Federation Cup..

[Coastbloke]

Looking at the 2006 Federation Cup on Wiki. England, France, Samoa and Tonga. No crowds over 10,000, but not too bad though.

Anyone think England v Tonga would get below 10,000 now at Leeds or Elland Rod etc now? Even Samoa? Samoa v France again?

Is it time again for these little tournaments?

2022 after World Cup.

NH: England, France Tonga, Samoa
SH: Oz, Kiwis, PNG, Fiji

I think the Tongans deserve a Tier 1 tour to England. Who's gonna pay? That's why the International game needs to monetise it's product..A England v Tonga game should now fill out AT LEAST Elland Rd..??

 

[Storm13]

Would put Samoa and Tonga in the southern and Fiji and PNG in the northern. Two 4nations working in both hemispheres at the same time would work and be exciting.

 

[Springs09]

Honestly I wouldn't really like to see Samoa and Tonga in a tournament with England and France while Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy watch on the sidelines. Same as how we had to start taking the Pacific Nations seriously, we need to start taking European nations seriously. They deserve to be in a 'Tier 1' tournament that's not the World Cup.

Though I think tours are certainly a good option. I'd like to see smaller nations take advantage of the tour format, for example France to Oceania with a 3-test series v PNG + tests against Australia, NZ and Tonga. Or Tonga to Europe with tests v France, Ireland, Wales along with a 3-test series v England. The main problem is fitting it into the calendar. Another reason why a mid-season break is a good idea, creates a whole nother season for things like 3-test series.

 

[adamkungl]

In 2023 I want to see something like

Federation* Cup: Australia hosting
Australia v New Zealand v England v Tonga

Shield: France hosting
France v Ireland v Fiji v PNG

^ where the 8 nations involved are the ones that pre-qualify for 2025.

*Someone really needs to come up with a good name for this interim tournament
Federations/Continental/etc ugh beige as

 

[Coastbloke]

Honestly I wouldn't really like to see Samoa and Tonga in a tournament with England and France while Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy watch on the sidelines. Same as how we had to start taking the Pacific Nations seriously, we need to start taking European nations seriously. They deserve to be in a 'Tier 1' tournament that's not the World Cup.

Though I think tours are certainly a good option. I'd like to see smaller nations take advantage of the tour format, for example France to Oceania with a 3-test series v PNG + tests against Australia, NZ and Tonga. Or Tonga to Europe with tests v France, Ireland, Wales along with a 3-test series v England. The main problem is fitting it into the calendar. Another reason why a mid-season break is a good idea, creates a whole nother season for things like 3-test series.

I like the idea of tours as well. Certainly they should be included in the 4 year cycle.

I think the inspiration for the thread for me was that last year all that action was in the Southern Hemisphere. The NH desperately needs some games as well. Tours would fix that.

Wasn't so long ago, that to get over 20,000 to a England match in England it had to be Australia or NZ. I think we could throw Tonga into the mix. Won't be long before I think could throw Fiji and PNG into the mix as well. Be nice to drag France kicking and screaming to play a Test or 2 as well..

 

[deluded pom?]

I like the idea of tours as well. Certainly they should be included in the 4 year cycle.

I think the inspiration for the thread for me was that last year all that action was in the Southern Hemisphere. The NH desperately needs some games as well. Tours would fix that.

Wasn't so long ago, that to get over 20,000 to a England match in England it had to be Australia or NZ. I think we could throw Tonga into the mix. Won't be long before I think could throw Fiji and PNG into the mix as well. Be nice to drag France kicking and screaming to play a Test or 2 as well..

For some reason the RFL think England have to play Australia or New Zealand as often as possible. Sometimes they throw France a few crumbs with a hastily arranged piss poor organised game. I, and many other England fans would love to see Tonga come here for a three game series. It would make money.

 

[adamkungl]

Under the current calendar that seems to be generally agreed upon, it is a big challenge finding touring slots.
The likely format for the next cycle is:

Year 1 - Regional Cups + Aus or NZ touring
Year 2 - "Federations" Cup apparently, as discussed above.
Year 3 - Regional Cups + GB/England touring

Touring in Regional Cup years is already a bit of a mess, with Australia and England's calendars not giving the Oceania and Euros the consistency and profile they need.

And while its possible for Australia or England to tour and enter an 'A' team into the regional cup that year, which i've been pushing for a while, that's not really feasible for someone like Tonga or France who don't have that kind of depth.

A mid-season break where nations can tour (even a 2-game series overseas) would be good but seems like a hurdle too far for the current club league environments and there's not really much point discussing total fantasy. As we saw with Denver, quite a few things need to change before this becomes feasible.

The best solution I can think of, keeping the above calendar, is in year 2 of the cycle.
Lets say the year 2 IRL Federations Cup is hosted in England in 4-Nations format.
Tonga could put on an extra 2 games v England to make it a best of 3 trophy, and maybe even a detour v Wales or France.
In the next cycle when it would presumably be down under, France could do the same with an extra 2 games v NZ and a visit to PNG.

A tour opportunity for teams outside the Big 3 added to year 2 would make for a very strong international calendar, and it wouldn't take much more than political will to get there.