Oz and NZ have pulled out plunging the tournament into irrelevancy
Political decision by all accounts
The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) and New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) today informed the International Rugby League (IRL) and Rugby League World Cup (RLWC) organisers that Australia and New Zealand will not compete in a 2021 World Cup because of player welfare and safety concerns.
The ARLC and NZRL have again requested the RLWC2021 be postponed until 2022 to minimise risk of players contracting COVID-19 and ensure the best outcome for player wellbeing.
The decision to withdraw from the RLWC2021 comes after considering the risk of COVID-19 infection in the United Kingdom, the worsening environment in Australia and the time a majority of NRL Telstra Premiership players will spend away from home under strict biosecurity conditions prior to the World Cup. The ARLC and NZRL have resolved, that in the present environment the risks to athletes and officials travelling to the UK to participate in the tournament this year are too great, and it is unable to endorse Australia and New Zealand participating in the RLWC in 2021. ...
@stargazer that's pretty much ended the tournament as a credible event
@mikethesnow "too dangerous for the players"
Like fuck.
@bovidae said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
All those other Sydney, I mean international teams, like Lebanon will probably withdraw too.
It's our year!
@sparky said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
Odd decision given NZ cricketers have been to the UK and back with no ill effects.
Part of it is having to maintain bubbles in the domestic season as well, just too hard on the players.
How about replacing the official Aus and Kiwi teams with squads of UK-based expats who have been double vaccinated? Time for some of us to get our boots out?
@sparky said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
How about replacing the official Aus and Kiwi teams with squads of UK-based expats who have been double vaccinated? Time for some of us to get our boots out?
Sorry, Lebanon has already called.
@bones said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
@sparky I'm guessing $$$£££
I’m guessing the administrators said ‘fucked if I’m looking after these mongrels in iso’
RFL chairman Simon Johnson is not happy:
A spokesperson for Boris Johnson has said that he is surprised and disappointed with the decision of the Australia and New Zealand associations to pull out of the Rugby League World Cup.
One compromise being suggested is the Australia and New Zealand could play their group games in Scotland and Wales where Covid rates are already lower.
According to this piece, 75% of the players want to go the RL World Cup and have no concerns about Covid.
Aussie and NZ League authorities have been accused from the Speaker's Chair of the House of Commons of lacking bottle. Looks like the competition is going ahead even if certain teams have decided to stay at home.
Don't really like League but here's my five cents anyway. Given Covid cases are already going down in the UK more than three months before the League World Cup starts (after a rapid vaccine rollout) and the coaches and players were keen to go, this is a poor decision by the Aussie and NZ League authorities. It looks really arrogant and shows contempt to the competition organisers. I'm afraid Australia and New Zealand as countries will lose a lot of friends and respect in the Rugby League heartlands in the North of England if the players are made to stay at home.
And I'm calling "bullshit" on the argument given of player safety. Seriously? Even at the height of the pandemic, young fit people were at more risk of death by road accidents in the UK than from Covid. Given the players have been offered double vaccination ahead of the Rugby League World Cup, their risks of serious injury on the coach out of Heathrow would be much, much higher than that from Covid.
I think NZR should send a squad of Super Rugby players to represent New Zealand at the Rugby League World Cup if the League authorities don't let the Kiwis go. Great chance to showcase talent, give experience to players and most of all win back friends.
@bones said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
@sparky bro, your emotions are getting the better of you again.
Not really, I'm not much of a follower of League. I think I've only watched one League World Cup game in the last ten years, so I don't really have skin in the game this time.
But if the All Blacks pulled a shitty stunt like this then that would be a different matter.
If you can't be bothered competing, then there's always some else more than willing to take your place:
They should just tell the truth...the real reason they pulled out is that they don't want to lose to Tonga again..
considering there has been two instances of players breaking Covid bubbles in Origin this year by bringing women back to the hotel, and that's like a week, then i am not surprised officials threw their hands up and said "fuck taking those kids away for 6 weeks"
@sparky said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
According to this piece, 75% of the players want to go the RL World Cup and have no concerns about Covid.
