WC2013 venue announcement LIVE 8:15am GMT

[Poul]

Really annoyed about the fact that matches are being played in Ireland and France. This is supposed to be a WC held in England and Wales, why do those teams also get home advantage? Say France host a WC in the future, does this mean that England will be able to play their matches at home? What about the next WC, say it's in NZ, will Australia and PNG get to play their matches at home? It's just absolute stupidity, this is the sort of thing that makes international RL into a joke and I'm not at all convinced that the RFL have learned any lessons from 2000.

I'd agree that it's been spread around a bit further that I thought it would be.
I am a bit surprised that Ireland got a game, yet happy that France got 2.
I'd like to see France get the 2033 World Cup to help celebrate their centenary. Hope I'm still around to see it :lol:
It's hard to imagine circumstances conspiring against us like they did in 2000, with the atrocious weather and transport.
I'm cautiously optimistic that this is going to be a great World Cup.
I hope the fixtures and base camp allocations are announced soon, so the local communities can adopt and embrace their visiting World Cup team.
I'm pretty sure the Kangaroos will receive a great reception should thay be hosted say in Leeds :sarcasm:

 

[Gambass]

Gilbert Brutus has a capacity of just over 13,000 after the work done this year at the venue. There is also the chance of more construction at the venue in time for the 2013 RLWC which would take it up to 16K.

No, no. There is no way the capacity of Gilbert-Brutus to be over 13,000. The officially capacity is said to be 10,460 (actually, it might be a slightly bigger as the game against Leeds attracted a crowd of 10,688). The middle/long term goal is to rebuilt the oldest stand and to get a capacity of between 13,000 and 14,000, but that not something wich going to happen before the RLWC.

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stade_Gilbert-Brutus
mairie-perpignan.fr/sites/default/files/fichiers/pdf/journal-de-perpignan-ndeg7-septoct-2011.pdf

Even if no additional upgrades happen, I'm happy with the game being at Gilbert Brutus rather than the Union field. Hiring costs would be lower, and it is the league ground, we should be pumping as much money back into our own venues as possible.

Both stadiums are owned by the city council, so it wouldn't had made any difference financially speaking.

 

[Evil Homer]

I'd agree that it's been spread around a bit further that I thought it would be.
I am a bit surprised that Ireland got a game, yet happy that France got 2.
I'd like to see France get the 2033 World Cup to help celebrate their centenary. Hope I'm still around to see it :lol:
It's hard to imagine circumstances conspiring against us like they did in 2000, with the atrocious weather and transport.
I'm cautiously optimistic that this is going to be a great World Cup.
I hope the fixtures and base camp allocations are announced soon, so the local communities can adopt and embrace their visiting World Cup team.
I'm pretty sure the Kangaroos will receive a great reception should thay be hosted say in Leeds :sarcasm:

I highly doubt it's going to be a great World Cup. Some of the stadia choices are baffling and don't even come close to Super League standard, let alone being chosen to host matches in a World Cup. Of the 14 teams, three haven't played a match for over a year and another two are in complete disarray domestically and shouldn't really have been allowed to participate in qualifiers. I know it's two years away, but at the moment it's looking like a disaster.

 

[Poul]

No, no. There is no way the capacity of Gilbert-Brutus to be over 13,000. The officially capacity is said to be 10,460 (actually, it might be a slightly bigger as the game against Leeds attracted a crowd of 10,688). The middle/long term goal is to rebuilt the oldest stand and to get a capacity of between 13,000 and 14,000, but that not something wich going to happen before the RLWC.

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stade_Gilbert-Brutus
mairie-perpignan.fr/sites/default/files/fichiers/pdf/journal-de-perpignan-ndeg7-septoct-2011.pdf



Both stadiums are owned by the city council, so it wouldn't had made any difference financially speaking.

I would assume that Papua New Guinea would likely be the bigger crowd puller in France, so hopefully they get the game in Avignon, and the Samoa game goes to Perpignan (assuming New Zealand will not be playing in France).

