RFL delighted with World Cup response
The deadline for submissions to be a host city for the 2013 England and Wales Rugby League World Cup has now passed. The RFL has today declared itself delighted and encouraged by both the number and the quality of the bids submissions it has received.
Aspirant Host Cities up and down the country have been asked to meet the RFL’s venue specifications as well as demonstrate their enthusiasm and commitment to making this the best event in the sport’s history and a key part of the golden decade of UK sport.
All bids will now go forward to be assessed, before site visits are carried out and final submissions made by the July 15. The host cities for the tournament will be announced in November this year.
Sally Bolton, the RFL’s Director of Projects and Planning, said: “We are delighted and encouraged by the number and quality of the bids submitted. The number of bids received is in excess of the number of matches and team camps we have available to award so we now have some very tough decisions to make”
“We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the bidding towns and cities for their efforts in preparing their bids and meeting the required deadline.”
The 2013 England and Wales World Cup was officially launched in November 2010 and will involve 14 nations, two of whom will gain entry through their participation in qualifying tournaments played in 2011.
Australia, Cook Islands, England, Fiji, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Scotland, Tonga and Wales have all been confirmed as competing nations and they will be joined by one qualifier from a European Qualifying Group consisting of Italy, Lebanon, Russia and Serbia and one qualifier from an Atlantic Qualifying Group consisting of Jamaica, South Africa and the USA.
The competition’s structure will consist of two groups of four, with England drawn alongside arch rivals Australia, Fiji and Ireland in Group A. World Cup holders New Zealand will face Pacific Island rivals Papua New Guinea, Samoa and France in Group B. Scotland will face Tonga and the European qualifiers in Group C and joint hosts Wales have been drawn against the Cook Islands and the Atlantic Qualifiers