‘Rugby IPL’ can attract new breed of fans, says Steve Hansen
THE rugby world could be revolutionised by a new tournament that is largely based on the IPL, and would feature eight teams of the best players in the world playing 12-a-side games over a three-week period.
Kicking off in August 2022 in England, World 12s aspires to bring £250million of new financial muscle into the game over the next five years, while attracting a new global fan base.
World 12s is no Mickey Mouse operation, with a board featuring England’s former Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie, former New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew and former Welsh Rugby Union chairman Gareth Davies.
At the inaugural World 12s tournament, 192 of the world’s best male players from tier-one and tier-two nations will be selected via auction to represent eight teams.
Hosted initially in England across three concurrent weekends provisionally set for August 2022, each franchise of 24 players, coached by some of the world’s leading coaches, will play in a round-robin format before the knockout stages crown the champions.
The vision is for the World 12s to move to different global destinations each year, and offer equal winning prize money for men and women’s competitions.
To help boost the development of the global game, each franchise will be required to select at least two players from tier-two nations, as well as one international Under-20 player.
Speaking at yesterday’s launch, Ritchie said: “World 12s is a natural evolution for rugby union. We feel that this is a game for our changing, fastpaced world that can excite a global fan base in the way that we have seen with the IPL.
“In bringing together the most exciting players under the stewardship of some of the brightest rugby minds, and with commercial backing, we can propel rugby forward.”