When is the draw,venues etc announced?

[morningstar]

There will be 20000 Lebanese at both games. They will probably outnumber the Australian supporters.

Chuck in 5-10k of travelling English fans for their fixture as well. Will be a hell of an atmosphere. Lebanon x2 at Allianz is the best news to come out of these leaks for me.

 

[morningstar]

NZ media's turn to get the tongues wagging. Confirms Donny Donny's Group B prediction...

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/article.cfm?c_id=79&objectid=11675998

The Kiwis are set to be grouped with Samoa, Tonga and Scotland at this year's World Cup but will be denied the chance of playing the final in New Zealand should they get that far.

New Zealand and Australia are co-hosting this year's tournament - Papua New Guinea will also host three group games - with Brisbane the likely venue for the final.

Games in Auckland are expected to be played at Mt Smart Stadium rather than Eden Park, meaning New Zealand's biggest stadium will miss out. The draw will be announced on Tuesday.

It's expected to reveal that the Kiwis will kick off their campaign on October 28 against Samoa in Auckland, almost certainly at Mt Smart Stadium. They will then take on Scotland in Christchurch on November 4 and Tonga in Hamilton on November 11.

Christchurch and Wellington will host quarter-finals on November 18 and Auckland a semifinal on November 25 which, if based on seedings, should see the Kiwis take on England. That match is also likely to be at Mt Smart Stadium.

There's a feeling games will have more chance of selling out at Mt Smart, which can accommodate 30,000 fans, as opposed to Eden Park, which has a normal capacity of 50,000 - 60,000 attended the 2011 Rugby World Cup final.

 

[Scubby]

Mount Smart Stadium FFS!! NZ got 44k at Eden Park for a 4N game in 2010. Why wouldn't they back themselves to fill Eden Park for a WC Semi Final.

 

[CC_Roosters]

Awful. How Newcastle doesn't get a game is beyond me. Darwin is completely amateur. Lebanon v England and Australia at Allianz will struggle to draw any crowd.

I'm not even sure I'll be able to see a game now. Travelling to Sydney to see those two fixtures isn't exciting.

I am in the same boat. From the CCoast, will definitely go down to the England v Lebanon game but Australia in the same fixture does not excite me at all. My only interstate trip for the tournament will be the final if I can make it happen.

More disappointing for regional NSW than Sydney. The metro region gets approx. 90 matches a year between NRL and origin while Central coast, Newcastle and Wollongong get 17-18 matches between them per year. Either or all would have been great choices for group and/or QF games. You can almost guarantee that the media in Sydney will ignore the whole tournament so expect no positive coverage from here on in print, television or radio in NSW

The organisers seem to have made some good decisions- the opener in Melbourne, albeit at the the wrong stadium imo and the final at Lang park is a no brainer. However on the whole I am disappointed, it should have been New Zealand event with supporting matches in Australia involving the kangaroos and select others.

 

[jim_57]

Hope to god there was an incorrect leak and the media are running with it.. pretty underwhelming if all accurate.

Giving games to cities/stadiums that bid is good, but not if you're giving them bigger games than they should be getting at the expense of the prestige of the tournament. Sydney should have gotten 1 big game regardless of what money they put up, hopefully this is the RLIF bluff the state government.

There are some howlers here for me:

• Final AND Semi in Brisbane
• A Semi at Mt Smart (FFS! They would have no trouble selling out Eden Park, being ultra conservative is a really bad look)
• 3 games each in Townsville & Cairns incl. Double headers. (Any double headers should be at 40k+ stadiums)

Totally lacking in ambition.

 

[Billythekid]

Yeah, really hoping the leaked info isn't accurate though at this point i'd say it likely will be. Petty much everything announced is incredibly underwhelming and I'm not sure what they were thinking. Could be very detrimental to the game, we need each WC to be as successful as possible if we're ever going to get the game to grow.

 

[CC_Roosters]

Hope to god there was an incorrect leak and the media are running with it.. pretty underwhelming if all accurate.

Giving games to cities/stadiums that bid is good, but not if you're giving them bigger games than they should be getting at the expense of the prestige of the tournament. Sydney should have gotten 1 big game regardless of what money they put up, hopefully this is the RLIF bluff the state government.

