International RL program proposal

[Jim from Oz]

OK all,

As I noted on a UK-based forum, I have just emailed this to the RLIF.

Let's see if they reply.

Comments/thoughts/criticisms welcomed.

Thanks

Jim in Sydney (a MASSIVE international RL fan)



Dear RLIF,

How are you?

I have seen various proposals recently for a Pacific Cup in 2019.

I have a much better idea for a Pacific Cup every four years : (2019, 2023, 2027 etc … the intermediate year of the RL World Cup).

(And please,call it the Pacific Cup! Pacific is sexy! Pacific tests are a brand! The Pacific Cup has a history going back to the 1980s! No one has even heard of Oceania!)

Surely, if Australia is available to play in late 2019 – are they playing GB or not? – then the way to make a Pacific Cup exciting (and profitable) is this way:

Group 1

Australia, Fiji, and Samoa

Group 2

New Zealand, Tonga, and PNG



Play each team once in your group (1st round is during State of Origin / rep weekend, when Australia and NZ do not play; final 2 rounds after the NRL GF).



The top in each group then plays off for thePacific Cup Final,with 2nd in each group playing for 3rd and 4th, and last in each group playing for 5th and 6th in amassive triple header. Every team plays 3 games.


And PLEASE: do NOT have a Pacific Cup of two seperate groups with promotion and relegation – that is absurd and will not work! You don't even get a final with that ! And why should 3 teams be "less" than the 3 other teams? This will never improve the international sides!

(Note; if Australia IS playing GB in late 2019, the Pacific Cup could still be played, with Cook Islands replacing Australia on this one occasion).

AT THE SAME TIME AS THE PACIFIC CUP, PLAY IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE A EUROPEAN CUP EVERY 4 YEARS (2019, 2023, 2027 etc )

Same format as the Pacific Cup:

Group 1

England, Ireland, Scotland

Group 2

France, Wales, Italy/or qualifier.



Both these comps could one day be expanded to 8 teams:



PACIFIC CUP:



Group 1

Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands

Group 2

New Zealand, Tonga, PNG, qualifier (from the Americas Cup: US, Canada, Chile etc)



EUROPEAN CUP:



Group 1

England, Ireland, Scotland, Lebanon

Group 2

France, Wales, Italy, qualifier (from the European Championship B: Serbia, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, Greece, Malta etc etc).



BEST OF ALL, FROM THIS WE NOW GET A NICE STABLE "SPINE" OF INTERNATIONAL RL:



2019: Pacific Cup/European Cup

2020:

2021: RL World Cup

2022:

2023: Pacific Cup/European Cup
2024:

2025: RL World Cup (in the US/Canada …?)
2026:
2027: Pacific Cup/European Cup
2028:
2029: RL World Cup (in Australia/NZ/PNG)
2030:
2031: Pacific Cup/European Cup
2032:
2033: RL World Cup (in GB/France)
2034:

In the intervening years, we could have touring - but in a 4-year / 8-year cycle so everyone knows what's going on !

2019: Pacific Cup/European Cup
2020: Kangaroo tour to GB/France
2021: RL World Cup
2022: NZ tour to GB/France
2023: Pacific Cup/European Cup

2024: GB tour to Australia
2025: RL World Cup
2026: GB tour to NZ/PNG/Pacific nations
2027: Pacific Cup/European Cup
2028: Kangaroo tour to GB/France
2029: RL World Cup
2030: NZ tour to GB/France
2031: Pacific Cup/European Cup
2032: GB tour to Australia
2033: RL World Cup
2034: GB tour to NZ/PNG/Pacific nations

This way Australia play England/GB every 4 years (2020, 2024, 2028 etc) for the RL Ashes – another great tradition that should be revived !

Tours to/from/by other nations - esp. France and the 4 big Pacific nations – can be factored in accordingly.

It also means once every 4 years, Australia does NOT play in a major cup/Test series (which is what they seem to want?) … they could then play a 2-Test series v NZ in those years ??