 

[Nuke]

I'm with Poul in as far as that I'm keen to see the dates and fixtures sooner rather than later. I plan on leaving Australia's shores for the first time in my life for this World Cup and need to know where and when I'll be going if I'm to do what I hope to do. I've been told it's cheaper booking things early rather than closer to the time, so the sooner I can get some details, the better off I will be.

I'm sure I'm not the only one.

 

[Poul]

I highly doubt it's going to be a great World Cup. Some of the stadia choices are baffling and don't even come close to Super League standard, let alone being chosen to host matches in a World Cup. Of the 14 teams, three haven't played a match for over a year and another two are in complete disarray domestically and shouldn't really have been allowed to participate in qualifiers. I know it's two years away, but at the moment it's looking like a disaster.

It is difficult for me to comment fully on the choice of stadia, as I am only familar with some of the larger ones like the KCS Hull, and Galpharm Huddersfield, but what I think will make this a great World Cup is competitive matches at full houses.
Realistically some of the matches won't be up to Super League standard, and how many people can realistically be expected to attend say USA v Cook Islands? I'd be very happy if we could get 10,000 (probably unlikely)for that match.
Once the fixtures are known, we should all get behind the tournament to make it as big a success as possible. I'll certainly be bringing some of my Pacific Pesos to pump into the UK economy

 

[pcpp]

Here are the official host venues since I don't see it posted up here.

A total of 34 bids were submitted to the RFL by the July deadline, and the following were successful:

Avignon - The Parc des Sports, which drew a crowd of 16,866 for France's recent international against England, will host a group match.

Bristol - The Memorial Ground will stage a group match, while Filton College will be used as a team training venue.

Halifax - The renovated Shay Stadium will host a group match.

Huddersfield - The Galpharm Stadium, a semi-final venue in 2000, will host a group match.

Hull - Both the KC Stadium and Craven Park will host group matches with the city also hosting two team base camps and team training venues.

Leeds - Headingley will host a group match and a quarter-final while two teams will set up base camps in the city along with a team training venue being utilised.

Limerick - Thomond Park, which hosted a first rugby league match last month, will be a venue for a group match.

Perpignan - The Stade Gilbert Brutus, home of Catalan Dragons and a regular Test venue, will host a group match.

Neath - The Gnoll, home of South Wales Scorpions, will host a group match.

Rochdale - Spotland Stadium, which is the home of Championship One club Hornets, will host a group match.

Salford - The Reds' new City of Salford Stadium at Barton will host a group match and the city will also host a team base camp.

St Helens - Saints' new £26 million Langtree Park will host a group match.

Warrington - The enlarged Halliwell Jones Stadium will host a group match and quarter-final. The town will also host a team base camp and the University of Chester will be used as a team training venue.

Whitehaven - The planned Pow Beck Stadium, whose initial capacity of 3,200 can be expanded to 5,000 with the use of temporary stands, will host group matches, with the Cumbria Sports Academy used as a team training venue.

Wigan - The Leigh Sports Village will host a group match and will be used as a training venue while Wigan's DW Stadium will host a quarter-final.

Wrexham - The Racecourse Stadium, home of North Wales Crusaders, will host a group match and a quarter-final, while Wrexham will also host a team base camp and training venue.

----------------------

The following venues will act as hosts:

Bolton - will be a team base camp with Bolton Arena's facilities used as a team training venue.

Bradford - the Bulls' Tong High School facilities will be used as a team training venue.

Manchester - will host a team base camp and will also provide a team training venue.

Preston - The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) will provide team training facilities at UCLan Sports Arena with Preston also hosting a team base camp.

Widnes - will host a team base camp and the Stobart Stadium will be a training venue.

Workington - will host a team base camp.

