Wonder where it would fit in the calendar. May need SL to kick off a week later? Be good if they included a couple of French clubs and the png and future Fiji clubs. The man whose net worth is estimated at $3 billion revealed he is in negotiations to stage a nines tournament, featuring NRL and Super League clubs, in Dubai. However, his priority is to take a stake of an Australian franchise, preferably as a sole owner. Koukash said he is using his business connections to expand rugby league internationally. "I've started talking to people about the possibility of having a nines competition here in Dubai," he said. "This is a sporting country. When they had the sevens here over three days there were 180,000 people. "We're talking something similar to the Auckland nines here. You could keep that one in Auckland and one here with Super League and NRL clubs. That's more international. I see the nines as a way of globalising the sport. "We used to have five-day Test cricket and then we had the 50-over game and the shorter form to help popularise the sport overall. I see this similarly, The nines can help globalise the sport." www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...719-zuti0.html

Wonder where it would fit in the calendar. May need SL to kick off a week later? Be good if they included a couple of French clubs and the png and future Fiji clubs. The man whose net worth is estimated at $3 billion revealed he is in negotiations to stage a nines tournament, featuring NRL and Super League clubs, in Dubai. However, his priority is to take a stake of an Australian franchise, preferably as a sole owner. Koukash said he is using his business connections to expand rugby league internationally. "I've started talking to people about the possibility of having a nines competition here in Dubai," he said. "This is a sporting country. When they had the sevens here over three days there were 180,000 people. "We're talking something similar to the Auckland nines here. You could keep that one in Auckland and one here with Super League and NRL clubs. That's more international. I see the nines as a way of globalising the sport. "We used to have five-day Test cricket and then we had the 50-over game and the shorter form to help popularise the sport overall. I see this similarly, The nines can help globalise the sport." www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...719-zuti0.html

Good idea. The Koukash chap has enterprise and initiative that is totally absent from the leadership of the RFL. However I fear that Nigel Wood could oppose the idea because he didn't think of it, and thus it reflects on his own incompetence.

I would love to see that happen, if not in Dubai then maybe Cape Town, South Africa.

This is the Koucash who reckons he is more Australian than Australians. He's planned on moving to Oz for a long time.

No he doesn't say what he thinks people want to hear at all now does he pmsl. You are all being played. All swooning at his feet. Don't say I didn't warn you.

$3billion? Where the hell do these estimates of Koukash's wealth come from? They seem to triple every week. The start-point for the Sunday Times rich list is £70million (Aus$125million)and he isn't on that.

Not saying he's potless, but like pretty much everything about the man it's laughably inflated by credulous hacks.

A world club 9's in Dubai would be great. It's the place to attract some money to the sport.

I'd rather money be invested in the 13man game personally

It's fine if you don't care how clean that money is, and you don't mind playing RL in 40 degree heat in slave-built stadiums.

Union 7's seem to manage. And I'm not sure RL can be too picky as to where it's money comes from.

also it has been 50-56 for the past 2 weeks.

Obviously Koukash thinks that there can be a return on money invested in the project.

But a World 9s that was the 16 NRL clubs, plus the 12 SL clubs that will be playing in 2015 would be inadequate.

You would have to have at least one more French club (Toulouse obviously) plus a PNG club (the Hunters obviously). Those two additions would bring it up to 30 clubs. You would still need two more to make it a manageable 32 clubs.

So I would propose to add the Fijian club that will join the NSW Cup in 2016 (a parallel to the PNG Hunters in the Queensland Cup), plus a third French club (from the French Elite competition). That would make 15 Australian clubs, 11 English clubs, 3 French clubs, one New Zealand club, one PNG club, and one Fijian club. Definitely international, though skewed towards two nations.

The number 32 is important so you can have it divided into 8 pools of 4, with the top 2 in each pool going into the round of 16, followed by quarter finals, semi-finals and a final.

I don't know if such a competition could be squeezed into 2 days. If not then have it over three days.

As for the weather, I understand that February in Dubai is not so hot. But I will stand to be corrected on that matter.

Its fine for short periods, i guess it depends what time of year the event takes place.

Its very unusual that the temp goes above 35 degrees between October to March and thats perfect weather.

Also Dubai has a huge expat population and all rugby league gets shown live here so there is a demand for it.

you are correct some afternoons it does get a bit chilly that time of year.

One possible benefit of having rugby league showcased in Dubai is that it might be possible to find a rich individual or consortium, ready to take over London Broncos, and make it a viable contender for, and then presence in, Super League.

If that was to happen successfully then in later years perhaps others might fund a second London team and a third French team, with an eye to Super League expansion or diversification.

But for any of that to happen I would think that Ian Lenagan or Marwan Koukash might be the interlocutors with new Middle Eastern or European financiers/investors, since Nigel Wood and his cohorts seem incapable of promoting such developments.

You'd imagine the best time for it would be pre-season, so either January or February.
I'm not knocking the Auckland 9's by any means, I just think 9's gives RL an opportunity to take the sport somewhere outside its comfort zone without too much risk and hopefully appeal to both a different type of person and a different type of business than is usually exposed to RL.