Full fixtures now announced.

DW replacing Anfield for England's Quarter Final as Anfield is getting it's away end rebuilt.

Australia-Fiji has moved to Headingley with NZ-Jamaica heading to the MKM. The MKM wasn't available in the 1st weekend due to Hull Fair.

Sadly that Jamaica game at the MKM will be a very tough sell. Leeds has a Jamaican community but Hull doesn't, and prices are insane. £70 for half way seats, another baffling RL decision!

Anfield to DW sux

Why? A full DW will look better than a half full anfield

Anfield is far too big for an RLWC quarter final, and the DW is a much more suitable venue for it regardless of the reasons why it's happened.

On saying that though, loads of the grounds being used are far too big, so combined with high ticket prices the competition will be a laughing stock rather than simply ignored by most people.

I know people on here will say the game needed to think big and stop devaluing itself, but if those people want to go and try and convince tens of thousands of people to turn up at football grounds in non RL cities at those ticket prices then all I will say is, good luck with that.

I can't believe they haven't used the opportunity of a delay to tweak some of the stadiums and the prices, they've had the unique benefit of having months of sales data to see what is actually selling or not, for example they seem to have sold sod all at the Riverside (which doesn't surprise me at all Rugby of either code doesn't exist in Boro) so why not switch that for a smaller ground in somewhere where RL is strong, instead they will no doubt issue a load of promo codes late on and hope for the best.

The Riverside, Bramhall Lane, the Emirates and Coventry's ground are all completely unsuitable venues. The location of Scotland's games is annoying me again too. I've got a season ticket at a Super League club, and I consider Scotland to be my international team in higher profile sports, so I'm exactly who the SRL/RFL/whoever would hope to throw my support behind the Scotland RL team. I'm not going to Newcastle or Coventry to watch third generation Scots playing Championship (at best) level rugby though.

I've long called for them to be based in Blackpool. Loads of Scots live there, it's close to the traditional Lancashire RL towns without being too far from Yorkshire either. Plenty of people enjoy a day out and/or weekend on the ale in Blackpool, and I might be wrong but I think the illuminations will be on then too. Surely it's a no brainer to have games there if BFC agree to it?

Oh yeh, it’s the WORLD Cup so let’s keep the matches in deprived former pit towns in the north of England. That’ll really grow the sport. Awesome.

It was supposed to be the big game this week, semis last weekend, and finals next weekend. These games sold very well, and I am sure they will be well attended next year.

My understanding is that each game was given to venues that bid for them, so they will have their own targeted market and attendance. As such I don't think a repeat of 2000s massive losses is possible.

I've never seen an international held that didn't attract complaints from someone. If you don't like some of the individual venues or fixtures, don't go. I went to 6 games at the last world cup, and I'll probably only go to 2 next year. It will probably end in another England disappointment but I won't miss it for anything.

When has Blackpool ever had a colliery?

The sport should be able to generate 40000+ to a world cup QF in Liverpool.

But it cant.

The world cup final wont even be a sell out. Id estimate 50k tops

Quote: DallasMead2 "Oh yeh, it’s the WORLD Cup so let’s keep the matches in deprived former pit towns in the north of England. That’ll really grow the sport. Awesome.'" The issue here is that the Government funding attached to the RLWC is coming from their development fund for the Northern Powerhouse, hence funding criteria stipulatedWhilst the tournament will be hosted across England 80% of the hosts towns and cities for tournament will be located in the Northern Powerhouse region; Doncaster, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York supporting the governments vision and £25 million investment into the tournament and its legacy." https://www.rlwc2021.com/host-&-venue-guides So there was never a free-hand to take the game to many other regions.

Quote: DallasMead2 "Oh yeh, it’s the WORLD Cup so let’s keep the matches in deprived former pit towns in the north of England. That’ll really grow the sport. Awesome.'" The issue here is that the Government funding attached to the RLWC is coming from their development fund for the Northern Powerhouse, hence funding criteria stipulatedWhilst the tournament will be hosted across England 80% of the hosts towns and cities for tournament will be located in the Northern Powerhouse region; Doncaster, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York supporting the governments vision and £25 million investment into the tournament and its legacy." https://www.rlwc2021.com/host-&-venue-guides So there was never a free-hand to take the game to many other regions.

What are the chances of the tournament happening at all next year? Covid won't be done by then, we're going to rumble along, repeating this cycle of over-hyped variant emerging and everyone blindly panicking for years. The attitude of the Penrith owners towards coming to the UK now suggests to me it's unlikely they'll get the tournament played and if they do it will be without Australia, NZ and the NRL players.

They need to formulate Plan B now for that eventuality.

I'm no doctor, but I see blanket vaccination as key to any chance of the RLWC 202? taking place.

World cup, 4nations and other major international games have been played all over the place over many years in order to take the highest level of RL to new audiences

Early Great Britain games were played in London, Newcastle Birmingham, Cheltenham and Edingburgh.

A double header 4 nations in modern times was taken to Coventry...........

The crowds will go to these games, they will enjoy them, they will remark on how good they have been, but at the end of the day as one RL journalist noted. the crowd will show their appreciation of the games and players, clap loudly, cheer, and afterwards all go back to their Rugby Union clubhouses and make plans for going to the RU internationals.

The Coventry double header grew NOTHING. it merely deprived Long and Loyal Rugby League fans of easy to get to first class International RL.

The bottom line is look after your regular customers I want to see world cup games live, and I will be going with friends who live in the north and like to go to these games every time they come round. But they aren't travelling 120 miles to Coventry & back

As for Coventry, what did that 4 Nations game do for RL long terms there? Check out the Bears struggles......