my head in regards to Sydney clubs making money, so I'm hoping to have them all sorted by next weekend when we play Melbourne at home. We'll see how we go, then.

 

[Brutus]

Are you a soccer administrator, or just practicing?

Are you a rugby league fan?

Didn't think so.