Internationals in OZ - Does distance disipate dedication ?

[The Partisan]

Possibly a controversial subject but after having the privledge of spending six weeks in England late last year for the RLWC - I wonder whether Australia's geographical size is a hindrance to its hosting of International RL tournaments ?

Was lucky enough to get to a dozen games last year (albeit with 2 double headers in there) and that included missing one entire weekend as i explored the Isle of Man !

On the weekend of the quarter finals i was based in Warrington and so made it to 3 of the 4 games on offer - with train (and an unplanned bus ride!) being the only transport required ! Doubt that could have happened in Oz.

Don't think i don't won't to have the 4N's / RLWC here - believe me i do

I just doubt I'd be able to see as many games in Oz as i did in GB.

Curious to know how many games our British contributers saw here in Oz for the 2008 RLWC - if travelling independently. How many could you do in 2017 if same format as 2013 with quarter finals ?

 

[langpark]

Here's what I would personally do, first of all, would make it a 16 nation WC, 4 groups of 4...

Group A - Aus + 3 - all group matches shared across Aus
Group B - NZ + 3 - all group matches in NZ
Group C - PNG + 3 - all group matches in Qld (maybe a match or two in PNG)
Group D - England + 3 - all matches in NSW

Then in the knockout phase matches can be anywhere, maybe all in Aus though...

This allows NZ and England fans to easily follow their team's matches during the group stage...

 

[Kurt Angle]

We will use super pool(s) for quite some time, so a pool with England England won't be a stand alone pool.

Based on last years WC, (and prob swap Tonga and PNG around) and 16 yrams, thus 4 team/6 games in weaker pools

Group A will be in Australia in big stadiums, state capitals, Newy, GC and Canberra for example
Group B will be in NZ
Group C will be in PNG and Queensland regional (3/2/1 split between Port Moresby, Townsville & Rocky )
Group D will be in suburban Sydney and regional NSW grounds.

 

[Rodney]

I'm not so sure.
The Super Pools were used out of necessity because there was 14 teams competing, if there was a bump up to 16 the competition could easily accommodate equal pools.
And while the minnow pools were nice, it'd also be good to give teams like PNG and Ireland a genuine chance of escaping the group stage.
There would be a few more blowouts with equal pools, but I don't think people mind a bit of a score put on during the group stage. But the finals would be much closer and more climactic.
The benefits of minnow pools aren't spectacular and with 16 teams it's almost guaranteed that minnows will have at least one rival of a similar skill level.
I don't see why we shouldn't upgrade to equal groups of 4.

 

[roughyedspud]

in 2008 i traveled too...


townsville forengland v png then

melbourne for england v australia[/ then

i based myself in sydney, went on the ferry to ireland v samoa @ parra then couple of days later got the train upto newcastle for england v NZ,stayed the night then got the train back to sydney the next morning...later that day was samoa v france in the 9th place game but i ended up in the star casino watching joe calzaghe fight roy jones..

then onto brisbane for the semi then final...

so i did 6 games should have been 7...maybe 8 if i'd have left melbourne and got to sydney a day earlier then i guess i could have got a train to wollongong for the fiji v france game...put that down to bad planning

 

[Poul]

I'm not a Pom, and am based in Sydney, but for the 2008 World Cup, I got to 12 games out of a total of 18. It should have been 13, but I missed the Scotland v Fiji match at Gosford. I think it may have just been viable to get to a 14th match, but the Ireland v Samoa match at Parramatta kicked off about an hour (from memory) after the completion of the Gosford match.
I had a great time in 2008, and got to see some places, like Townsville (twice!), that I'd never been to before.

I don't think I'll be able to make it to as many matches in 2017.

I really liked the Super Pool concept in 2008. The best thing about it was not that it kept the minnows away from the big 3 to avoid blowouts, but the fact that it brought the big 3 together so that we could get to watch the matches most of us wanted to see. In 2013, If not for a bit of Kiwi magic in their last minute semifinal win against the Poms, we wouldn't have had the Kangaroos playing the Kiwis in the tournament. To me this is unacceptable, and I would imagine also to the broadcasters and general public.

For 2017, I'd like to see a 12 team World Cup, with "proper" regional based, e.g., Europe, Pacific, qualifiers.
I would have a "Super Pool" of 4 including Australia, New Zealand, England and France. The other two pools of 4 would have 4 European qualifiers in one pool, and 4 Pacific qualifiers in the other.
The Super Pool teams would progress to quarter finals against the runners up and winners of the other two pools.
I know most of you will probably hate this idea, but I think it makes for the most entertaining games, and makes most games competitive.
I'm looking forward to 2017 already, and even more so to 2021 for another trip to England. Bring it on

 

[Rodney]

I feel the big matches are better with big stakes.
Having the highest quality matches at the start of the tournament devalues those matches in my opinion.
I think it'd be better if the big 3 didn't meet until the semi finals to help build the hype of their eventual meetings.

 

[The Partisan]

in 2008 i traveled too...


townsville forengland v png then

melbourne for england v australia[/ then

i based myself in sydney, went on the ferry to ireland v samoa @ parra then couple of days later got the train upto newcastle for england v NZ,stayed the night then got the train back to sydney the next morning...later that day was samoa v france in the 9th place game but i ended up in the star casino watching joe calzaghe fight roy jones..

then onto brisbane for the semi then final...

so i did 6 games should have been 7...maybe 8 if i'd have left melbourne and got to sydney a day earlier then i guess i could have got a train to wollongong for the fiji v france game...put that down to bad planning

Thanks for that Spud. Covered a few kilometres / miles there !

 

[roughyedspud]

and i only managed 4 games last year at our world cup lol

 

[The Partisan]

Yeah well best laid plans fell apart for me in 2008 (was out of work for a few months !) - and i only got to the two Brisbane games !