imported_Mystery Man
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I've posted a few different models for international football over the past 12 months. They have varied significantly and this is the latest version. If you spot an idea that I have stolen off you, take it as a compliment - I'll give recognition when I can remember whose idea it was. This schedule is the result of my own evolving ideas over the past 12 months as well suggestions that I have read from other posters.
A few things that need to be explained before I get started :
<ul> [*]This schedule is written from an NRL perspective, but I don't believe that this is a major issue as it would be very easy for the Super League season to be run in accordance with the suggestions that I will put forward. [*]The NRL regular season would be reduced from the current 26 rounds down to the more realistic number of 20. The Super League season would be reduced to 22 rounds. Both competitions would have four weeks of finals, culminating ingrand finals being held on the first weekend in October. This would be done in Australia to accommodate the inevitable night grand final, and would only require the Super League grand final to be brought forward one week. I believe this to be a fair compromise. It also makes more sense to have the seasons finish at the same time. [*]A World Club Championship would be held two weeks following the respective grand finals. The current situation of having it as a preseason match is ridiculous as both teams will probably have a significantly different line-ups to the ones that they had to win their respective competitions, and both teams will be out of form The match would be alternated between the home ground of the NRL and SL champions on a yearly basis. I believe that the timing of the match would allow each team to have the mandatory celebration period of 3 or 4 days before getting into preparations for the WCC. The home team would not be allowed to begin training until the visiting team arrived, which would ideally be on the Friday or Saturday before the match, ensuring that both teams had an equal preparation. [*]State of origin matches would be played on Sunday nights with the NRL suspended for each match. There would be two rounds of NRL between each origin match. [*]On the Friday nights of the origin weeks, a tri-series between NSW city, NSW country, and Qld A would be played at regional venues (eg country NSW, Newcastle, Gosford, Gold Coast, Cairns, Townsville). [*]Immediately following the third origin match there would be a four week break in both the NRL and Super League seasons for Southern Hemisphere test football (in effect, combined with origin 3, this would be a five-week break for the NRL). In years one and three, the Super League season would also have a five-week break to enable the Lions' to play at least four matches as part of tours, with the necessary preparation. [*]Every second year, during the mid-season break for test football, their would be a Quad-series played between Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and a combined Pacific side, as opposed to the Tri-series the RFL proposed. (I believe that Albert Rosenfield came up with a very similar idea on the WORL boards). This would ensure that each team would have a match on each weekend, and there would be two matches every weekend. The first week of the four-week break would be use as a training camp with practice matches being played (eg against Qld, NSW, NZ residents). This would also ensure that the Great Britain team, and the SL-based players for NZ and the Pacific, have time to arrive in the Southern Hemisphere and have a proper preparation for the Quad-series. [*]During the four-week break, a four week knockout tournament could be played between the (ideally, sixteen) NRL sides. The matches could be played in both regional and city areas. The grand final could be turned into an annual event, always played at the same venue (eg Newcastle) as a way of building it into an "event". It should be noted that I ripped this idea off legend, who suggested it in a thread a while back. [*]Following the WCC, another period of test football would be commence, primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. There would, however, be some matches played in the Southern Hemisphere, but none of the big "event" matches.[/list] Now that I've gotten all that out of the way, it's time for the schedule. The first part that I'll present is from the beginning of the club seasons through to the WCC. * 8 rounds of NRL * State of Origin 1 * 2 rounds of NRL * State of Origin 2 * 2 rounds of NRL * State of Origin 3 * 4 week break for test football * 8 rounds of NRL * NRL and Super League finals * week off * World Club Championship The following will detail what will occur during the four week mid-season breaks. Year 1 Week 1 Australia v France New Zealand v Great Britain Week 2 NZ v Australia 1 PNG v Great Britain 1 Week 3 Australia v NZ 2 PNG v Great Britain 2 Week 4 NZ v Australia 3 PNG v Great Britain 3 Note : France would play matches against various Pacific nations during this period, in addition to the test against Australia. Year 2 Week 1 Warmup matches Week 2 - Week 4 Quad-series Year 3 Week 1 New Zealand v Australia Great Britain v PNG Week 2 Australia v Great Britain 1 Week 3 Australia v Great Britain 2 New Zealand v France 1 Week4 Australia v Great Britain 3 New Zealand v France 2 Note : A Pacific cup involving PNG, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and the Cook Islands would be played over a four or five week period. As each team in the competition would have one bye, they could use that time to play tests against France (as PNG would do when they played against Great Britain). Year 4 Week 1 Warmup matches. There would, however,be the possibility of NZ and GB playing an extra match to form a two match series, with game two being part of the Quad-series. Week 2 - Week 4 Quad-series Following the WCC, the second test match period would go as follows. Year 1 Australia - test v PNG, then Kangaroo tour (no tests verus France). Great Britain - 2 tests v France, Ashes v Australia. New Zealand - 3 match test series v PNG Year 2 Australia - test v PNG, possibly a test against a developing nation (a Pacific nation or South Africa), 2 tests v France, 1 match against a Super League International Barbarians side (this was somebody else's idea) Great Britain -2 tests v PNG,3 tests v New Zealand New Zealand - Kiwi tour of Great Britain (no tests v France) PNG - 1 test v Australia, 2 tests v Great Britain, 2 tests v France Year 3 Australia - 3 test series v PNG Great Britain - 2 tests v France, possibly a test against a developing nation like South Africa, 1 test v New Zealand New Zealand - 1 or 2 tests against developing nations, two tests versus France, 1 match v SL barbarians, 1 test v Great Britain France - 2 tests v Great Britain, 2 tests v New Zealand, 1 or 2 tests against touring developing nation (the same team who played GB) Year 4 World Cup I've mainly detailed the tests for Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain. Obviously the smaller nations need a more detailed schedule, but that can easily be done to fit around what I've done. I have also made sure that Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand all play each other at least once every year. All comments, both positive and negative are welcome.