There are some howlers here for me:

• Final AND Semi in Brisbane
• A Semi at Mt Smart (FFS! They would have no trouble selling out Eden Park, being ultra conservative is a really bad look)
• 3 games each in Townsville & Cairns incl. Double headers. (Any double headers should be at 40k+ stadiums)

Totally lacking in ambition.

agree 100%.

The stacking of games in north Queensland is bizarre imo. I would have had 2 games in cairns then 1 group and 1 knockout in townsville. The rest of those group games should have been in wollongong, gosford or newcastle.

So a rugby league world cup quarter final will be played in a 12k capacity oval. Well done australia well done....

Lets hope the news ltd leak is BS.

 

[adamkungl]

God i hope this isn't true, what a clusterf**k. Between the League's administrators and our idiotic government, why can't we doing anything right

 

[CC_Roosters]

God i hope this isn't true, what a clusterf**k. Between the League's administrators and our idiotic government, why can't we doing anything right

48 hours from the official announcement i dont see any value in them leaking incorrect information.

 

[undertaker]

no, no, no, no, nooooooooooo....

I really hope and pray that none of the venue allocations mentioned in the newspapers are true. This World Cup was truly the chance to build on the success of the 2013 RLWC and expand on the last RLWC held here in 2008.

I understand the 2008 RLWC was predominantly played in smaller venues so that the RFL/ARL could make a profit after taking years to rebuild the international game due to the disasterous 2000 RLWC. In those circumstances, I understand that the RFL/ARL had to be conservative and didn't want to take unnecessary risks with scheduling and venue allocation (hence the superpool concept with Australia/NZ/England). However, the international game has been on the rise since then and this was the opportunity to have followed in the footsteps of the 2013 RLWC and play more matches in larger venues.

Those news articles are simply depressing if true and are a complete punch in the face to RL fans in general. It's simply an insult to have NZ's marquee matches played at Mt Smart instead of Eden Park, Newcastle completely missing out on a match after hosting England vs NZ in 2008, Gosford/Wollongong also missing out, Perth being good enough to host an Origin match in 2019 but Darwin is considered a better venue to host a Q/F, having a semi final AND final at the same venue.....Btw, those matches in the Top End - Darwin/Cairns/Townsville - are going to struggle to sell-out in November due to the wet season up there with high heat and humidity. LOL @ that fool in the article who suggested this tournament will be bigger than the Asian Cup. Holding Q/Fs in a 12-14k seat stadium in Darwin.....Only in RL (closely followed by crickets' ICC) do the administrators of the sport constantly try to lower the bar instead of expanding the game.

The only saving grace is if Ch7 can promote the crap out of the tournament, but I can see they are going to be up against a lot of anti-international RL propaganda from Ch9 & News Ltd throughout the tournament.

 

[morningstar]

I'm a little confused about some of the decisions but generally happy.

Good
Suncorp Final
Super pools look well balanced.
Good geographical spread across Aus & NZ
All the Aussie pool games seem to be at big stadiums. Etihad (Eng), Allianz (Lebanon) & Suncorp (France)
Even split of quarter finals and semi finals between Aus & NZ
Tapping into the Lebanese market in Sydney.
3 PNG Home games in Port Moresby.


Mediocre
Mt Smart over Eden Park for the NZ Semi
Pool B being split between NZ and Nth Qld.
Suncorp Semi final as well as the final. Seems like oversaturation.
Regional NSW being screwed.

WTF?!
Darwin in November!
Pool double headers
6 Pool Games in Nth Queensland

 

[jim_57]

So assuming the rumours are true it looks likely Australia will play 3 games at Suncorp if the make the final (or semis....)? That's going to be a hard sell, one pool game and the final would have been fine. Even if Sydney didn't upfront any cash they should have gotten an Australian Quarter or semi.

Australia V Lebanon at Allianz could draw a decent crowd and I'm warming to the idea, hopefully Sydney can put on 30k+ for that one. England V Lebanon will be lucky to get 15k IMO and should have been played at a smaller 10-20k capacity Western Sydney stadium.

Still looking forward to this tournament and trying to make a few games.. but jeez if these rumours are true it could have been so much better.

 

[BuderusIsaBeast]

Very disappointed in the venues. I understand the NSW government hasn't made it easy however no game in Newcastle is awful. I understand not giving them a quarter final if there not willing to pay however there needed to be more of a presence at the group stage in places such as Newcastle, Central Coast and Wollongong.

