to be fair to the year 2000 marketing team, social media has made it easier to connect with people without spending vast sums of money. Back then it was TV or press ads or nothing.

But yes there has been some great ground choices this time round, Fiji at Rochdale was a master-stroke, and even the tired Derwent Park & Memorial Stadium looked decent with a good crowd in.

the organisers have created a good mix of massive, shiny stadia like Cardiff and Wembley, decent SL grounds like the John Smith's and the KC, and smaller compact traditional rugby grounds.

also as others have mentioned, the Olympics has opened the public's eyes to try new sports and get involved, there seems to be a lot less 'snobbery' about the RLWorld cup as a result.

Brilliant night in Bristol, well done to all concerned.

Here is a (yet another) radical idea.

As a thank you to all the "non league" areas that have put on games, why not put on games, even double headers instead of the magic weekend?
It may not be easy, nothing worthwhile ever is, but it will keep the momentum going.
Once you have created an interest, it would be a shame to let it wither.









Now waits for the my club, home game, travel cost, season ticket etc etc apologists shoot the idea down.

OTR round would be great. Stadiums that hold 10k or so, opportunities for competing clubs to fill coaches, as well as attract long distance fans.
Wigan v London in Bristol.......Leeds v hudds in Cumbria
FC v Salford in Sheffield etcetera ......

When you take a club game off a club the issue is always ££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££.

Who will pay??

It's an international event that has helped create interest.

These places won't give 2 sh*ts about wigan vs warrington, it just won't work on the same level.

I think you are correct, Flex Wheeler!

our grow is internationals not invented exiles games

proper tours

the nation does not care about wire v wigan........its nations wake up and smell coffee people

err, what?

You repeat what just wrote, proper sentence, I no understand.

But isn't that precisely what lots of people said on here about the wisdom of staging a WC match in Bristol - no body gives a sh*t. It just won't work.
Of course it will work if the host clubs/councils do the necessary spadework as Wembley71 has outlined. I remember going to Welford Rd to see the Bulls v London. People had said that was a waste of time, nobody in Leicester is interested but it was packed, mainly with RU fans.

This.

Having been partly involved as Warrington rep on the RLWC2013 FLAG ( fans local advisory group) I've seen something of how things have been planned and organised and hopefully been able to contribute in a small way. Having towns have to bid to be hosts rather than just parachuting games into venues, meant local steering groups reaching out across all aspects of the community were formed who have worked really hard to make the tournament a success.

I've always been confident things would go well, but even so I'm delighted with the start we've got off to.

London took games to Leicester and got good crowds.....it's about the marketing

It is obvious that the international dimension has helped elicit interest in rugby league among a broader public, esp. the fact that there are so many nations, some of them quite exotic Pacific Island nations. But also having the BBC behind this tournament has helped a lot.

Rugby union has understood that for years. Rugby union gets much of its money and kudos from the World Cups and international tournaments, so many of which are on terrestrial TV. That is why we have to bring on Four Nations again soon -- with BBC, not Sky, coverage.

Great work, you should be in charge of rfl marketing.

It's not often you are right my pseudo French buddy, but I think on this occasion you deserve a gold star sticker for stating the ing obvious. The NRL gets $200 mil a year for about 425 televised games a year.......the Rahs of the 6 nations get 1/3 of that each year for 15 games............