Yours
etc

 

[Pommy]

The European cup doesn’t have anywhere near the same pull as a pacific cup would, placing France in the opposite group to England does nothing to improve this. Despite Frances pathetic showing last week they are still the second best northern hemesphire team by a good margin. Assuming that Ireland stick to their current ideas on domestic players.
I’m also not sure where the money is going to come from to get Lebanon’s players from Sydney to Europe.
If Lebanon are going to be included in a European cup then why not Jamaica?

 

[Springs09]

I agree with some of it, particularly the cycle of tours every eight years. I think a Kangaroo Tour should be a very special thing and if every 8 years then players will only get the opportunity twice in their careers if that. Ashes series every four years keeps it relevant as well as leaving plenty of space for other series/tournaments.

If I were doing the international schedule it would include the following tournaments:
Baskerville Shield played yearly in the yearly mid-season international window same time as Origin
Polynesian and Melanesian Cups expanded to three-test series in the mid-season window
Trans-Tasman test series
Ashes Series
Pacific Cup (Tonga, Samoa, PNG, Fiji, Cook Islands + qualifier)
European Cup (France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy + qualifier)
European Six Nations (England, France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy)
Pacific Six Nations (NZ, Tonga, Samoa, PNG, Fiji, Cook Islands)
Confederations Cup (8 teams based on highest ranked from previous tournaments)
And of course the World Cup and World Cup qualifiers

Schedule:
Year 1
Baskerville Shield (Eng)
European Six Nations
Trans-Tasman Test Series (Aus)
Pacific Cup
World Cup Qualifiers

Year 2
Baskerville Shield (NZ)
Confederations Cup (NH)
World Cup Qualifiers

Year 3
Baskerville Shield (Eng)
Lions Tour of Australasia
Ashes Series (Aus)
Pacific Six Nations
European Cup

Year 4
Baskerville Shield (NZ)
World Cup

Year 5
Baskerville Shield (NZ)
European Six Nations
Trans-Tasman Test Series (NZ)
Pacific Cup
World Cup Qualifiers

Year 6
Baskerville Shield (Eng)
Confederations Cup (SH)
World Cup Qualifiers

Year 7
Baskerville Shield (NZ)
Kangaroo Tour of Europe
Ashes Series (Eng)
Pacific Six Nations
European Cup

Year 8
Baskerville Shield (Eng)
World Cup

In my opinion this gives teams a good amount of competition both within their own tiers and between tier 1 and 2 nations.

 

[Perth Red]

Id just like to see a ten year plan and them fricking stick to it!!

 

[Billythekid]

I read all sorts of fanciful pie in the sky plans on this forum but frankly what the specifics aren’t what international league lacks. What we need is simply more international games and a bit of certainty around the schedule.

Do you think SOO would be as big as it is if it was randomly played every 3-4 years in a variety of formats and involving different states?

For some reason there is this expectation that each year you can just throw a few random internationals together and expect the international game to grow.

I don’t care if it’s the 4 nationals, pacific cup, tours whatever. We need a schedule made in advance and we need to give all the teams plenty of opportunities to play and help to foster rivalries.

Don’t waste time when an oppurtunity presents itself. Last World Cup the shining lights were Tonga and PNG. Where is the follow up? PNG could literally sell out any home match and yet all they have is a game against Australia A. Also their team is made up of players mostly not from the top grade so there is no need for the NRL or RLPA to shit on them like they do every other country.

Look at Tonga. They could pretty much sell out any ground in NZ right now and even in Australia they’re a huge draw card. How are we capitalising on that? A mid season test against Samoa and a one off match against Australia. We should be doing more.

Despite doing so little to foster the international game opportunities like this keep springing up. There is so much oppurtunity to grow the game and no one seems to be taking the initiative and making it happen.

 

[Jim from Oz]

I read all sorts of fanciful pie in the sky plans on this forum but frankly what the specifics aren’t what international league lacks. What we need is simply more international games and a bit of certainty around the schedule.

