RLWC 2021

[Chunky24]

Australia v Scotland @ Ricoh on Friday 29th October in Rugby League World Cup

[Neils]

Interesting to see how this is approached.with a crowd (or not).



Edit - Oops read that as this year.

[Chunky24]

Interesting to see how this is approached.with a crowd (or not).

Its 2021 so a long way to go yet but tickets on sale this September so planning for crowds to be there

Some good pictures of the stadium / pitch from the launch

https://twitter.com/CovSport/status/1285472087826669570?s=19

https://twitter.com/CoventryBear/status/1285478819562913792?s=19

[MarleyWasp]

Having seen the reaction to Toronto Wolfpack withdrawing from the Super League season yesterday and seen today that only two matches in both the men and women's tournaments are being staged outside of the North of England, I can't help but think it doesn't reflect well on the sports ambitions.

Worth keeping an eye out on the Greek team. The federation managing the sport in Greece were found to have misused funds from the Rugby League International Federation a few years ago and thrown out, leading to players and clubs forming a new federation which the RLIF recognised instead. Unfortunately the Greek government did not and effectively outlawed the sport. Police have started turning up at domestic matches and arresting teams. They had to play the first few home games in secret, with neither side knowing the venue, just getting on a coach and being driven to a field in the mountains. They played the latter qualifying matches in London.

[andermt]

Worth keeping an eye out on the Greek team. The federation managing the sport in Greece were found to have misused funds from the Rugby League International Federation a few years ago and thrown out, leading to players and clubs forming a new federation which the RLIF recognised instead. Unfortunately the Greek government did not and effectively outlawed the sport. Police have started turning up at domestic matches and arresting teams. They had to play the first few home games in secret, with neither side knowing the venue, just getting on a coach and being driven to a field in the mountains. They played the latter qualifying matches in London.

That wouldn't be out of place in a cold war spy novel!

[BG]

Worth keeping an eye out on the Greek team. The federation managing the sport in Greece were found to have misused funds from the Rugby League International Federation a few years ago and thrown out, leading to players and clubs forming a new federation which the RLIF recognised instead. Unfortunately the Greek government did not and effectively outlawed the sport. Police have started turning up at domestic matches and arresting teams. They had to play the first few home games in secret, with neither side knowing the venue, just getting on a coach and being driven to a field in the mountains. They played the latter qualifying matches in London.

That wouldn't be out of place in a cold war spy novel!

I'm more intrigued that RL is played in Greece.. I'm presuming its mostly Ex-pats?

[baldpaul101]

I would imagine the Greek national team is made up of Australians with Greek immigrant parents. Much like the "Lebanon" team in a previous RLWC. I don't think many of them had ever been to Lebanon!

[BG]

I would imagine the Greek national team is made up of Australians with Greek immigrant parents. Much like the "Lebanon" team in a previous RLWC. I don't think many of them had ever been to Lebanon!

Ah.. I didn't think of that. Effectively 2nd Div/amateur RL players in Oz representing Greece or Lebanon.

The quote above does imply training or games do take place in Greece though.. with games being closed down by police.. or is this just a bit or journalist license embellishing the story

[MarleyWasp]

Quite a few of the Greek team were born in Greece. Some are from Australia or the UK. They even have a player who is half Samoan, half Greek.

The majority play for Greek clubs.

[welsh wasp]

Rugby league is always on the margin in this country in financial & geographic terms. Long gone are the days when Welsh rugby union players like Dai Young went northto earn real money.
The Toronto team were always in trouble, starting from having to be based in the UK (north) playing away games because the Toronto weather was too cold. Then no furloughing in Canada & Billy j Williams had visa problems here.
In the meantime, the Wigan RL owner wants to buy the Wigan football team with whom they share a ground. So some ambition - but still up north.

[MarleyWasp]

The quote above does imply training or games do take place in Greece though.. with games being closed down by police.. or is this just a bit or journalist license embellishing the story

It does appear that things have improved since they qualified and matches/training are able to go ahead on private fields, but this link shows the scale of the problem prior to qualification: https://twitter.com/GreekRL/status/1070303689083154432?s=19