Good news.

I hear McNamara is already masterminding a training camp in Salford to prepare.

On a serious note, what are peoples thoughts on this?

Maybe a little too early?

It feels as though it would be running before we can walk to me. We seem to be building some momentum up behind our World Cup now and we need to keep them rotating between the UK and Oz/NZ every 4 years for a while yet IMO.

Build up it to where crowds of 40, 50, 60k + are seen as the norm (for the big matches) before we risk moving it.

Where would crowds come from in SA anyway?

It was politically motivated wasnt it? Just by throwing their hat in the ring South African Rugby League has government secured recognition of the sport. I think one of the Aussie papers covered it this morning.

Somebody had better tell Australia they haven't yet got it. The NRL strategic plan has the 2017 RLWC held in Australia and NZ will be the best ever www.nrl.com/portals/nrl/RadEdito ... e_Plan.pdf

Somebody had better tell Australia they haven't yet got it. The NRL strategic plan has the 2017 RLWC held in Australia and NZ will be the best ever www.nrl.com/portals/nrl/RadEdito ... e_Plan.pdf

If they have the money and backing then go for it.

Do it, forget this running before we can walk , it means our game is spreading and if they have the finances and infrastructure then I can't see why not

Whilst on the subject of African RL, Ghana have launched their first league season. Article from Phil Caplan: www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/rlp-na ... p-launches

Whilst on the subject of African RL, Ghana have launched their first league season. Article from Phil Caplan: www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/rlp-na ... p-launches

I’d have to say the last World Cup in Australia was a little disappointing off the field. For a game which dominates large parts of the country, it didn’t really seem to get the same treatment.

In 1994 Fifa took the worlds biggest sporting tournament to a country which not only had no professional football league, but one which almost defined itself in opposition to association football. The tournament possess, still, the best average attendance and its legacy is an MLS which is probably now as good as any of the 2nd tier European nations (i.e outside the premier league, La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga)

If there is government support and private backing, with the money to make it a real success, then we should definitely do it. There are big white elephant stadiums not being regularly used, its midway between Oz and the UK it should be a place where RL can grow dramatically. It needs to have the money in place to do it though.

There's pretty much zero awareness of League in SA. Can't see how this would work unless the RLIF and/or SA has tens of millions to spend on marketing the tournament.

The only plus side is they do have quite a few 'white elephant' stadiums left over from the FIFA WC that they're desperate to fill with events...

The USA bid is far more realistic.
Both rely on the fact that most revenue for the WC comes from TV rights and that governments will subsidise events that bring in sporting tourism.
IMO the TV times from the US would work for the major markets better than South Africa (middle of the night or very early morning in Aus), and also New York and New England (the centre of League in the US) would draw twice the tourists, and therefore bigger Government subsidies.
I also think it would be better for the future of the game to put the 20 or 30 million Aus dollars it takes to run a World Cup into the US league scene. It would be the kick start the code needs in the US.