In answer to your questions.
1. When was the final last played in an empty stadium?
Er, I didn't say it was played in an empty stadium, so your question is meaningless.
2. Who are the current holders?
New Zealand, everyone knows that.
3. Do you know how many Samoan players there are in RL worldwide?
No, I don't, and apart from Samoa's coach, who cares, and more to the point, life is way to short to find that out.
As to your last statement, why would it surprise me that David Solomona played for Warrington?

You've already displayed your embarrassing lack of knowledge on this topic, and the fact that you continued to make such strong assertions despite this suggests that you are either legitimately an ignorant moron, or a troll. Either way, the sport could do without people like you.

My lack of knowledge on the subject, er how, by not knowing, caring or being bothered to find out how many Samoans play Rugby League?
The fact that we disagree, does not make you right.
I would suggest that your posts prove that the sport could do without you.

You misunderstand me- I am not calling for GB to compete in the World Cup, nor would I ever. If you read my earlier posts I would use GB once, maybe twice every four years.

As for Evans, I think that if he had the opportunity to play for both Wales and GB the thought of playing for England never would have crossed his mind. To illustrate my point, below is the 2000 Ireland squad. How many of those names would have committed to Ireland, without them also having GB to aim for? N.B. There is no chance Scotland will vote to secede, even with Salmond's army of 16 year olds!

Terry O'Connor (captain)
David Barnhill
David Bradbury
Liam Bretherton
Kevin Campion
Brian Carney
Gavin Clinch
Martin Crompton
Michael Eagar
Mark Forster
Ian Herron
Chris Joynt
Johnny Lawless
Tommy Martyn
Jamie Mathiou
Barrie McDermott
Steve Prescott
Luke Ricketson
Ryan Sheridan
Paul Southern
Liam Tallon
Danny Williams
Michael Withersty

I don't think it particularly matters if Saoma or Tonga are giants of the game or not, nor how extensively the game is played there. The thing is they bring a different style of play to the tournament and play the part of the underdog, which the general public loves.

I'd tend to agree that playing group games in front of empty stands does the game no good, but how great was it when Fev went toe-to-toe with Wigan last year - wasn't a huge crowd but the passion and drama was fantastic and you'd have to have been made of stone not to enjoy it. There was probably more at the France Wales game but it didn't feel it.

Fact is we need an international game and pulling up the drawbridge on everyone bar NZ, Aus & England will be another nail in the coffin. On that basis we might as well tell everyone outside of SL not to bother entering the CC as well, and tell Catalan to go merge with RU.

No, I understand what you are saying but I'm not sure how announcing a return to GB would be of any benefit to the World Cup, in fact it would be quite the opposite as it goes against the idea of separate home nations. My argument still stands, how many of those players are Irish? Apart from the fact that half the players listed there are Australians and so GB would be irrelevant, would you prefer to see an Irish side full of fairweather ring-in Englishmen, or a legitimate Irish team that actually represents the country? Yes, obviously the former would be more competitive in the short-term, but unless we start to do things the right way at some point then the sport will never develop and we'll be stuck in the same place. I'd prefer not to see measures put in place to paper over the cracks, if Ireland want to have a competitive team at international level then they need to develop Irish players. And if that is your only reason for wanting to bring back GB, then IMO it's not a very good one. As the poster above said, nobody wants to see segregation at international level, and I also don't want to see 'national' teams full of ringers like we have in the past, it is artificial and achieves nothing. I understand why you would suggest it, but your argument about players being more likely to commit with GB would just prolong those issues. It's time to develop a proper international game, not one based on fake teams and heritage players.

GB would have nothing to do with the World Cup IMO. But waiting for 4 years for a major international tournament is also too long and fails to gather momentum hence why I said an Ashes tournament every 4 years starting 2015. You're also jumping on the back of "Team GB" using this to your advantage thanks to the Olympics and giving more "headline" games to an international calendar that no doubt struggles currently for recognition within the general public outside of RL fans. It also allows players like Rhys Evans to stick with their heritage of being Welsh born and bred as he will be able to compete in both "major" competitions without having to become English.

In terms of the World Cup, it's always going to be hard to directly promote the tournament when only 3 nations have a genuine chance of winning it. There's no doubting the RLWC committee are putting in their best efforts but my only concern is outside of the usual RL channels, I haven't heard anything about the RLWC mentioned. Although, to be fair, the amount of time I spend outside the vision or hearing distance of RL channels is very minimal which could be why. This is why I'd use GB to generate interest in the international game as a whole and get some momentum going in their favour. Other tournaments such as home nations and pacific islands are also essential to get their own nations recognised and some momentum building up to the WC. Although Wales v France and Fiji v PNG may not be anywhere near the scale of GB v Aus currently, the GB game should gather column inches while the other games prepare the individual nations for the upcoming challenges. This maybe too late for 2013 but hopefully all ready and in place for the build up to 2017.

I wouldn't rely on the rail replacement bus service...it took us 4 hours to get from Towyn last year because of that service which only seems to operate at certain times of the day.But if you want to go by train go to Liverpool then get the electric line to Chester then pick the Wrexham train up.

All year the forums and trade press have been full of calls for GB to return. I think if Nigel Wood confirmed GB would tour Australia in 2014 it would put that particular debate to bed and allow attention to move to the World Cup where it belongs.

