The thing is, we've got ever increasing interest in the sport in the South West area - Devon and Cornwall are playing annual competitive fixtures against each other, we had the County Championship Festival hosted in Bristol this week where teams from five counties were represented by squads that were larger and more competitive than even we anticipated, and Bristol Sonics (a club with developing youth structures and second teams) are looking to join the Championships in the next few years.

We've got support from Bristol City Council and South Gloucester Council, WESPORT, Bristol Sonics RL, Destination Bristol, Bristol City and Bristol Rovers, Touch Bristol, Bristol Rugby, Street Games, Bristol NHS, Bath & NE Somerset Council, North Somerset Council, and Access Sports. Bid support also comes from all 17 RLC and SRL clubs, and from the Universities and RL Associations across the whole South West - these organisations all want it to happen for the profile of the sport AND the city and this is evidence enough for us to believe that it would be well supported on the day should the bid be a success. And Wembley71 has already given examples of what a successful bid will be able to generate beyond the WC game. We feel the time is right to draw an international game into the area for the first time in a century now that the city and the whole region are taking to the sport. By 2013, its profile should be such that people from the area - with support and interest generated through the many channels just mentioned - would want to see an international game that is held in their back yard.

It's a gamble to take such a fixture out of the heartlands, but the RFL have for the last few years made expansion a key part of their mandate. The WC would be ideal in showing RL at its highest level and giving the area an even stronger appetite to support the growing rugby league community that we have here. From a personal view, I think it would be easier for us to grow support for the RLWC here than it would in an area such as London where it struggles to get large support in lieu of the countless football and RU outlets that it goes head to head with.

Well if everyone in Bristol is is behind it and they have a good bid then why not?

A few non-"heartland" areas should be staging games. I want to see the brunt of the games played in the North but it's still not a bad idea to have one or two growth areas host a few games.

The whole point of a bidding process is so that the authorities can see what each place has got and is willing to bring to the table isn't it? If Bristols bid is better than a 'heartlands' club, they get a game, if it's not, they don't. Simple as that. You can't rip into them for trying, at least it shows there's some interest in the South West.

I think its great to put some of the earlier round around the country, lets face it, last world cup a few of these rounds where poorly attended in the north, so lets move them further afield and not worry about attendances but about the game getting to a wider audience.

A total and utter waste of time.

Lock this thread immediately.

The concept is a good one but I fear the reality would be a failure.

I would however loved to be proved wrong

Constructive as ever.

Somewhere I have some cuttings from a Gloucestershire newspaper recalling players from that region who had "gone north" in the 1930s.

It wasn't on the same scale as RL recruitment in Wales of course but, from memory, there were a couple of dozen names mentioned and some modern day quotes from the families of the converts.

Maybe not all that relevant to 21st century development in the SW but an interesting historical footnote all the same.

This.

The idea that games are better kept in the heartlands is a fallacy. At the 2000 World Cup, we had less than 6,000 for an England game in St Helens, barely over 2,000 for a match in Barrow whilst more people from Gateshead paid to see Australia than people from Hull.

Northern crowds are apathetic towards internationals at the best of times. Let other cities enjoy what we evidently aren't that bothered about.

Well said, that man. And anyway, we all [isay[/i we want to see our game grow which is why this bid ought to receive backing from fans of the sport.

I think more of that was to do with the (then) people running the RFL's false idea that people would just turn up to games without the need for advertising because of the fact that it was RL. In reality, that was never going to happen, and the idea behind these bid teams is to ensure that the host areas are interested and willing to market these games to their local areas.

I am interested to know what sort of crowd they think they could get in Bristol and for what sort of game they are looking for. And also, what sort of crowds the RFL are targeting for certain games. Some of the lower-ranked games will obviously be expected to get lower attendances, and will having these in the heartlands mean they'll get bigger attendances because they are RL games (in an already concentrated area) or lower because of apathy towards the lower ranked games?

The posts from Bristol are fantastic, and clearly show that the area has got, in spades, the one thing money can't buy, and that is an enthusiastic, "can-do" attitude. This alone would make a game staged down there a success, because clearly there are already large numbers that have already "bought in" to the concept.

I would certainly hope that if the detailed bid stands scrutiny, these people would get the reward that such enthusiasm richly deserves. The knee-jerk doom-mongers are few, and can rightly be dismissed, because the fact is that early and 'minnow' games have not been well attended in the 'heartlands' in the past - and that is almost totally down to a lack of enthusiasm on the part of those who should have been promoting each of those games.

To misquote somebody, "Build it up well enough, and they will come".

Cannot believe some of the negative and doom-laden posts on this thread.

What we have been told about the bid suggests that a great deal of preparation has gone into it, and that there is a head of steam that would likely make it a success. So long as the bid stands up to proper RL scrutiny, and not just a lot of pie-in-the-sky then I hope that they are given a decent game to work with.

As others have said, putting on a game in the heartlands in absolutely no guarantee of success, as we have seen all too often. So, its great to have an enthusiastic and well planned bid from a new area

Good luck to them, I say

This bid has something that the 2000 world cup didnt have and that is backers of sporting teams and regional tourism offices. Who will get behind the marketing of the comp.

In 2000 it was a case of picking random stadiums and seeing if they were free for that date if so book and hope that someone turned up.