I know the heading of this will have people jumping up and down, but i think that the RLIF needs to run a world cup every year. ONe of the problems with the international game is the perception that no one plays the game. The world cup always changes this but it is forgotten in 12 months time. I think that the best way to improve and promote the world cup is to run it every single year. With Qualifying and all.
Now, the catch is that year one should be an under 16s world cup. This would encourage countries to promote the game at under 16 level, which countries like Wales and others seem to be slowly moving towards. If this tournament was run by the RLIF and World cup monies were used to help subsidise travel fees it could be a resounding success. In fact, it is not totally inconcievable (given the success of the Toyota Youth cup) that the tournament could get some sponsors and Tv Coverage and actually break even, eventually. Year 2 should simply be an u18 World Cup, year 3 an u21 or amateur World cup and the last year a full blown world cup.
The establishing of these junior tournaments has many advantages. Firstly, the tournaments wont cost too much to run and with the help of billeting and other arrangments they will be cheap, but will have massive impact on games in the developing nations (like the senior world cup did). Secondly they will raise awareness of the competiveness of other nations in the general public i can recall France, England and even Russia having varying levels of success much greater than their senior teams in this form of football. If we had an RLIF organised World cup, using their connections and experience (okay i know people will say they couldnt run a chook raffle etc) i think that this would make a huge impact on the development of international rugby league.
Now, the catch is that year one should be an under 16s world cup. This would encourage countries to promote the game at under 16 level, which countries like Wales and others seem to be slowly moving towards. If this tournament was run by the RLIF and World cup monies were used to help subsidise travel fees it could be a resounding success. In fact, it is not totally inconcievable (given the success of the Toyota Youth cup) that the tournament could get some sponsors and Tv Coverage and actually break even, eventually. Year 2 should simply be an u18 World Cup, year 3 an u21 or amateur World cup and the last year a full blown world cup.
The establishing of these junior tournaments has many advantages. Firstly, the tournaments wont cost too much to run and with the help of billeting and other arrangments they will be cheap, but will have massive impact on games in the developing nations (like the senior world cup did). Secondly they will raise awareness of the competiveness of other nations in the general public i can recall France, England and even Russia having varying levels of success much greater than their senior teams in this form of football. If we had an RLIF organised World cup, using their connections and experience (okay i know people will say they couldnt run a chook raffle etc) i think that this would make a huge impact on the development of international rugby league.