Personally i'm underwhelmed by the announcement, I thought the venues and the corresponding matches would be announced together. It's not even a full list of the venues that are being used for the group matches/QFs, so we still don't know whos going to be hosting Australia v England (assuming that is being held in a big stadium) or how Millenium Stadium is rumoured to be fitting in the equation.

The decision to hold a World Cup match in Whithaven, a 5,000 capacity stadium, is not a great look for the tournament.

Wrexham hosting a Quarter Final is a peculiar decision, considering they only got 5,000 against Australia recently I fear a very poor crowd if Wales don't make it.

 

[Evil Homer]

It is difficult for me to comment fully on the choice of stadia, as I am only familar with some of the larger ones like the KCS Hull, and Galpharm Huddersfield, but what I think will make this a great World Cup is competitive matches at full houses.
Realistically some of the matches won't be up to Super League standard, and how many people can realistically be expected to attend say USA v Cook Islands? I'd be very happy if we could get 10,000 (probably unlikely)for that match.
Once the fixtures are known, we should all get behind the tournament to make it as big a success as possible. I'll certainly be bringing some of my Pacific Pesos to pump into the UK economy

Obviously not all of the matches will be Super League standard, but the World Cup is supposed to be the pinnacle of a sport. As for your estimate on the crowd, many of the stadia selected don't even hold 10,000, or barely hold that much. Looking at that choice of venues, this World Cup is going to see a lot, possibly even a majority of matches with crowds around the 4-5,000 mark. That doesn't have to be the case, it shouldn't be the case, but it will be. And I fear that it could set the international game back 10 years like the 2000 WC did.

 

[deluded pom?]

Personally i'm underwhelmed by the announcement, I thought the venues and the corresponding matches would be announced together.

I think the idea is to keep dripping out news at intervals to keep the WC in the news rather than releasing all the news on one day and letting the tournament slip into obscurity for two years.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Playing French games in England when there are better venues in France, a couple of hours away by plane, in front of bigger, more enthusiastic crowds would have been one of the stupidest things in the history of RL. And that's taking a lot into account. Why would you play a France v Samoa game, for example, in some shitty northern hole in front of maybe 5,000 people, 90% of which will not be French, when you could play it in Avignon or Perpignan and get 12 or 15,000, 90% of which will be French?

 

[roughyedspud]

the french are going to play at home........v PNG & SAMOA will be at avignon & perpignan.............

 

[blukablu]

Looking at the venunes its likely they'll be a England v Australia and France V New Zealand double header. Most likely at Wembley.

 

[PaulyTom]

Playing French games in England when there are better venues in France, a couple of hours away by plane, in front of bigger, more enthusiastic crowds would have been one of the stupidest things in the history of RL. And that's taking a lot into account. Why would you play a France v Samoa game, for example, in some shitty northern hole in front of maybe 5,000 people, 90% of which will not be French, when you could play it in Avignon or Perpignan and get 12 or 15,000, 90% of which will be French?

I agree. Probably wouldn't have called it a northern hole though. haha

I think the announcement is one of the biggest in RL history. Should be a great spectacle.

 

[PaulyTom]

I have done the math and I don't think there will be a double header to start the competition off. The amount of stadiums announced yesterday fits with the number of qualifying games there is.

DRAFT for RLWC 2013
Pool A
Australia Vs England- Leeds Headingly
England vs Ireland -St Helens
Australia vs Fiji- Huddesfield
Fiji vs England- Hull KC Stadium
Australia vs Ireland- Limerick
Ireland vs Fiji- Rochdale

Pool B
NZ vs Samoa Salford
PNG vs France- Avignon
NZ vs PNG - Halifax
Samoa vs France- Perpignan
France vs NZ - Warrington

Pool C
Wales vs USA - Wrexham
USA vs Cook Islands Leigh
Wales vs Cook Islands Neath

Pool D
Italy vs Tonga Bristol
Tonga vs Scotland Whitehaven
Scotland vs Italy - Hull Craven Park

QF1- Wigan
QF2- Warrington
QF3- Wrexham
QF4- Leeds

SF1- Old Trafford
SF2- Millennium Stadium (Brave choice)

Final- Wembley London

I'm basing it off that Wembley will get the final. Old Trafford will get a Semi and that there will be NO double header to kick off the comp. wHAT DO YOU THINk?

