Still can get my head around why the previous European Championship winners have got a place and not the current winners Wales, it's not not like the tournament has been planned out ages in advance we still don't know the dates or venues.

As for grounds I'd agree that St James' Park for an opening match of Scotland-England and Australia-NZ is a good idea. Market the hell out of it during the magic weekend, hand out free tshirts advertising the game to the thousands of people wandering about in Newcastle city centre. Do what RU and the Olympics did and stick a huge ad on the Tyne bridge.

Then I'd say Olympic Park for England-Australia, the Etihad for England-NZ. One Scotland game in Yorkshire, the other up in Scotland. Final at Elland Road (have to go slightly smaller for that one due to the risk tha England don't make the final)

For the first time in years the RFL can big the England team up as winners, let's go big with the grounds and sell em out.

why not have Scotland v England in..Scotland?

play the partisan stuff and get the scots behind "their" team

there are enough grounds in Scotland that hold 15-20,000 that could accommodate this.

The Four Nations should be entirely on the road, not at Headingley, the KC, the DW etc. The Etihad, Newcastle, Anfield, etc should be looked into.

Newcastle is an out of the way place for England to play.

One England match must be in London. The crowds are always biggest there. The Oz v NZ game should also be in London. Whether that's via a double-header or at a smaller venue. I would prefer a smaller venue in West London for Oz v NZ and then England v Oz at a bigger London venue on different day (the tournament opener if that is possible).

The problem is what to do with the Scotland games. I can't see them being competitive or attracting crowds, so small stadia but where?

England should play their NZ game in RL territory.





Then you need to decide

I think this all the time, a couple of weeks off to just play a few internationals. It was pointed out in the build up to the NZ series that this year football played 10 internationals, union 16 and we have played... 4... Even if we only got that number to 7-8 it would help and would give the international game more publicity which is the key here.

Yep, and make it a regular event at the same time of year. It gives both spectators and organisers certainty. It allows the French and Welsh to plan, knowing that every year in, say, June they've got 2 games against England and against each other. It gives England a chance to get together for 4 extra games (probably without NRL players but it's still better than nothing).
It gives the French and Welsh something to plan and play for other than just being a hastily arranged warm up. And if they perform poorly one year they can start planning for the next. It's the best way, in my opinion, to both give England more games and exposure and to help France and Wales develop.

Don't know if it's the same situation with West Ham and Olympic Park, but City lease the Etihad from MCC for £3m/yr and are paying for a £1bn redevelopment of the stadium and surrounding campus area (which City do own). Any concerts or other events that go on at the Etihad, after the bands/whatever else is paid for, go directly to City's profits and City just continue to pay £3m/yr to MCC. City decide what goes on at the stadium.

Im certain City would welcome a Four Nations final at the ground next Autumn.

Totally agree. It's time we started to bridge the gap between France/Wales and us.

I mentioned in another thread the other day that compared to other major England teams we play less than half of the games that they do.
Since the turn of the decade England football have played 68 games, England rugby union have played 72 games and England cricket have played 73 games...while England rugby league have played 30 games.

It's nowhere near enough. And I don't know how many games France and Wales RL teams have played but I'd bet it is even much lower than England RL. That's not good enough, it's nowhere near enough for them to improve.

Three double-headers for the group fixtures

England-Scotland, New Zealand- Australia at the Olympic Stadium.

England-New Zealand, Scotland-Australia at St James's Park

England-Australia, Scotland-New Zealand at Anfield/Etihad

Final at Elland Road. Good transport links, right kind of capacity, in the RL heartlands.

You can't play the final in a downgraded facility from the other games.

Having all the games as double headers maybe a good idea though. The RFL will probably want a game in Scotland though and there will be murders if at least oneEngland game isn't in Yorkshire

Scotland v New Zealand - Ibrox
England v Australia - Olympic Stadium

England v Scotland - DW
Australia v New Zealand - KC

England v New Zealand - St James'
Scotland v Australia - Easter Road

Final - Etihad or OT

Think big

Do Scotland have anywhere near enough RL fans to have a single fixture up there? For their game against Ireland in the European Cup recently only 1197 attended.

Scotland played two games in Cumbria in the 2013 RLWC in front of 7000 but were they all locals or did the 2000 from that^ game come down to England for that leaving 5000 locals?
Ireland don't have many fans, in Cork at least, considering only 5000 turned up for their game with Australia in the WC a few years ago. Only just short of 1405 watched Wales win the European Cup a few weeks ago.

Going off those attendances if we were to have a single fixture for Scotland against anyone in Scotland, i'd imagine only 2-7000 would turn up so having a single fixture up there at a big stadium would look poor. Any fixtures in Scotland should be a double header.

It's that kind of small time thinking that means only 2-7k do turn up.

Playing at bigger stadia attracts the curious, not just the diehard RL fans. Create the sense of a big event, market the hell out of it.

As we've seen since RL took Internationals to London again from 2011, the crowds have been excellent.

On one hand, you've got what happened. A game in a second-tier tournament, played in the middle of nowhere (Galashiels), against a team of part timers/amateurs (Ireland), at a 4k capacity stadium, with no marketing. No wonder no fker turns up.

Or potentially, play the two best sides in the world (Aus/NZ) in the middle of the two biggest Scottish cities, in decent stadia, and market it.

Lets take the Eng v Sco game to Scotland where we can show any current or new Scotland supporter how England will dominate and make them look crap.