World Cup 2017 Visionary Plan by NZRL’s and International President Scott Carter – but what about the Emerging Nations? By Robin Smith Scott Carter, the pragmatic boss of the NZRL, and incidentally also Chairman of the International Rugby League Federation, has announced New Zealand has applied to co-host the 2017 World Cup – in association with Australia. ‘A note of caution however,’ says Carter. ‘No decision has yet been made and hosting rights have not yet been awarded. ‘Expressions of Interest were sought from member nations last year. Two were received by the November 2012 deadline – South Africa, and New Zealand/Australia as potential co-hosts. ‘The co-hosting expression of interest has been supported in principle by the New Zealand and Australian governments’ Ministers of Sport, subject to preparation of formal bids. ‘The World Cup bidding process and documentation remain a work in progress, but with significant development happening on these now, based upon what was learnt from the 2008 tournament in Australia and the preparations for this year’s event in the UK and France. ‘The anticipated time frame for receiving by 31 August and evaluating between September – and October, the formal bids, and awarding the hosting rights remains on track, said Carter. Carter is making a very sound job, that has come New Zealand’s way this once only. As far as co-hosting rights arrangement with Australia are concerned Kiwis respect our Australian rugby league counterparts but let’s face it, they have both the population and the money, and those two alone mean they also have the power in the modern game. It’s not how it should be – it’s just how it is. Carter has wrested some of that power back to one of the other two major nations, the other being France, with Papua New Guinea in the wings. The worry right now is that the ‘Emerging Nations’ will miss the cut, as they did in Australia in 2008, and have done this time at year’s end in 2013 in England, with an odd match in France, Ireland and Wales. That’s the teams outside the ten nations who will definitely be at the World Cup this year. Now is the time to ensure they do not miss the 2017 tournament by announcing it will happen. Four years is the minimum time needed for all the emerging nations to make sure they are here in force, in full, ready to play. Carter answers this saying: ‘The RLIF are evolving the World Cup, not only as a finals tournament involving more nations than in 2008 but also in terms of qualifying fixtures in a long term international calendar to assist the emerging or developing nations. ‘Australia too have the goal of co-hosting the next World Cup as central to their own strategy, and partnering provides us with the benefits of their considerable experience and resourcing. Carter would not be directly drawn on whether the ‘emerging nations’ would get an invite down under in 2017, if and when both countries win the rights. Anyone who attended the 1995 and 2000 World Cups will know that the explosion in rugby league around the world can be put down to the success of the Emerging Nations in those two World Cups. Regrettably no one can answer to why Australia didn’t follow the remarkably successful formula operating in the two previous World Cups? The Emerging Nations section of the World Cup in 1995 in England was hugely successful and much would have been gained from that tournament especially in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. It gave international credibility too, to Western Samoa and the Cook islands. The worldwide explosion in the playing of rugby league in new countries has been nothing short of sensational. The number of countries where the game is gaining a foothold now numbers 75, with more joining every year. Since then the real movers and shakers of the developing nations has to the USA under former St George Dragons’ David Nui, and Italy where the use of Australian nationals allied to a local competition has seen Lebanon miss out on both the last World Cup and this one by a merest whisker. Regrettably having South Africa in the main draw nearly killed off the game there when predictably, they were thrashed. Credibility should have ensured that such mis-matches shouldn’t occur yet in 2000 Australia and England did the same to Russia and New Zealand to Lebanon and the Cook Islands. Remarkably there have been many other hard fought matches, not the least the Australians scraping home against Wales in what surely would have been the greatest upset in the history of the game had the Red Dragons succeeded! It was said to have been an unsuccessful tournament but the weather, a rail strike, the Lebanon team full of Australians and the entry of New Zealand Maori causing a lot of poorly-handled media-grief. The 2008 tournament in Australia was seen as a big success but the loss of the Emerging Nations was heavily felt by nations who have felt for a long time that, rightly or wrongly, they are not welcome at the top table. At least this year has seen numbers grow from 10 to 14 with the inclusion through stricter qualifying, of the USA and Italy, both with sound if not spectacular domestic competitions and the Italians having a good base of expats to call upon to bolster their squad. Rather than leave Lebanon on the international-scrap-heap the Emerging Nations World Cup has to be a goer for 2017 where both Australia and New Zealand have the capacity and the willpower to provide ideal venues from Adelaide to Darwin, from Invercargill to Kaitaia. The other countries with the biggest claim to entry are Jamaica, where a local competition has been a barnstorming success, Russia, who face huge political and social hurdles but are a huge possibility for future growth, Serbia who have made great strides, and South Africa who have overcome huge odds and the aforementioned thrashings to come back stronger. Carter notes that, ‘New Zealand is itself reviewing our game development strategy “Beyond 2013”. We believe that the 2017 World Cup will provide wonderful opportunities to spur own the growth of rugby league throughout New Zealand in the lead-up years to the tournament itself. We anticipate that matches will be spread around New Zealand but these will be subject of course to both commercial and logistical criteria. ‘At the just recently concluded ANZAC test in Canberra the International Board had meetings to discuss issues such as the proposed number of competing nations, competition format and any associated tournaments, said Carter. Let’s all hope that the Emerging Nations are an integral part of the World Cup 2017. Cities and towns throughout New Zealand and Australia are starved of rugby league matches. Those of you with long memories will remember when the New Zealand Maori played an astonishing draw 10-10 against Australia in the early 1980 at Tomoana Showgrounds, Hastings, in the Hawke’s Bay. The Kiwi great Kevin Tamati scored a try that day and remembers the game very well. Over 10,000 people turned out to celebrate their first-ever big rugby league match. The crying shame is that they have never seen a big match since! What’s with that, you rightly might ask? Dunedin saw its new stadium christened with a Warriors match this year again with more that 12,000 turning out. This is the time to give communities throughout the country the chance to host an international team. Just imagine Russia v USA in Whangarei, or Jamaica v Canada in Dunedin? European rankings with World Ranking in brackets England (3) France (4) Wales (5) Ireland (9=) Scotland (11) Italy (13) Russia (14) Serbia (15) Lebanon (16) Canada (18) Norway (19) Germany (20) Malta (21) Jamaica (22) Ukraine (23) South Africa (24) Latvia (25) Czech Republic (26) Denmark (27) Sweden (28) Netherlands (Not ranked) USA (9) Pacific Rankings Fiji (7) Paua New-Guinea (6) Tonga (12) Samoa (8) Cook Islands (17) Vanuatu (Not ranked) New Caledonia (Not ranked) Tokelau (Not ranked) Niue (Not ranked) Unranked Columbia Venezuela Denmark Hungary India Indonesia Japan Saudi Arabia Pakistan Philippines Singapore
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 18:12:13 +0000
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