A quarter final in Darwin is a joke as is double headers in townsville and cairns in the group stage. Also very disappointed in Suncorp getting a semi aswell as a final. NZ using Mt Smart over Eden Park for there opener and semi is also ridiculous.

Im still looking forward to the tournament and still lots of positives in the PNG games and the pool selections are smart. However very disappointed with this announcment

 

[taipan]

Very disappointed in the venues. I understand the NSW government hasn't made it easy however no game in Newcastle is awful. I understand not giving them a quarter final if there not willing to pay however there needed to be more of a presence at the group stage in places such as Newcastle, Central Coast and Wollongong.

A quarter final in Darwin is a joke as is double headers in townsville and cairns in the group stage. Also very disappointed in Suncorp getting a semi aswell as a final. NZ using Mt Smart over Eden Park for there opener and semi is also ridiculous.

Im still looking forward to the tournament and still lots of positives in the PNG games and the pool selections are smart. However very disappointed with this announcment

My take, some venues WTF including Darwin,Mt Smart ,Cairns still scratching my head.My other take,the organisers want to ensure the event makes a decent profit,hence giving preference to Stadiums where state Govts have bid to stage the events.
When the RLWC last lost money ,some nations got into financial crap.
It's a hard choice ,but at times here in Sydney we only have ourselves to blame ,when it comes to Intl attendances.
Newcastle at least despite no Govt bid should have got one pool.They at least attend in numbers.

Hope the venue details are wrong ,but unfortunately it looks not to be the case.The organisers had better have a decent explanation as to why some of the ordinary venues were chosen.Unless Darwin was prepared to pay a couple of $m.

 

[TIM !!!!!!]

If the final is in Brisbane

I would have the Semi's at ANZ Stadium & Eden Park

The Quarter Finals at ANZ, Suncorp, Eden Park & Wellington

I would have the opener at the MCG

 

[undertaker]

If the final is in Brisbane

I would have the Semi's at ANZ Stadium & Eden Park

The Quarter Finals at ANZ, Suncorp, Eden Park & Wellington

I would have the opener at the MCG

According to one of the articles posted earlier, MCG was on the cards for the Australia vs England opener until Cricket Australia intervened and wanted the ground to be kept for cricket only (no football matches) for at least 8 weeks before the Boxing Day Test match. Nevertheless, Etihad will still attract a strong crowd and in the end is a far better choice of venue in Melbourne than MCG or AAMI Park (too small capacity). Given the corresponding fixture in 2008 got 36k, this match should at least get in the mid-40k's and will sound and look good on tv.

 

[Last Week]

According to one of the articles posted earlier, MCG was on the cards for the Australia vs England opener until Cricket Australia intervened and wanted the ground to be kept for cricket only (no football matches) for at least 8 weeks before the Boxing Day Test match. Nevertheless, Etihad will still attract a strong crowd and in the end is a far better choice of venue in Melbourne than MCG or AAMI Park (too small capacity). Given the corresponding fixture in 2008 got 36k, this match should at least get in the mid-40k's and will sound and look good on tv.

I'm predicting a sell out.

 

[Scubby]

The 2013 World Cup got over 450k attending and the 2021 bid is aiming for 1m attendees. This World Cup should have been aiming for somewhere in between 600-700k (that is over 20k per game). I really don't see how they can get anywhere near this playing so many fixtures at tiny stadiums and a semi at Mount Smart stadium. Jesus, it sounds worse every time you type it. Bit of a come down from Wembley.

 

[adamkungl]

For Sydney to get no finals, and pool games played at the wrong stadium is just ridiculous.

Sydney is the world's biggest Rugby League city. Indisputable fact. In the past decade international crowds have at times been poor, yes. The way to fix this is NOT to completely ignore it.
6 games in the arse end of North QLD for an international tournament of a professional sport is insane.
To ignore Newcastle and Penrith is insane.

If the Government didn't want to come to the table... I seriously question the talent of our administrators if they couldn't make a valid case for the WC, in a period where there were protracted negotiations with the government over stadium deals.

 

[yakstorm]

Only two venues have been 'leaked' which have venues sub-20K - Barlow Park (17K) and TIO Stadium (15K), so achieving a 20K average is still within grasp. Honestly we'll be able to comprehend what is possible when the full fixtures come out.

For me I get why the organizers have chased the money. The RLIF need as much out of this event as possible fund everything between 2018 - 2021 so are rightfully (in my opinion) trying to lock in as much as possible up front.