75% means "I asked four players and three said yes". Who gives a a flying fuck? The only thing more pathetic than a league world cup is a "World Series".
@antipodean said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
@sparky said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
According to this piece, 75% of the players want to go the RL World Cup and have no concerns about Covid.
75% means "I asked four players and three said yes". Who gives a a flying fuck? The only thing more pathetic than a league world cup is a "World Series".
NSW + Munster would have won by a really large margin anyway
In two year's time, when NZ and Australia finally work out what Boris Johnson has -- that once you've vaccinated the oldies and vulnerable then any more restrictions are merely attempting to hold back the tide -- we'll open our borders. And then we will, inevitably, get a surge in cases.
At about that time will the UK League nations want to visit us? Because if I was them, I'd say no.
@chester-draws said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
In two year's time, when NZ and Australia finally work out what Boris Johnson has -- that once you've vaccinated the oldies and vulnerable then any more restrictions are merely attempting to hold back the tide -- we'll open our borders. And then we will, inevitably, get a surge in cases.
At about that time will the UK League nations want to visit us? Because if I was them, I'd say no.
If these were XBox ‘athletes’ holed up in their houses I’d get it.
But we’re talking about blokes who are sweating , bleeding and breathing over each other.
@mikethesnow said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
@chester-draws said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
In two year's time, when NZ and Australia finally work out what Boris Johnson has -- that once you've vaccinated the oldies and vulnerable then any more restrictions are merely attempting to hold back the tide -- we'll open our borders. And then we will, inevitably, get a surge in cases.
At about that time will the UK League nations want to visit us? Because if I was them, I'd say no.
If these were XBox ‘athletes’ holed up in their houses I’d get it.
But we’re talking about blokes who are sweating , bleeding and breathing over each other.
Agreed. Easy to trivialise when you ain't the one being breathed, sweated or spat (wittingly or unwittingly) on. One of the doctors at our work was telling me about the Delta variant numbers. Young adults and adolescents getting really sick now. Not just an old crumbly person's disease
@canefan said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
@mikethesnow said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
@chester-draws said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
In two year's time, when NZ and Australia finally work out what Boris Johnson has -- that once you've vaccinated the oldies and vulnerable then any more restrictions are merely attempting to hold back the tide -- we'll open our borders. And then we will, inevitably, get a surge in cases.
At about that time will the UK League nations want to visit us? Because if I was them, I'd say no.
If these were XBox ‘athletes’ holed up in their houses I’d get it.
But we’re talking about blokes who are sweating , bleeding and breathing over each other.
Agreed. Easy to trivialise when you ain't the one being breathed, sweated or spat (wittingly or unwittingly) on. One of the doctors at our work was telling me about the Delta variant numbers. Young adults and adolescents getting really sick now. Not just an old crumbly person's disease
Sorry I wasn’t clear enough / you misinterpreted what I wrote
We’re talking about the 1% of the 1% in terms of physical fitness and wellness in the prime of their athletic careers.
If these athletes - who will be double jabbed before they leave the SH - can’t ‘tell’ COVID-19 to get fucked then the general population of Australia and NZ is fucked.
@mikethesnow said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
If these athletes - who will be double jabbed before they leave the SH - can’t ‘tell’ COVID-19 to get fucked then the general population of Australia and NZ is fucked.
Unfortunately...
@donsteppa said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
@mikethesnow said in 2021 Rugby League World Cup:
If these athletes - who will be double jabbed before they leave the SH - can’t ‘tell’ COVID-19 to get fucked then the general population of Australia and NZ is fucked.
Unfortunately...
OK, that's their choice
I'm a fit 54 year old and got over Covid in 48hrs
If I can, I'm sure they can / won't even know they've had it