Hopes League World Cup will leave a legacy
Rugby League World Cup chief executive Andrew Hill is predicting this year’s tournament will be the best ever.
That’s not such an outlandish claim considering the patchy history of the code’s global spectacle, but with 256 days until the event Hill is in an optimistic mood about what lies ahead.
Although New Zealand won a joint bid with Australia to co-host this year’s World Cup, this country came out second best in the allocation of games, with just seven of the 28 games to be played on this side of the Tasman.
Three pool games will be played in Papua New Guinea, with the rest played in Australia.
Hill, who is based in Sydney, is a former general manager of the Eels and was working for the NRL before taking on his current role.
The first game of the World Cup will be between Australia and England on October 27 in Melbourne and Hill says the organising focus has recently changed.
‘‘With just over 250 days to go, it’s becoming very real and no longer can we say next year,’’ Hill said.
‘‘It’s really operational now, we’ve been spending the last year or two in planning stages, getting the stadia agreements and doing a lot of the planning work.
‘‘But now we’re getting into the cities, making sure all of the operational plans, training venues, accommodation, logistics and transporting of the team is in place to play the Rugby League World Cup in three countries and over five different time zones.’’
Hill said he could feel the excitement about the tournament rising and predicted that there would be some epic contests.
‘‘This is already the most anticipated Rugby League World Cup in history,’’ he said.
‘‘There are already games highlighted on the calendar, like Samoa v Tonga and Samoa v New Zealand, that’s because of how developed those [Pacific Island] teams have got since the last World Cup.
‘‘It will be the most Rugby League ever.’’
Hill recently spent a week travelling around the four New Zealand cities that will host games – Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.
He’s happy with how preparations are coming along and says he hopes that the tournament can leave a legacy in New Zealand.
‘‘I’m extremely confident that the host cities are well placed to deliver what will be a major sporting event,’’ Hill said.
‘‘To showcase our sport and also New Zealand as a country and the host cities.
‘‘As we get closer, we’ll always be worried about something, like how ticket sales are going or what the weather is going to be like.
‘‘But at this stage, we’re tracking very strongly.’’
Unlike the last Rugby League World Cup, played in England, Wales and France, the games this year will be condensed into Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, rather than a game most nights.
Hill doesn’t believe there will be a problem of interest in the tournament dropping off during the midweek days and feels having the event only taking place at weekends will encourage more families to come to games. evenly World contested Cup