 

[Billythekid]

Really annoyed about the fact that matches are being played in Ireland and France. This is supposed to be a WC held in England and Wales, why do those teams also get home advantage? Say France host a WC in the future, does this mean that England will be able to play their matches at home? What about the next WC, say it's in NZ, will Australia and PNG get to play their matches at home? It's just absolute stupidity, this is the sort of thing that makes international RL into a joke and I'm not at all convinced that the RFL have learned any lessons from 2000.

Obviously not all of the matches will be Super League standard, but the World Cup is supposed to be the pinnacle of a sport. As for your estimate on the crowd, many of the stadia selected don't even hold 10,000, or barely hold that much. Looking at that choice of venues, this World Cup is going to see a lot, possibly even a majority of matches with crowds around the 4-5,000 mark. That doesn't have to be the case, it shouldn't be the case, but it will be. And I fear that it could set the international game back 10 years like the 2000 WC did.

So you don't want to see crowds of 4-5000 but you want to take those games away from France and put them in England where they will almost certainly attract that many. Putting those games in France gives us a chance to pull a few extra 10K+ crowds and it gives a bit of a boost to French RL.

I do agree though that i hope the amount of games with 5000 or so people in attendance are limited or it really won't look good.

 

[Roy80]

I have done the math and I don't think there will be a double header to start the competition off. The amount of stadiums announced yesterday fits with the number of qualifying games there is.

DRAFT for RLWC 2013
Pool A
Australia Vs England- Leeds Headingly
England vs Ireland -St Helens
Australia vs Fiji- Huddesfield
Fiji vs England- Hull KC Stadium
Australia vs Ireland- Limerick
Ireland vs Fiji- Rochdale

Pool B
NZ vs Samoa Salford
PNG vs France- Avignon
NZ vs PNG - Halifax
Samoa vs France- Perpignan
France vs NZ - Warrington

Pool C
Wales vs USA - Wrexham
USA vs Cook Islands Leigh
Wales vs Cook Islands Neath

Pool D
Italy vs Tonga Bristol
Tonga vs Scotland Whitehaven
Scotland vs Italy - Hull Craven Park

QF1- Wigan
QF2- Warrington
QF3- Wrexham
QF4- Leeds

SF1- Old Trafford
SF2- Millennium Stadium (Brave choice)

Final- Wembley London

I'm basing it off that Wembley will get the final. Old Trafford will get a Semi and that there will be NO double header to kick off the comp. wHAT DO YOU THINk?

Pools C & D have a cross-pool game giving 3 more games. And they'll want to open the tournament with something bigger than a game at Headingly.

Seeing as though the host nations are England & Wales, there'll have to be a game at Millenium Stadium somewhere. They'll get a Semi Double header or something. Otherwise they'll have to call it the England, Wales, Ireland & France World Cup.

 

[Springs]

I have done the math and I don't think there will be a double header to start the competition off. The amount of stadiums announced yesterday fits with the number of qualifying games there is.

DRAFT for RLWC 2013
Pool A
Australia Vs England- Leeds Headingly
England vs Ireland -St Helens
Australia vs Fiji- Huddesfield
Fiji vs England- Hull KC Stadium
Australia vs Ireland- Limerick
Ireland vs Fiji- Rochdale

Pool B
NZ vs Samoa Salford
PNG vs France- Avignon
NZ vs PNG - Halifax
Samoa vs France- Perpignan
France vs NZ - Warrington

Pool C
Wales vs USA - Wrexham
USA vs Cook Islands Leigh
Wales vs Cook Islands Neath

Pool D
Italy vs Tonga Bristol
Tonga vs Scotland Whitehaven
Scotland vs Italy - Hull Craven Park

QF1- Wigan
QF2- Warrington
QF3- Wrexham
QF4- Leeds

SF1- Old Trafford
SF2- Millennium Stadium (Brave choice)

Final- Wembley London

I'm basing it off that Wembley will get the final. Old Trafford will get a Semi and that there will be NO double header to kick off the comp. wHAT DO YOU THINk?

