[sizeBRISTOL BIDS TO BRING
INTERNATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE
TO THE SOUTH WEST[/size
International Rugby League could return to Bristol after 102 years if the city’s bid to host matches in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup is successful.

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100 years ago this December, Bristol City FC’s Ashton Gate stadium hosted its first and so far only international Rugby League match – a game between the touring Australian Kangaroos and the West & Wales, which the tourists won 23-3.

Now a consortium from Bristol, headed by representatives of the growing local Rugby League community, have declared their intention to bid to host matches in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, which is being held in England and Wales.

The initiative has come from within the South West Rugby League community, spearheaded by ambitious Bristol Sonics club, and is supported by a wide range of partner businesses, local government agencies and sports organizations in the region.

Bristol’s professional football teams, Bristol City and Bristol Rovers, are fully behind the plan, with Bristol City’s new stadium and the Memorial Stadium being considered as potential host venues. Filton College has been put forward as a base for a team training camp.

Both Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire Council have also joined the bid consortium, alongside the WESPORT Sports Partnership and tourism marketing body, Destination Bristol.

The announcement of Bristol’s intention to bid to host matches in the 2013 World Cup comes at a time when Rugby League in the city is enjoying rapid growth and a surge in popularity in schools and local community clubs.

The city’s leading Rugby League club, Bristol Sonics, begins its ninth summer season on Saturday, 7th May. The Sonics will this season run two open-age (adult) teams in the Rugby League Conference, as well as six satellite junior clubs dotted around the city.

The Sonics have recently announced details of a pioneering partnership with Filton College. The further education institution recently appointed its first Rugby League Academy Coach, former Oxford University and Harlequins youth coach Dan Garbutt, and is partnering with the Sonics to explore the possibility of a professional team in Bristol within the next five years. Filton is already preparing to host the Kenyan Olympic team in 2012 at its state-of-the-art WISE campus, and the Bristol Academy of Sport is the headquarters of both professional basketball and women’s football.

Bristol recently hosted the first Southern Counties Rugby League Championship, and last year staged the European Touch Rugby Finals at Filton College. The Bristol 2013 Rugby League World Cup bid is the next step in an ongoing process of attracting high quality sporting events, and in particular Rugby League events, to the city.

“This is a fantastic development for the profile of the game in the South West”, said RFL Regional Manager, Joe Catcheside. “We already have a growing number of Bristol schools playing rugby league, and the city has one of the largest Touch Rugby competitions in the UK. Bristol Sonics are the most successful club side in this part of the country, and hosting a World Cup match would be a true reflection of the growth of Rugby League as a local sport in the South West”.

Bristol Sonics Chairman and founder member Phil Cole, an enthusiastic supporter of both Bristol City FC and international Rugby League, said: “It would be a dream come true for me if Bristol City’s new stadium or even the Memorial Ground hosted matches in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup. The sport in the city is growing rapidly, and there’s even talk of a professional club one day. League is a sport that’s on the up in the city, and I’m delighted that the Sonics can play a part in trying to bring the sport’s biggest tournament to Bristol.”

This is the first time the RFL has used a formal bid process to determine its host venues for a World Cup, and the evaluation is based upon the levels of support and development activity planned in the prospective host cities, as well as a technical consideration of the facilities available.

Although there has been no cost involved in bidding for the Rugby League World Cup, successful cities stand to benefit to the tune of several million pounds through ticket sales and sponsorship, increased inward investment in sports development, and through the tourist spend in hotels, bars, and other local attractions.

The evaluation process will begin with a site visit towards the end of this month, followed by a consultation period over the summer. If Bristol is successful, the announcement will be made in autumn, and will signal the start of a programme of events and activities to consolidate and develop rugby of all codes and forms right across the city and its wider region.

What would be the point though? They couldn't have one of the huge fixtures because they need to be kept in London or the heartlands for a huge crowd and they couldn't have a smaller fixture because nobody would be attracted to it, far more beneficial letting Leigh and Salford host the smaller games. I just don't see how you could justify taking a game down there.

People must remember that in just a few years time the RU WC will be played in packed venues like Old Trafford, Twickers, St James Park, Emirates and Wembley. Our WC is going to look even more pants if we move games to Bristol and play infront of an empty stadium.

Well, both Bristol City and Bristol Rovers are in the consortium. They're confident of selling tickets. Between them they average 25,000 fans per week. Bristol Rugby (Union) are partners. Bristol City Council and South Glos Council are on board, if the bid is successful RL will be showcased at around 20 major local festivals between now and 2013. The local tourist agency is part of the bid, too, as is the County Sports Partnership, and the local authorities in Bath & North Somerset. And Street Games. And Acccess Sport. And the local NHS. And the Local Education Authority. And all the RL Clubs in the West of England Division, and the SW Division, and all the student RL clubs.

Filton College in Bristol is also part of the bid - they've just appointed an Academy RL Coach and aspire to play in the NYL within a couple of seasons, and the SL Academy comp beyond that. They have a track record... when they launched the Bristol Flyers Basketball team, it was the only club in Bristol. They won the EBL League and Cup double this year, and their junior club is 450 strong. Filton's Womens Football team hold one of 8 Superleague licences... the others include Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton.

There are over 2500 regular ticket buyers to Magic, Wembley and the GF in the South West alone. There are a couple of thousand RL players in the SW on top of that. There are 4 full time RFL staff in the region. We have a partnership with Leeds Rhinos for marketing and promotion. Bristol Sonics are part of the Championship Review. Bristol is 30m from Cardiff on the train, so the catchment includes South Wales as well, where there are thousands of kids playing.

There are 184 adult rugby league teams in the North West. There are 524 adult rugby union teams in the South West. The potential down here is incredible.

There's been continuous RL competition in Bristol for 20 years - we are a developing sport, there, but not a new sport, and not something being imposed from up north. There are almost 1000 touch rugby players in Bristol alone. In case you hadn't noticed, the RFL has £30m being spend exclusively on development from Sport England. The RL world is nothing like as small as in was in 2000, despite the small-mindedness of some of its traditional heartland .supporters. We have a long way to go, but I'd bet you that Cook Islands vs Jamaica would pull a bigger crowd in Bristol than in Bradford. Bring the World Cup down here, and Bristol will pretty soon be a new 'heartland' for RL.

You seem pretty confident. I would have to see it to be convinced.

What kind of crowd do you honestly think would turn out?

You talk about the amount of RU teams but how many of those lads would actually be interested? They will probably be priced out by the RFL anyway.

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?