A few things that need to be explained before I get started :
<ul> [*]This schedule is written from an NRL perspective, but I don't believe that this is a major issue as it would be very easy for the Super League season to be run in accordance with the suggestions that I will put forward. [*]The NRL regular season would be reduced from the current 26 rounds down to the more realistic number of 20. The Super League season would be reduced to 22 rounds. Both competitions would have four weeks of finals, culminating ingrand finals being held on the first weekend in October. This would be done in Australia to accommodate the inevitable night grand final, and would only require the Super League grand final to be brought forward one week. I believe this to be a fair compromise. It also makes more sense to have the seasons finish at the same time. [*]A World Club Championship would be held two weeks following the respective grand finals. The current situation of having it as a preseason match is ridiculous as both teams will probably have a significantly different line-ups to the ones that they had to win their respective competitions, and both teams will be out of form The match would be alternated between the home ground of the NRL and SL champions on a yearly basis. I believe that the timing of the match would allow each team to have the mandatory celebration period of 3 or 4 days before getting into preparations for the WCC. The home team would not be allowed to begin training until the visiting team arrived, which would ideally be on the Friday or Saturday before the match, ensuring that both teams had an equal preparation. [*]State of origin matches would be played on Sunday nights with the NRL suspended for each match. There would be two rounds of NRL between each origin match. [*]On the Friday nights of the origin weeks, a tri-series between NSW city, NSW country, and Qld A would be played at regional venues (eg country NSW, Newcastle, Gosford, Gold Coast, Cairns, Townsville). [*]Immediately following the third origin match there would be a four week break in both the NRL and Super League seasons for Southern Hemisphere test football (in effect, combined with origin 3, this would be a five-week break for the NRL). In years one and three, the Super League season would also have a five-week break to enable the Lions' to play at least four matches as part of tours, with the necessary preparation. [*]Every second year, during the mid-season break for test football, their would be a Quad-series played between Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and a combined Pacific side, as opposed to the Tri-series the RFL proposed. (I believe that Albert Rosenfield came up with a very similar idea on the WORL boards). This would ensure that each team would have a match on each weekend, and there would be two matches every weekend. The first week of the four-week break would be use as a training camp with practice matches being played (eg against Qld, NSW, NZ residents). This would also ensure that the Great Britain team, and the SL-based players for NZ and the Pacific, have time to arrive in the Southern Hemisphere and have a proper preparation for the Quad-series. [*]During the four-week break, a four week knockout tournament could be played between the (ideally, sixteen) NRL sides. The matches could be played in both regional and city areas. The grand final could be turned into an annual event, always played at the same venue (eg Newcastle) as a way of building it into an "event". It should be noted that I ripped this idea off legend, who suggested it in a thread a while back. [*]Following the WCC, another period of test football would be commence, primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. There would, however, be some matches played in the Southern Hemisphere, but none of the big "event" matches.[/list] Now that I've gotten all that out of the way, it's time for the schedule. The first part that I'll present is from the beginning of the club seasons through to the WCC. * 8 rounds of NRL * State of Origin 1 * 2 rounds of NRL * State of Origin 2 * 2 rounds of NRL * State of Origin 3 * 4 week break for test football * 8 rounds of NRL * NRL and Super League finals * week off * World Club Championship The following will detail what will occur during the four week mid-season breaks. Year 1 Week 1 Australia v France New Zealand v Great Britain Week 2 NZ v Australia 1 PNG v Great Britain 1 Week 3 Australia v NZ 2 PNG v Great Britain 2 Week 4 NZ v Australia 3 PNG v Great Britain 3 Note : France would play matches against various Pacific nations during this period, in addition to the test against Australia. Year 2 Week 1 Warmup matches Week 2 - Week 4 Quad-series Year 3 Week 1 New Zealand v Australia Great Britain v PNG Week 2 Australia v Great Britain 1 Week 3 Australia v Great Britain 2 New Zealand v France 1 Week4 Australia v Great Britain 3 New Zealand v France 2 Note : A Pacific cup involving PNG, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and the Cook Islands would be played over a four or five week period. As each team in the competition would have one bye, they could use that time to play tests against France (as PNG would do when they played against Great Britain). Year 4 Week 1 Warmup matches. There would, however,be the possibility of NZ and GB playing an extra match to form a two match series, with game two being part of the Quad-series. Week 2 - Week 4 Quad-series Following the WCC, the second test match period would go as follows. Year 1 Australia - test v PNG, then Kangaroo tour (no tests verus France). Great Britain - 2 tests v France, Ashes v Australia. New Zealand - 3 match test series v PNG Year 2 Australia - test v PNG, possibly a test against a developing nation (a Pacific nation or South Africa), 2 tests v France, 1 match against a Super League International Barbarians side (this was somebody else's idea) Great Britain -2 tests v PNG,3 tests v New Zealand New Zealand - Kiwi tour of Great Britain (no tests v France) PNG - 1 test v Australia, 2 tests v Great Britain, 2 tests v France Year 3 Australia - 3 test series v PNG Great Britain - 2 tests v France, possibly a test against a developing nation like South Africa, 1 test v New Zealand New Zealand - 1 or 2 tests against developing nations, two tests versus France, 1 match v SL barbarians, 1 test v Great Britain France - 2 tests v Great Britain, 2 tests v New Zealand, 1 or 2 tests against touring developing nation (the same team who played GB) Year 4 World Cup I've mainly detailed the tests for Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain. Obviously the smaller nations need a more detailed schedule, but that can easily be done to fit around what I've done. I have also made sure that Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand all play each other at least once every year. All comments, both positive and negative are welcome.
