Rugby Football League chief regulatory officer Karen Moorhouse provides her perspective of being forced to delay the World Cup to 2022 . |
Karen Moorhouse |
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There will be something significant missing from the North of England this autumn . The sixteenth Rugby League World Cup , which was to have included men ’ s , women ’ s and wheelchair competitions and to have spread across 18 towns and cities , mostly in the North , has been postponed for 12 months following the decisions of key nations Australia and New Zealand not to travel . Clearly , that represented a major disappointment to all in Rugby League . In my role as chief regulatory officer for the Rugby Football League , the sport ’ s National Governing Body , I have been working through the numerous issues raised by Covid-19 since the early months of 2020 , with the sport delivering two men ’ s Super League seasons and returning to something much closer to normality this year – and like my fellow directors of RLWC2021 , I remain convinced that we could have staged a safe and successful tournament .
As Jon Dutton , the RLWC2021 chief executive , said in
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announcing the decision in early August , it is incumbent on us all now to bounce back , and to capitalise on the additional 12 months of preparation to deliver the celebration of the sport of Rugby League and its communities .
We have some outstanding examples to follow of events that were postponed from 2020 to 2021 – most obviously the Euros , the Olympics and the Paralympics .
Jon and his team have already been able to confirm that the key venues which were to bookend the tournament this autumn – St James ’ Park in Newcastle for the opening ceremony and England Men ’ s first match against Samoa , and Old Trafford in Manchester for a unique
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double-header of Men ’ s and Women ’ s Finals – will remain in place for those landmark fixtures .
The dates have been brought forward slightly , with the opening match now to be held on 15 October and the Finals weekend now 18-19 November to avoid a direct clash with football ’ s FIFA World Cup in Qatar .
An initial three-week refund window was opened , but the early signs have been hugely encouraging , with the vast majority of the tens of thousands of ticket-buyers opting to roll their purchases forward to 2022 .
With a total of 61 matches scheduled across the three tournaments , and 32 teams involved from 21 nations , there is
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a daunting amount of work to be done before the full revised schedule can be announced later this year .
But we ’ ll get there , and with Australia and New Zealand now pledging full support for a rescheduled tournament in 2022 – which is crucial , given the number of players across many teams who are employed in the National Rugby League – we ’ ll still deliver our celebration of Rugby League across towns and cities which wouldn ’ t normally be involved in the staging of a World Cup .
As the RLWC2021 team have described it to fans from St Helens to Hull , from Castleford to Coventry , it ’ s a World Cup on your doorstep . It will definitely be worth waiting for .
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