Four Nations Schedule released

[The Observer]

playing each other twice will make the tournament 7 weeks long and 7 tests back to back..

Not necessarily. As long as the SL finished in first weekend of October (like the NRL, as you did in 2008), we could have had a genuine, competitive series of tests - like 2004 or 2005: which would have maximised crowd attendances, been fair to the big 3 and been more financially lucrative than this model:

Oct 17
France vs England
NZ vs Aus

Oct 24
England BYE (flies to Southern Hemisphere)
Aus vs NZ

Oct 31
NZ vs England
Aus BYE/vs combined PI team

Nov 7
Aus vs England
NZ vs combined PI team

Nov 14
All teams fly to Northern Hemisphere - to satisfy Noble's concern of 4 back-to-back tests.

Nov 21
England vs NZ
France vs Aus

Nov 28
England vs Aus
France vs NZ

This model would create genuine home and away tests between the big three, yet France would still be developed by hosting tests against the big 3. The big three nations could field their B team against France and still win comfortably, in fact GB/England did it in 2007. France's heavy defeats against Fiji and Tonga offer more proof of that.

 

[bazza]

I am a bit dissappointed by some of the venue choices - but we should see full stadiums for all of the matches.

I think the Stoop is a good venue. It is probably the best rugby stadium in London (besides the huge Wembley and Twickenham). When they have had matches at QPR in the past the field looked too small

I would really like to see a Oz v England match in London sometime soon

 

[roughyedspud]

Not necessarily. As long as the SL finished in first weekend of October (like the NRL, as you did in 2008), we could have had a genuine, competitive series of tests - like 2004 or 2005: which would have maximised crowd attendances, been fair to the big 3 and been more financially lucrative than this model:

Oct 17
France vs England
NZ vs Aus

Oct 24
England BYE (flies to Southern Hemisphere)
Aus vs NZ

Oct 31
NZ vs England
Aus BYE/vs combined PI team

Nov 7
Aus vs England
NZ vs combined PI team

Nov 14
All teams fly to Northern Hemisphere - to satisfy Noble's concern of 4 back-to-back tests.

Nov 21
England vs NZ
France vs Aus

Nov 28
England vs Aus
France vs NZ

This model would create genuine home and away tests between the big three, yet France would still be developed by hosting tests against the big 3. The big three nations could field their B team against France and still win comfortably, in fact GB/England did it in 2007. France's heavy defeats against Fiji and Tonga offer more proof of that.

i'm not even going to start on that one...

 

[deluded pom?]

Terrible IMO.

Should have been this:

AUS V ENG - London
FRA V NZL - Perpignan
FRA V ENG - Hull
AUS V NZL - Cardiff
FRA V AUS - Toulouse
ENG V NZL - Leeds
Final - Manchester

I for one am quite dissapointed. Just hope we get some great games.

You wouldn't fill the KC for a game against France. Keepmoat's a good choice for that match.

 

[hutch]

the one dissappointing choice is aus v eng. aus v eng/gb has always been a massive rivalry in rugby league, they should of aimed bigger for this, maybe city of manchester if they werent going to take it to london. would like to to see aus v eng in london soon though, i think we are at least ready to move up from the 25k stadiums for aus v eng. we need to back ourselves more, although i think englands world cup performance had an effect on the stadium choices.

 

[roughyedspud]

without a doubt...before the world cup richard lewis said he wanted the england v australia @ wembley

 

[$$Poor Boy Blues$$]

That sucks...

They have undersold the tournament..

I suppose we out to be grateful it's on and announced in Feb...

At first glance it appears, but hmmmm, not so.

Until we consistently sell out smaller venues, do we move to bigger ones. If this time is a success, then next time they should.

I must admit that the last oz v nz game in london was a cracker for atmosphere, even if it was only 15k there. The patriotism from the expats was great to look at.

Lets face it, if you take out a few odd occasions, rugby league is still a sub 30k sport for internationals (and indeed domestic) in England. I think the organizers have done the right thing. Better full smaller grounds than larger patchy ones. The idea is to make a profit, and larger grounds cost more.

They don't actually sit down and think about comparing d!k sizes with stadia to start with, guys. Its about not losing money, and rightly so.

 

[$$Poor Boy Blues$$]

I am a bit dissappointed by some of the venue choices - but we should see full stadiums for all of the matches.

I think the Stoop is a good venue. It is probably the best rugby stadium in London (besides the huge Wembley and Twickenham). When they have had matches at QPR in the past the field looked too small

I would really like to see a Oz v England match in London sometime soon

I would love to see that again. But I dont think they will venture that until england can match it with australia consistently - no use having a big party for an embarrassing game. And then, given as things stand, do you think they would fill wembly? Its too much a risk for embarrassment. And financial loss.

 

[$$Poor Boy Blues$$]

Not spamming, promise.

Just on the happenings this article shows us: its great to see international league getting a structure once again.