I understand your point about wanting a 'real' Irish team, but I think we need to try and find a balance, otherwise it will be a squad of amateurs which won't attract the spectators or allow the team to be competitive.

A bit late coming back to this debate.

Lebanon didn't qualify.

What am I looking forward to? In no particular order - watching one of my favourite sports in some of the world's iconic stadia, making a day out of it with my friends (many who wouldn't ordinarily watch RL but as it's a World Cup will be tempted out) in Cardiff, London and Manchester, going to Limerick to watch the Ireland - Oz match. Being able to see the best players in world.

The World Cup is a big opportunity for RL to (re)build some momentum and get some national media attention. The organisation of it has been excellent so far - from the qualifying tournament to the build up (launch of the trophy tour etc.)

As for the comment about Australia lifting the cup in an empty stadium - well firstly NZ are the reigning World Champions. Secondly - if everyone has your attitude then it will become a self fulfilling prophesy.

However, I think a lot of this comes from the debacle in 2000 and not what is happening for this tournament.

My final point would be - the World Cup is a celebration of the sport we all like or love - why wouldn't you be interested in it? Is it the most competitive sporting competition in the world? No it isn't and I've seen nothing that says it is trying to pretend to be that. It will however have 14 teams all fully committed and giving everything (for some such as the US just getting here is an achievement) and we can enjoy watching the greatest players our sport has to offer.
Just to pick up on your Final comment - do you actually like Rugby League or just support Warrington? As if you are the former, I would have thought any RL fan worth his salt would want to go to Old Trafford to watch either Oz vs Nz or Eng vs Oz (and I agree it is likely to be those teams.)

Excellent post. Last year I made the three hour train journey back to Warrington from uni to watch Australia v NZ, and throughout the week building up I was like an excitable child. As it turned out it wasn't the best game I saw that year, however it was absolutely fantastic to see Darren Lockyer start his final series on our hallowed turf. It is worth noting that 12,491 people watched that game at the Halliwell Jones, and that in 2009 31,042 people watched Australia v New Zealand in the last such final to take place in this country. Surely based on these statistics we can fill Old Trafford regardless of the finalists, considering we have had well over a year to market the event.

I have to say I really do pity the individual who has derided the game in his last few posts, no doubt he is of the breed of fans that believe any game of rugby league which doesn't involve Warrington, Wigan, Saints or Leeds isn't worth watching. You really don't know what you are missing out on!

I think everyone can put up with the inevitable mismatches in the group stages, but all the quarter-finals and the semi involving Australia are likely to be very one-sided as well. Which gives rather large credibility issues, unfortunately. Though it is at least more difficult to predict the last 8 than it is in RU.
Not sure I understand the logic of playing the Cook Islands vs USA game in Bristol, either

Nevertheless, the last World Cup was very enjoyable (England aside) and I'm looking forward to the next one - at least PNG haven't been completely stitched up this time round.

Quote: worthing wire "I think everyone can put up with the inevitable mismatches in the group stages, but all the quarter-finals and the semi involving Australia are likely to be very one-sided as well. Which gives rather large credibility issues, unfortunately. Though it is at least more difficult to predict the last 8 than it is in RU. Not sure I understand the logic of playing the Cook Islands vs USA game in Bristol, either I think Bristol could be one of the success stories of the World Cup, by all accounts they put together a very good bid and at a grass roots level the game is doing well there. The RLWC has put together a schools educational package and will be delivering it around the city etc so as one of just two 'non heartlands' group games I think it should do well. Look at the 11,000 in Lens on Saturday, they hadn't the foggiest what was going on but loved it! I think the host towns having secured the bids now really have to put their weight behind the contest and create a sense of civic pride around hosting a world cup game. On 30 October 2013 we need USA v Cook Islands to be 'the place to be'. Here is a local news report from when they were announced as a host www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0OmyHMfv5s

Quote: worthing wire "I think everyone can put up with the inevitable mismatches in the group stages, but all the quarter-finals and the semi involving Australia are likely to be very one-sided as well. Which gives rather large credibility issues, unfortunately. Though it is at least more difficult to predict the last 8 than it is in RU. Not sure I understand the logic of playing the Cook Islands vs USA game in Bristol, either I think Bristol could be one of the success stories of the World Cup, by all accounts they put together a very good bid and at a grass roots level the game is doing well there. The RLWC has put together a schools educational package and will be delivering it around the city etc so as one of just two 'non heartlands' group games I think it should do well. Look at the 11,000 in Lens on Saturday, they hadn't the foggiest what was going on but loved it! I think the host towns having secured the bids now really have to put their weight behind the contest and create a sense of civic pride around hosting a world cup game. On 30 October 2013 we need USA v Cook Islands to be 'the place to be'. Here is a local news report from when they were announced as a host www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0OmyHMfv5s

Isn't it hard to avoid the fact that more people watched international RL (GB) in the 1990's than they do now? That must go down as a fail.

So? How does repeating that help? We all know that - hence lots of people are working hard trying to improve international RL and attract more people to watch. Does the fact there have been failures in the past mean we should all give up and pack in? Perhaps Warrington should have realised crowds at Wilderspool were lower than they used to be and give up trying and not bother moving to a new stadium?

If things don't work, you learn from them and try to do things differently next time. Don't just keep on whinging about it and give up.