International Comp?

[Abz]

Soccer have the "UEFA Champions League, Union has the Super 14, why can't league have an international TEAMS competition after say a shortened season? 26 rounds is good... but say we reduce it to 20 rounds or so... then have the teams from domestic comps, in say England, Australia and maybe 1 or 2 power house teams from the domestic French and NZ comps... all going at it in nothing but a knockout tournament? Simple, you lose, you're out. And have it in a similar format to the Super 14 teams... no it's not another league season, it's just a knockout comp. It'll allow teams/players in England who'll never get the chance to come out here a chance to do so, and vice-versa with Aussie players. I also think it might be a solution to stop players jumping ship to England... when they instead go there for a simple knockout comp.

Of course there is more to it, but I think it's great for the ineternational game. Is it feasible or is it too draining on the players to fly over to England every fortnight for say 2 months?

Thoughts?

 

[Pierced Soul]

not feasible due to costs and lack of fan interest. when superleague tried this when both comps were in sync the aussie teams killed the poms. it was like watching a first grade team play a D grade park team. whilst the poms will argue they've improved and point to the world club trial results as evidence of their improvement it would just be a massacre and a waste of time

 

[Abz]

How about 1 trial then and make the poms live up to their word?

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Considering time constraints if we want to increase the amount of international footy (and we should) then it should be proper internationals not more club games.

 

[Abz]

We have a World Cup coming up. Tri-Nations and Tours every year. It's not that, I'm after like the Euuo teams do with Football/Soccer - domestic teams play each other.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

We actually have a proper Champions League anyway. It's called the WCC and it is actually a contest between two champion clubs, not a few champion clubs and a bunch of others who are not champions like the soccer wank.

 

[KniGhTs BaTTLeR]

It's a good idea, but I don't think it would work.

 

[aarondoyle]

I like the idea, but it would bleed money. Money we don't have.

 

[Schillaci]

We actually have a proper Champions League anyway. It's called the WCC and it is actually a contest between two champion clubs, not a few champion clubs and a bunch of others who are not champions like the soccer wank.

Yes I can see how the 'world' club challenge is much better with what, teams from the same two countries every year? fantastic.

btw The FIFA club world cup is a far better comparision than the champions league.

 

[Lockyer4President!]

btw The FIFA club world cup is a far better comparision than the champions league.

It's funny how the South Americans are the only ones who take that seriously, kinda like the Poms are the only ones who take the WCC seriously.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Yes I can see how the 'world' club challenge is much better with what, teams from the same two countries every year? fantastic.

btw The FIFA club world cup is a far better comparision than the champions league.

But on the other hand soccer is gay.

 

[KniGhTs BaTTLeR]

But on the other hand soccer is gay.

Seconded.

Motion Passed.

 

[Abz]

I like the idea, but it would bleed money. Money we don't have.

How much more can it possibly cost? Flight Airfares, Accomodation in Hotels... surely the sponsors can pay for that... it'll round to about an extra $15-20 mil per season. Seeing the NRL get's $500,000,000 from Channel 9 alone, I think we do have the money for it. That's $500 mil for 3 games. Imagine Foxtel - 8 games. They'd be paying bucketloads for that, not to mention other little sponsors we've also got (namely Holden, AAMI etc...).

 

[Pierced Soul]

the sponsors will probably also see it as a waste of time, and judging by the lack of intrerest in the WCC in australia i htink most fans would see it as a waste of time.

I personally would love to see it if it could work, i just dont believe we have the depth nor interest to do something like that

 

[Quidgybo]

Yes I can see how the 'world' club challenge is much better with what, teams from the same two countries every year? fantastic.

Exactly which other countries did you have in mind? When the day comes that the best clubs from New Zealand and France (the Warriors and Les Catalans respectively) are good enough to win the competitions they play in then we will see different countries in the WCC. And hopefully in coming years we can introduce more teams from these countries and even beyond into our game's professional club competitions. But in the meantime we need to deal with the reality of situation, that RL only has and can currently only afford two fully professional club competitions worldwide - the NRL based primarily in Australia and SL based primarily in England. So of course we're going to largely see the same two countries in the WCC (final) each year. No amount of wishful thinking or elaborate expanded tournaments which only serve to introduce a series of lopsided results is going to change that.

Leigh.

 

[Perth Red]

Few points,

one there are no powerhouse teams in NZ or France domestic league that would not get slaughtered

two the poms would be more competitive and I reckon a top 4 v top 4 plus Warriors and Les Cats would be the only feasible competition.

three clubs will not shortern the season in SL or NRL as they need the money from gates etc.

four lets get our international game sorted out before worrying about inter club comps'

five a WCC played the week after the GF between the two GF winners is a must for that game to be taken seriously and earn the money it is capable of (and one day be played here!)

 

[Quidgybo]

... a WCC played the week after the GF between the two GF winners is a must for that game to be taken seriously and earn the money it is capable of (and one day be played here!)

Two weeks after and alternating hemispheres (as an integral part of the annual post season international program). The WCC game will never have even a chance of becoming anything more than what it is while it remains a pre-season training run for what, by then, are premiership winning teams in name only.

Leigh

 

[RabbitohHighlightMaker]

15 round NRL comp. play each team once. Semi's and GF.

top 5 go through to the World Club challenge. Top 5 go through from UK Superleague. play each team once, semi's and GF for newly crowned World Champion.

I'm not sure of numbers (as in if top 5 would work) due to my lack of knowledge of UK comp, but probably would end up lobsided for the first year or so, but once the UK teams are used to playing higher quality, their skills would increase. Hopefully...



Pipedream idea but I'd support it. Especially if my team ended up in it. Even if it didn't, I'd probably go to a game of an Aussie team i didnt mind VS a UK team at the SFS.

 

[Perth Red]

Teams would never agree to losing that many home games in the regular season though.

Top 5 is too many, still say top 3 or 4 at most. Other than that I like the format.

 

[taste2taste]

I dont think this would work, their simply wouldnt be the fan interest to generate any money.

On the other hand there do seem to be some exciting things happening on the international scene

The RLWC is coming up, and and the new bloke in charge of international footy ( cant remember his name) has a ten year plan ( which is posted some where on the international forum) to get league much bigger internationally..hopefully bigger than that snooze fest of a sport rugby union.