With the tri nations, world cup and other goings on with lesser nations playing one another, its clear to see that international league is progressing quite well.

Dont worry about the huge glamorous stadia of england just now. Playing there to big crowds, those days will come. We are where we are, and lets not push it too much too soon.

If they knew without a shred of doubt we could play at Wembly, City of Manchester Stadium, Elland road for regular matches AND sell them out, they would be doing that.

We are where we are at. Its neither good nor bad, it just is. Remember the purpose of this thing, is to have our countries playing one another on sound financial footing. Because its the actual matches that this is all about. It will still be good to watch the actual matches at these grounds. I don't know why we should put too much emphasis on why we aren't playing at the big grounds. Its pretty clear. One day we will. Just not now. We aren't at that stage yet. But we will be. International league is growing fast. The jump in the admin organisation and financial gain of recent years has been very encouraging.

 

[pcpp]

INTERNATIONAL Rugby League lurched into fresh controversy last night after the Australian Rugby League slammed their English counterparts over an "embarrassing" calendar mix-up.
Just months after a drama-filled World Cup, RFL officials yesterday officially announced the draw for this year's inaugural Four Nations tournament, to be played through October and November in England and France.
The problem was no one bothered to ask the ARL if they agreed to all the times, dates and budgets - leaving a furious ARL chief executive Geoff Carr wanting an explanation.
"We don't know what has happened," Carr told The Daily Telegraph. "The four nations is a partnership between the ARL, RFL and NZRL. We invite a fourth partner who will be France.
"There was a proposal put forward by the RFL but we had to wait for budgets to come through. We also hadn't signed off on venues, dates and times. Then for whatever reason, the RFL has put out a press release that wasn't approved by us.
"It was all premature and has caused unnecessary embarrassment.
"We hope to get an explanation from the RFL overnight. We didn't sign off on anything."
ARL officials first noticed the press release when it appeared on the Leeds Rhinos website.
But Carr said Australia would not consider boycotting the event.
The offending press statement read: "The first round of fixtures over the weekend of 24 and 25 October will see Harlequins RL's Twickenham Stoop ground host a repeat of last year's World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand. England will open their account against France at Doncaster's Keepmoat stadium.
"A week later England will play the Kangaroos at Wigan's JJB Stadium and New Zealand will travel across the channel to play France."
Richard Lewis, International Federation deputy chairman, was happily quoted in the media statement.
"Following last year's hugely successful World Cup, there is a lot of anticipation for this competition as all the teams involved will have something to prove," he said.
"New Zealand will be keen to show their World Cup final victory was not a fluke whilst Australia, under a new coach, will be all out for revenge to make up for the disappointment of losing their world title on home soil. England will be keen to recapture the form that saw them whitewash the Kiwis in 2007, and the French will be eager to grasp the opportunity to play in such a prestigious international competition especially with them hosting two games."

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25096474-5001023,00.html?from=public_rss
Who knows whether to laugh or cry?

 

[deluded pom?]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25096474-5001023,00.html?from=public_rss
Who knows whether to laugh or cry?

It's good to see the ARL officials are huge Rhinos fans. ;-)

 

[$$Poor Boy Blues$$]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25096474-5001023,00.html?from=public_rss
Who knows whether to laugh or cry?

laugh, its a positive beat up.

like it really matters, they were always going to say yes, because the proposal is acceptable.

its just a way to tell us the information in a juicy story, though i dont see why it has to be SENSAAAAAAATIONAL!!!

i would have read it anyway

 

[roughyedspud]

the ARL can get f**ked..you're in our backyard now

 

[deluded pom?]

spud also writes poetry :lol::lol::lol:

 

[roughyedspud]

well they can...:lol:


they did'nt consult us about the world cup or the ref appointments....


so sod em'..........








i'm sure we's listen to the world champions though

 

[Coastbloke]

Quite right Spud...

The ARL does think it has a mortgage on the game..

 

[Coastbloke]

The venues - in general - still suck..

JJB and Hudds is fine for England vs NZ or England vs France, but not Oz...

 

[bazza]

I would love to see that again. But I dont think they will venture that until england can match it with australia consistently - no use having a big party for an embarrassing game. And then, given as things stand, do you think they would fill wembly? Its too much a risk for embarrassment. And financial loss.

Yeah - after England's performance in the world cup it would be a bit hard to sell a big game and there is still the chance that they could get a big crowd and flop

I think they will have to take the chance soon though

 

[roughyedspud]

next chance will be the 2011 4nations....but imo we have to win either the 2009 or 2010 4nations before we can look towards going back to places like wembley..

if we'd have won the world cup last year we'd back back at wembley now..

 

[deluded pom?]

Does anyone else think that familiarity is breeding contempt? We used to see the Kangaroos every four years and they were eagerly awaited events. Now they are like buses. We have to wait a max of two years before they are here again.