well you should only have a SL of 6 teams too then.



silly.



the union world cup only has 7/8 proper teams and it apparently is succesful.





you will see more skill in samoa vs tonga in the RLWC than nz vs australia in the RUWC.

for which game? you would have found that for their world cup qualifiers they actually had over 10 australians in their squad, allthough your right re: russia they do use domestic players, thats why they cant get within 40 points of any decent opposition

Mark Minnichello

Ashley Laffranchi

Mark Cantoni

Ryan McGoldrick

David Myles

Dave Marando

Tyrone Copppedge

Mark O'Halloran

2009 Atlantic Cup Squad



Gareth Baxendale (New York Knights)

Louis Tulio (Aston DSC Bulls)

Nate Smith (Connecticut Wildcats)

Derrick Roma (New Haven Warriors)

Gene Giallombardo (Aston DSC Bulls)

Apple Pope (Jacksonville Axemen)

Sean Taylor (New York Knights)

Siose Muliumu (New Haven Warriors)

Curtis Cunz (Connecticut Wildcats)

Kea Misipeka (New Haven Warriors)

Mike Brazill (Aston DSC Bulls)

Bob Knoepfel (Jacksonville Axemen)

John Grace (Aston DSC Bulls)

Ewan Robinson(New Haven Warriors)

Taco Pope (Jacksonville Axemen)

Keikeokalani Misipeka (New Haven Warriors)

Michael Cartwright (New York Knights)

Last time I checked, the 2008 RLWC qualifiers were not held in 2009.

No, the football world cup does not last 7 weeks. It lasts just over 4 weeks (11th June - 11th July). And unlike football, you can't consistently have mid-week games in rugby league.



Every other World Cup in recent times has lasted a similar length of time (about 5 weekends). It won't be any different this time, especially 2 weeks extra. It just isn't financially viable, let alone there aren't enough weeks in the season (if you think they'll change the NRL season or SL season to accommodate then you'll be disappointed).



5 weekends maximum. There isn't enough room for anything else.

Oh well, I only looked at the format (7 rounds) and presumed. I don't watch it anyway it bores me to death









Does the union world cup last 5 weekends? I'd guess (although I again can't be bothered checking) that it was a 6-7 round format so it must have midweek games? Realistically you can run a 7 round competition like the one I put if you only allow around 3/4/5 days between games, but I'm sure the players will be against that.



I expected that the SL season will have been shortened by then anyway, but if they don't they bascially will have to wait a few years before they get a chance to get some proper exposure for a real world cup, but it will be back in Aus anyway so Europe will not care anyway.





Again I'm struggling to think of one that doesn't involve midweek games or basically a sad, sad excuse for a competition.



Didn't the one you post take six rounds anyway? 14 is such an akward number.

I suppose you didn't realize that the successful 1995 World Cup had games in Wales and a 60/40 split between the heartland and other venues.

Seeing as we have been forcing the issue for the past few years maybe Millenium and/or Murryfield could be worth a punt also? Maybe we would trick a few locals into watching a good sport over their own terrible one





After all, who knew RL had internationals.

Just checked the format for the union world cup on Wikipedia. Says 44 days (7th September - 20th October), so 6 weeks (7 weekends). The difference between their World Cup and the football and RL ones is that they run theirs through the domestic season. The Guiness Premiership is still running during their World Cup, something I very much doubt would happen in SL.



And my format did have 6 rounds yes, and it probably would have to have one mid-week game. The last two World Cups both had 1 round that was mid-week, just something I think is a bit inevitable. But one is an absolute maximum.



I still don't get how you've managed to make it last 8 weeks with 14 teams anyway. Surely 2-3 group games, quarters, semis then final makes 6 rounds? Why the unneeded play-off format at the end? Just makes it longer than it needs to be, and longer than we can afford.

The main thing I don't like about this 14 team idea is that it is going to leave is with groups of 3 and the unfair advantages/disadvantages the teams in them groups will face.



Perhaps one option is to have the teams in one group of 3 play the teams in the other group of 3 instead of their own?



e.g. (seedings in brackets)

Group A - England (1), Fiji (2), Lebanon (3)

Group B - Australia (1), Tonga (2), Ireland (3)

Group C - New Zeland (1), Wales (2), Scotland (3), Cook Islands (4)

Group D - Papua New Guinea (1), France (2), Samoa (3), USA (4)



So England won't play Fiji and Lebanon, they'd play Australia, Tonga and Ireland.

And Australia will play England, Fiji and Lebanon.



Group C and D as normal.



This allows us to seperate the big teams then, yet still have that all-important Aus vs England game to start the tournament.

No fangled Super Groups. And one hell of a lot easier to understand for the public.



3 group games, top two from each to quarters.



I think that's the best format possible if keeping it simple is the aim. And certainly the fairest with 14 teams.

why not seed it then draw it from a hat