DUTTON’S READY TO RECOUP WORLD CUP
RUGBY LEAGUE World Cup boss Jon Dutton insists the tournament can recover from its “devastating” postponement to have an even greater impact in 2022.
The competition was relaunched in Manchester yesterday, one year ahead of its Old Trafford finale, having rescheduled 61 matches across three tournaments.
Next year the men’s, women’s and wheelchair events will all culminate on the same weekend in the city and be joined by a Physical Disability Rugby League World Cup staged at Warrington. The tournament was thrown into chaos at the start of August when leading nations Australia and New Zealand withdrew because of “player welfare and safety concerns” related to Covid but both have now signed legal participation agreements for 2022.
Dutton said: “It was devastating – and the reality was, as we saw last weekend with England playing the Wallabies in front of 82,000 people, we could have staged the tournament.
“But we would have staged the tournament without the very best athletes in the world.
“We took what was a responsible decision. It hurt but now we look forward.
“What has changed is desire – they did not want to play in the tournament this year, they want to play in the tournament next year. They appreciate how significant this is for international rugby league.
“We shouldn’t underestimate the work that the team has done over the last 107 days.
“We had to put back together a 61-game schedule, amid the complexity of the FIFA World Cup and the Premier League season being suspended, along with not knowing who will be in which league next season.
“We’ve now got 32 signed participation agreements which we didn’t have when we looked to go ahead this year.
“We can spend our time looking at what might have been or we can look at opportunities.
“I genuine believe it is a time of opportunity – we’ve got more time to sell tickets, create a social impact, and having the three finals in Manchester will be a transformative moment in the sport.”
Dutton also believes that the saga with the Kangaroos and Kiwis can actually strengthen relationships at international level and he will head Down Under to hold 50 meetings with key figures in the new year.
“If we reflect on some of vitriol, rhetoric and language that many people will not be proud of, I firmly believe that throughout all of that we were professional, dignified and solution focused,” said Dutton.
“When you look back, it was not a moment for anybody to be proud of international rugby league.
“But this can be the opportunity to change – this is such a big moment.”