World Cup expands to 14 teams

[druzik]

Rugby League Express ran an article this week saying they were under the impression the Euro Cup will be a four team tournament based in France involving France, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The reason they gave for the reduction was the heavy losses suffered by Italy and Serbia although why Lebanon should be dropped too is puzzling.

Lebanon are going to be used as an asset to build up the middle east more and so will probably see the setting up of the Middle East and Nth African Cup. I think it will initially be Lebanon, UAE and Morocco... but by next year I think Qatar, KSA and Palestine should be fielding senior teams.

 

[bowes]

No they didn't, both meetings in the qualifiers ended in ties, 18-18 at Tolka Park, Dublin and 20 apiece at Ram Stadium, Dewsbury.

In the European Cup they did

 

[bowes]

Lebanon are going to be used as an asset to build up the middle east more and so will probably see the setting up of the Middle East and Nth African Cup. I think it will initially be Lebanon, UAE and Morocco... but by next year I think Qatar, KSA and Palestine should be fielding senior teams.

Do you know who's likely to be in the Shield and Bowl then?

I assume this would exclude Morocco and UAE from the Bowl as well and see something like:

Shield
Italy
Serbia
Russia
Germany
Czech Republic
Ukraine

Bowl
Latvia
Estonia
Catalonia
Belgium

Scandinavia
Norway
Sweden
Denmark

Mediterranean
Greece
Malta
Portugal

But I'm not sure, they might go for a smaller Shield and bigger Bowl or something else and Norway might be in the Bowl. If they wanted to do things right they should really say winner of MENA and top 3 of the Shield go through to the qualifier next year

 

[wain]

Lebanon are going to be used as an asset to build up the middle east more and so will probably see the setting up of the Middle East and Nth African Cup. I think it will initially be Lebanon, UAE and Morocco... but by next year I think Qatar, KSA and Palestine should be fielding senior teams.

i dont see why we couldnt include Sth Africa in the picture to get them some regular competition and it be Middle East/Africa conference...

Keep the 'Atlantic Cup' in USA as an Americas competition, USA, Jamaica...and try and get Canada back into the mix.

Then, the worldwide picture would be simple...and beautiful...
Europe
Pacific (still dont know why Australia and NZ arent part of the new pacific rugby league org.)
Middle East/Africa
Americas

 

[druzik]

Do you know who's likely to be in the Shield and Bowl then?

I assume this would exclude Morocco and UAE from the Bowl as well and see something like:

Shield
Italy
Serbia
Russia
Germany
Czech Republic
Ukraine

Bowl
Latvia
Estonia
Catalonia
Belgium

Scandinavia
Norway
Sweden
Denmark

Mediterranean
Greece
Malta
Portugal

But I'm not sure, they might go for a smaller Shield and bigger Bowl or something else and Norway might be in the Bowl. If they wanted to do things right they should really say winner of MENA and top 3 of the Shield go through to the qualifier next year

I think for this year we can exclude Russia. From what I am have been told... and that si not a hell of a lot at the moment it may look like this
Shield
Italy
Serbia
Germany
Czech

Bowl
Ukraine
Latvia
Estonia
Belgium

Med
Norway
Malta
Greece
Sweden/Denmark

Middle East North Africa
Lebanon
UAE
Morocco
Saudi Arabia(?)

Atlantic
USA
Jamaica
South Africa

Portugal seems to have collapsed as well... their website is done no one seems to have contact with them. The Mediterranean Cup is a Bi-annual event. No word on what Kazakhstan is doing this year either. Though there may be a Norway v Japan game later in the year. Holland are back in the fold and they are playing the Germans on the 18th of June in Heidelberg

I've been having a chat to Danny Kazadjian over the weekend and there should be an announcement in the coming weeks on the tournaments.

 

[druzik]

i dont see why we couldnt include Sth Africa in the picture to get them some regular competition and it be Middle East/Africa conference...

Keep the 'Atlantic Cup' in USA as an Americas competition, USA, Jamaica...and try and get Canada back into the mix.

Then, the worldwide picture would be simple...and beautiful...
Europe
Pacific (still dont know why Australia and NZ arent part of the new pacific rugby league org.)
Middle East/Africa
Americas

Well with nothing in Canad how can you get them into the mix. You cant just force the sport onto them. A USA, Jamaica and SA tournie makes sense at the moment.

Its a good question why they arent part of the RLPF but it could be just either ignorance, bigotry or plain snobery... how many "rugby league fans" in Australia and New Zealand would actually care and give a stuff about this and want to support it... unfortunately not many.

Us on this international forum and on other international RL forum make up a small minority of fans that actually give a stuff about the game internationally, we'd be lucky to number 20%.

 

[bowes]

So aren't Catalonia playing? Or are they just playing friendlies?

For what it's worth I think Russia should be banned from the world cup qualifiers and have their full membership of the RLEF and RLIF downgraded if they don't enter again, a disgrace if they get invited to the qualifiers ahead of Germany or Czech Republic.

I expect Serbia Vs Italy should be good this year, guessing that's why the appeal hasn't been heard

 

[druzik]

So aren't Catalonia playing? Or are they just playing friendlies?

Oh woops, yeah they would be in there somewhere, probably in the med again... the problem is with no formal announcement on tournies many of these countreis cannot plan their domestic season either... so there is little news coming from anyone at the moment.

For what it's worth I think Russia should be banned from the world cup qualifiers and have their full membership of the RLEF and RLIF downgraded if they don't enter again, a disgrace if they get invited to the qualifiers ahead of Germany or Czech Republic.

