I don't think there was much wrong with the format and choice of grounds last time to be honest. The only one that could have been better was Cardiff looked a bit empty for one of the tournaments biggest games in England-Australia.

Play the big games such as England fixtures, Semi's and Finals in big grounds. I'd stage Englands games in London, Manchester Liverpool and Newcastle.

then i'd do a Semi's double header in London again and final at Old Trafford. Think it works better that way round as fans may be reluctant to book London until they know if England will make it whereas Old Trafford is a day-trip for most.

Then for the smaller games see who puts a good bid in, Bristol for example did a decent job promoting a USA game that wasn't ever going to set box office records alight wherever you staged it. Having Fiji at Rochdale worked well due a Fijian population there etc whilst grounds like Craven Park & Workington aren't glam but guarantee a decent midweek crowd for a 'C-list' game.

It also makes sense for France and Wales to stage at least some fixtures at home, as they will draw better crowds than in England.

As others have already commented, they need to get the tickets on sale early, RU get the World Cup on sale 2 years before. Also getting the BBC to commit to more games is crucial, we need to be getting the 'B-list' games like games involving Australia & New Zealand, and a few Samoa/Fiji/France/Scotland/Wales/PNG games on TV.

Quarter final involving France must be in Toulouse

One pool game at least in Toronto and another in USA.

If you go on their desire to have 1million people in then they will have to use a lot of big grounds cos that would make the average attendance 32,000 so to use just 12 grounds pretty much most of the biggest football grounds will be needed.

Wouldn't have any games or in France personally! England have won the bid for the World Cup not France.

All games should be played in England in my opinion.

Logistically that's a ridiculous idea.

Agreed. the actual WC was a big success. What happened afterwards was the problem. Great crowd at Bristol and absolutely nothing afterwards.
St James Park has to stage a big game. We've some foundations there with the Magic weekend and the Newcastle Thunder.

Good to see the government putting in £15 million into the WC and £10 million into improving facilities. Lets hope it is spend wisely.

Last time I checked Toronto wasn't in England

Why on earth do they use Workington for the Scotland games? The ground is an absolute dump. Try a Tyneside venue, maybe Newcastle's RU groundshare stadium.

I would also suggest Halifax over Bradford for a Cat C game. The East Stand facilities are outstanding and spectators are more comfortable with a roof over them.

Again, if England are hosts, then no Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Canadian or French Stadia, Thank you. ENGLAND are the hosts.

IIRC that is the way it is being organised and when the bid was announced it was stated that all games were to be held in England. There was a list of venues given along with the bid announcement (or very soon after it) from which it was stated that the 12 venues would be chosen. All of those on that list were in England and Bristol and Workington were not among them.

Rank the teams 1-16 using the world rankings and have groups as below. All teams play the rest of the group once, none of this confusing inter group stuff:

A: Australia, England, New Zealand, R16 (3 go to QFs) – England v Aus opener at Wembley, England v NZ at Villa Park
B: R4, R6, R9, R11 (2 go to QFs)
C: R5, R7, R10, R12 (2 go to QFs)
D: R8, R13, R14, R15 (1 goes to QFs)

QF1 – 1A v 1D – Headingley
QF2 – 1B v 1C – Langtree Park
QF3 – 2A v 2C – John Smiths
QF4 – 3A v 2B – DW

SF1 – Winner QF1 v Winner QF2 – St James Park
SF2 – Winner QF3 v Winner QF4 – St James Park

Final – Winner SF1 v Winner SF 2 – Old Trafford

I’d be concerned about selling out the final if we stick it at Wembley and England don’t get there so Old Trafford (obviously closer for the majority of SL fans) makes sense. Market the hell out of that opener and we should really be looking to get close to a sell-out. NZ game at Villa Park as I think Birmingham is a major untapped market.

I’ve deliberately not put games England are guaranteed to be in within SL towns as I’m hoping it would encourage people to either travel to Wembley/Villa Park/St James Park or buy tickets to their local group games which would otherwise struggle to sell. Then when it is known what QF England are in, they are all on people’s doorsteps so they will be more likely to buy last minute. There’s an opportunity there to put four unattractive group games at the four QF venues and offer ‘buy one, get the other half price’ deals.

The pool games last time seemed pretty well thought out overall so I’d go similar again. Taking France games to France and Wales in Wrexham would make sense. USA at Bristol and Fiji at Rochdale worked really well so do that again. I wouldn’t be taking Australia v Ireland to Limerick in front of 5k again though, and AJ Bell is too much of a pain in the . Do Scotland not have anywhere well suited to a pool game? Murrayfield obviously miles too big.

Brilliant. The World Cup is coming to England and you want to push it somewhere else. I wonder if the World Cup went to the USA or Canada would want England games in England?

And let's not forget Rugby League is behind Football, Rugby Union, Cricket, F1, Tennis, Women's Football (and probably a lot more) in this country.

Newcastle Falcons Kingston Park has an artificial pitch, so can't be used for international RL (as things stand, things may change in the next 7 years) likewise Widnes is a no-go for smaller fixtures.

I think doing a double header with an England game at St James' Park would work. As for Scotland itself surely one of Edinburgh's football grounds is the best option for Transport.

Yeah but let's be honest, it's in the interests of the English game to have a fixture like France v Tonga in Avignon or Toulouse for instance. What does the English game gain by having that in say Leigh or Halifax instead? Or if it was Wales v Samoa, it's better to be in Wrexham/Cardiff as opposed to having it in somewhere like Widnes.

I agree.

If the developing nations are to have their own identities then they shouldn't be compromised being a host for an England WC.

How would Welsh rugby league be compromised by playing a fixture like Wales v Tonga in Wrexham instead of Lancashire? Completely rubbish argument.