There are three more inter-group matches you didn't count. I think there might be something like Wales/USA and England/Australia at the Millenium. As the Millenium stadium was said to be set to host at least one high-profile match.

 

[blukablu]

I have done the math and I don't think there will be a double header to start the competition off. The amount of stadiums announced yesterday fits with the number of qualifying games there is.

DRAFT for RLWC 2013
Pool A
Australia Vs England- Leeds Headingly
England vs Ireland -St Helens
Australia vs Fiji- Huddesfield
Fiji vs England- Hull KC Stadium
Australia vs Ireland- Limerick
Ireland vs Fiji- Rochdale

Pool B
NZ vs Samoa Salford
PNG vs France- Avignon
NZ vs PNG - Halifax
Samoa vs France- Perpignan
France vs NZ - Warrington

Pool C
Wales vs USA - Wrexham
USA vs Cook Islands Leigh
Wales vs Cook Islands Neath

Pool D
Italy vs Tonga Bristol
Tonga vs Scotland Whitehaven
Scotland vs Italy - Hull Craven Park

QF1- Wigan
QF2- Warrington
QF3- Wrexham
QF4- Leeds

SF1- Old Trafford
SF2- Millennium Stadium (Brave choice)

Final- Wembley London

I'm basing it off that Wembley will get the final. Old Trafford will get a Semi and that there will be NO double header to kick off the comp. wHAT DO YOU THINk?

Your forgetting three inter group games. Also no doubt they'll have play off games like in 2008. So I'm sure they'll be a double header somewhere.

 

[PaulyTom]

My bad for missing that critical detail. Here is my revamped schedule-

Pool A
Australia Vs England- Wembley
England vs Ireland -St Helens
Australia vs Fiji- Leeds
Fiji vs England- Hull KC Stadium
Australia vs Ireland- Limerick
Ireland vs Fiji- Rochdale

Pool B
NZ vs Samoa Salford
PNG vs France- Avignon
NZ vs PNG - Huddesfield
Samoa vs France- Perpignan
France vs NZ - Warrington

Pool C
Wales vs USA - Wrexham
USA vs Cook Islands Leigh
Wales vs Cook Islands Neath

Pool D
Italy vs Tonga Bristol
Tonga vs Scotland Whitehaven
Scotland vs Italy - Hull Craven Park


Cross Pool games- Possibles-
Wales vs Scotland Millennium Stadium DOUBLE HEADER
Tonga vs Cook Islands Millennium Stadium DOUBLE HEADER
Italy vs Usa - Halifax

QF1- Wigan
QF2- Warrington
QF3- Wrexham
QF4- Leeds

SF1- Old Trafford
SF2- Millennium Stadium (Brave choice) or ??????

Final- Wembley London

 

[Bluebags1908]

Places that should consider themselves lucky: (in order)

Limerick
Whitehaven
Bristol
----------
Rochdale
Craven Park (both to a lesser extent)

Unlucky to miss out:
Doncaster
Stoop
Sheffield
Gateshead
Widnes, here's why they missed out; Widnes will host a team base camp and the Stobart Stadium will be a training venue. Due to synthetic turf pitches not being sanctioned by the Rugby League International Federation the stadium is not allowed to stage a match.

I wouldn't be too worried about Limerick. I think they will get the Ireland vs Australia game. With the profile of the Kangaroos, being a World Cup game and heaps of Aussie expats I'm sure will boost the crowd.