Agree... if they do some back into the fold, certainly they wont be cashed up anymore with no Billionare backing. Thus they need to go to associate membership. If they can re-establish the domestic com this year and run it till 2012 then I dont see an issue with them playing... but I cerationly would rather Germany and the Czechs get a chance as well.

I would have prefered a 16 team WC with 12 qualifier nations
Atlantic: USA, Jamaica, SA, Japan
Europe 1: Italy, Lebanon, Czech Rep, Ukraine
Europe 2: Serbia, Russia, Germany, Morocco

top teams go through and trhe 4th spot is played out by number 2 in the euro qualifiers.

I expect Serbia Vs Italy should be good this year, guessing that's why the appeal hasn't been heard

Yes, there will be some good spite in there... hopefully the eligibility laws will be tightened up and checked if that is the issue... I have no word on what is going on with the appeal.

 

[bd2210]

Great idea, the more teams the better

 

[Springs]

Great idea, the more teams the better

Okay, 50 teams!

 

[bowes]

I'd have made it so that everyone can get into the world cup, something like the following for Europe 1st round

MENA Cup Winner to World Cup qualifier
Shield Top 2 to World Cup qualifier, 3rd to playoff round 2
Bowl Winner to Playoff Round 1
Scandinavia/Mediterranean Winner to Playoff Round 1

Playoffs
Round 1
Bowl Winner Vs Scandinavia/Med Winner
Round 2
Shield 3 Vs Round 1 Winner

World Cup Qualifier (Winner to Qualify)
MENA Cup 1
Shield 1
Shield 2
Playoff Winner


It just seems a disgrace that if Germany or Czech Republic win the Shield or if Ukraine win every game in the Bowl by 100 points they'd be told to f*ck off away from the world cup qualifiers and they're not wanted in the sport whereas Russia don't have to bother playing any games in the Shield or Bowl and they get a spot in the World Cup qualifiers

 

[bender]

I seem to be a bit lost on what is and isnt confirmed at this stage.

To Summarise (please correct me if i have missed something or am wrong) at present we have:

The World Cup Finals will see:
14 teams participating (announced)
12 Teams automatically qualifying (NOt Announced)
Tournament hosted by England (announced)
TV rights owned and capable of being sold by RLIF (Announced)
Venues not announced
Format not announced

World Cup Qualifiers
2 Spots Available
Numbers not Announced
Format not Announced

Qualifying Rules
Country must have a domestic competition to be eligible (Not Announced but rule form last time and not repealed) I am not sure but i think that there is supposed to be a 4 team domestic league. Can anyone confirm or correct?

GP PLayers - eligible (Last world cup rule applies so far)
Residency players - eligible after 3 years (Last wc rule applies so far)
Players can swich 1 time between World cup Cycles for exceptional circumstances (Last rule still applies although i am not sure if this is the correct interpretation)
Domestic Quota rule - Was Scrapped before last finals series (doesnt apply)

 

[bowes]

There being 12 teams automatically in is confirmed, though officially the 12 in and the teams in qualifiers isn't public, but it is already decided and countries participating have been told

 

[bowes]

http://www.rugbyleagueinternationalscores.com/Results/International/2010/

Any truth in this?

Would be very good if that were true. I've heard they might name the 4th tier comp the Plate, but not sure if that will happen

Seems an unbiased Shield draw though putting the top 3 sides of last year all in Pool A, or is that to benefit Russia and get them to enter?

 

[druzik]

http://www.rugbyleagueinternationalscores.com/Results/International/2010/

Any truth in this?

Would be very good if that were true. I've heard they might name the 4th tier comp the Plate, but not sure if that will happen

Seems an unbiased Shield draw though putting the top 3 sides of last year all in Pool A, or is that to benefit Russia and get them to enter?

Bowes this was "the truth" I had heard about up to about two days ago... but in the last day and half I have found out things that have thrown everything into disarray and am trying to sift through what the hell is actually going on in Europe. I am hoping that by Monday or Tuesday I will have a clearer picture.

I will do a blog post on it and update the website when I know more...


RUGBY LEAGUE IS THE MOST FRUSTRATING SPORT IN THE UNIVERSE!

 

[bowes]

Why doesn't that surprise me?

Guessing a few more teams have dropped out or they're pissing around with the format again. Well we'll see Monday or Tuesday (or more likely later knowing the RLIF)

So that's your site then? Makes it reliable

We get similar stuff with the Rugby League Conference in the UK, even though they have fixtures about 98% sorted by January, they won't make them public til 2 weeks before the season starts at the end of April/start of May so you have to rely on clubs to leak things

 

[druzik]

Why doesn't that surprise me?

Guessing a few more teams have dropped out or they're pissing around with the format again. Well we'll see Monday or Tuesday (or more likely later knowing the RLIF)

So that's your site then? Makes it reliable

We get similar stuff with the Rugby League Conference in the UK, even though they have fixtures about 98% sorted by January, they won't make them public til 2 weeks before the season starts at the end of April/start of May so you have to rely on clubs to leak things

Yes that is my site. I try not to put things out till I know its 90% right... but there is always furfies thrown in.

Europe has ended up in a bit of disarray in the last few days and so am just waiting to see what the situation is once the dust settles.

 

[Evil Homer]

I thought they were going to announce the schedule in the next week or so? Is it a major problem that's going to disrupt this?

 

[Mullins_y2k]

Yeah well defo keep us up to date! Very keen to see what happens

 

[druzik]

I thought they were going to announce the schedule in the next week or so? Is it a major problem that's going to disrupt this?

Yeah maybe... lets just say some teams may miss out on matches the way things are going... I am hoping that it gets sorted soon.