Do you think SOO would be as big as it is if it was randomly played every 3-4 years in a variety of formats and involving different states?

For some reason there is this expectation that each year you can just throw a few random internationals together and expect the international game to grow.

I don’t care if it’s the 4 nationals, pacific cup, tours whatever. We need a schedule made in advance and we need to give all the teams plenty of opportunities to play and help to foster rivalries.

Don’t waste time when an oppurtunity presents itself. Last World Cup the shining lights were Tonga and PNG. Where is the follow up? PNG could literally sell out any home match and yet all they have is a game against Australia A. Also their team is made up of players mostly not from the top grade so there is no need for the NRL or RLPA to shit on them like they do every other country.

Look at Tonga. They could pretty much sell out any ground in NZ right now and even in Australia they’re a huge draw card. How are we capitalising on that? A mid season test against Samoa and a one off match against Australia. We should be doing more.

Despite doing so little to foster the international game opportunities like this keep springing up. There is so much oppurtunity to grow the game and no one seems to be taking the initiative and making it happen.

Well, yes, I totally agree!

This is why I sent this schedule to the RLIF … to get them to actually think that having an actual schedule might actually be a good way to actually capitalise on these opportunities !!

 

[roughyedspud]

The Aussie's are gonna keep pushing proposals & plans until the get their own way...and fat Nigel will bend over and take it...

Not only is the "pacific championship" half arsed it also destroys the international schedule that was agreed too over the last 2 RLIF meetings...

 

[taste2taste]

I read all sorts of fanciful pie in the sky plans on this forum but frankly what the specifics aren’t what international league lacks. What we need is simply more international games and a bit of certainty around the schedule.

Do you think SOO would be as big as it is if it was randomly played every 3-4 years in a variety of formats and involving different states?

For some reason there is this expectation that each year you can just throw a few random internationals together and expect the international game to grow.

I don’t care if it’s the 4 nationals, pacific cup, tours whatever. We need a schedule made in advance and we need to give all the teams plenty of opportunities to play and help to foster rivalries.

Don’t waste time when an oppurtunity presents itself. Last World Cup the shining lights were Tonga and PNG. Where is the follow up? PNG could literally sell out any home match and yet all they have is a game against Australia A. Also their team is made up of players mostly not from the top grade so there is no need for the NRL or RLPA to shit on them like they do every other country.

Look at Tonga. They could pretty much sell out any ground in NZ right now and even in Australia they’re a huge draw card. How are we capitalising on that? A mid season test against Samoa and a one off match against Australia. We should be doing more.

Despite doing so little to foster the international game opportunities like this keep springing up. There is so much oppurtunity to grow the game and no one seems to be taking the initiative and making it happen.

Rugby league never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

 

[Pommy]

I read all sorts of fanciful pie in the sky plans on this forum but frankly what the specifics aren’t what international league lacks. What we need is simply more international games and a bit of certainty around the schedule.

Do you think SOO would be as big as it is if it was randomly played every 3-4 years in a variety of formats and involving different states?

For some reason there is this expectation that each year you can just throw a few random internationals together and expect the international game to grow.

I don’t care if it’s the 4 nationals, pacific cup, tours whatever. We need a schedule made in advance and we need to give all the teams plenty of opportunities to play and help to foster rivalries.

Don’t waste time when an oppurtunity presents itself. Last World Cup the shining lights were Tonga and PNG. Where is the follow up? PNG could literally sell out any home match and yet all they have is a game against Australia A. Also their team is made up of players mostly not from the top grade so there is no need for the NRL or RLPA to shit on them like they do every other country.

Look at Tonga. They could pretty much sell out any ground in NZ right now and even in Australia they’re a huge draw card. How are we capitalising on that? A mid season test against Samoa and a one off match against Australia. We should be doing more.

Despite doing so little to foster the international game opportunities like this keep springing up. There is so much oppurtunity to grow the game and no one seems to be taking the initiative and making it happen.

PNG are getting a series against the England Knights, I know it’s nothing spectacular but it’s better than nothing at least.