Can I cordially invite the board to see the sights of the westcountry and take in some international rugby league?

Bristol is a great city, home of Banksy, Grommitt, Johnny Morris, and Portishead. It's half an hour from Bath and Cardiff. It's about an hour 20 from the North Devon surf beaches, or the South Devon kiss me quick beaches, or the rolling Exmoor countryside or the great Cathedral city of Exeter.

It also has a great sporting culture and a really positive attitude use to the RLWC. It was the front page headline in the Bristol Evening Post, covered live on the BBC tv lunchtime news, and with extensive articles on the BBC and ITV evening and nighttime tv bulletins.

I'm sympathetic to South Yorks, but then again, although I can watch live RL every week in Devon (saw Exeter Uni batter Loughborough 2s today), I've never had an international RL game within 100 miles before this. So, hey, get on the motorway and get to as many games as you can. We do.

Agreed. I'll be going to all England games, definately Leigh, Bristol, Wigan, Warrington, Huddersfield, Spotland, Warrington and probably Wrexham. Depending on work and clashes. Also will book off semi final dates and final for certain.

Can't wait.

I will spend some of the money i save on not supporting this tournament on extra raffle tickets at the Dons rather than line the coffers of big Nigels pie fund at the RFL.

Is this a paddy because Doncaster didn't get picked?

No, no, he doesn't want to fund the RFL conspiracy to kick Doncaster out of the professional leagues.

I just don't see why i should contribute to supporting a competition run by an organisation which has snubbed both Doncaster and Sheffield. If Sheffield had got the nod then i could understand it and i would have travelled to Sheffield but obviously South Yorkshire does not exist in the eyes of the RFL so i will keep my money in my pocket or spend it on my own club.

Ok then, go on, explain to us why the RFL deliberately ignoring South Yorkshire.

Because there is no WC game to be held in Sheffield or Doncaster.
We have excellent stadia and transport links. Both teams are not in the heartland and a WC game would have helped boost the profile of one of our clubs, and while not being heartland clubs we are close enough for the travelling RL fans to get there in a short time.

I know its been said a lot on this thread but the bid can't have been good enough. Its not the rfl you should be annoyed at it should be the council who didn't produce a good enough bid.

This is not sour grapes but i really can not for the life of me see how a game in Limerick for example would be a better venue, attendance and event than one held at the Keepmoat which is in easy reach of West Yorkshire and Hull.

Agreed.

Exactly, there isn't another logical explanation.

The most logical plan for the RFL and the WC would be to have as much of a geographical spread for the games possible. Doncaster and Sheffield would be good areas to take the games because they aren't really part of the heartlands, but are near enough for a large portion of RL fans to travel relatively easily and inexpensively. It makes better business sense because you have core support who can go and locals who are new to the game.

However, if they haven't picked the only logical conclusion we can come to is that Doncaster and Sheffield's bids just weren't good enough. Doncaster and Sheffield would needed to have proved to the RFL that they can fill out a stadium. They would have to prove that they have a plan for facilities around the evnt, in terms of connections with local hotels and transport companies and the like, and also for promotion, i.e. how they will promote the matches and who too. It isn't enough to say "Well, we have a cracking stadium" because plenty of places interested in RL have cracking stadiums nowadays, you need to say what else you have and can do beyond that to make sure it is a real success.

This means that despite all those factors that favour Doncaster and Sheffield over a lot of other places that have been picked, if they haven't been picked the fault falls squarely on those that put the bid together.

We also don't know which are the semi final venues yet. My guess is the opener, semi double header and final will be split between Wembley, OT and Millenium, but you never know Doncaster or Sheffield could get a semi final match.

Limerick put an awful lot of work into their bid and getting the local community on board. Its the same with Bristol. Its not like the 2000 WC where the RFL just decided to plonk games anywhere, the councils and stadiums have contacted the RFL and put forward proposals. You don't know that Bristol and Limerick will have poor attendances or will put on a poorer event. In fact if anything the events in Limerick, Bristol and France could well be a lot better than others because they are out of the heartlands and, with the obvious exception, not in England or Wales. These bids would probably have worked harder than any other to make sure they got the games.

If you want to compare and contrast I reckon a better question would be why have Fax got a game and not Doncaster. Why does West Yorkshire need another game when Leeds and Hudds have them? Doncaster has arguably better facilities and has the potential to attract supporters in Yorkshire as well as more newcomers. The only answer is that the bid was not good enough.

Halifax probably got a game to quieten them down after missing out on SL.

In this day and age of rising fuel and transport costs do we need to be going to Limerick etc. I couldn't even tell you where it was on a map of Eire. What benefit will be gained from this?

Take more than that!