GB to win it would trump everything is sport

GB to win an ashes series is a close second

Would love to see GB win a test series over Australia.

England, the assumption being it would give British RL some much needed oxygen of publicity, allowing it to fight for a better TV deal, better sponsorship and so forth, and stave off disintegration as a pro sport for another ten years or so.

Even though the reality, probably, would be Nigel Wood and co basking in the glow of victory, telling us all what a great a shape the game is in, and subsequently doing even less than normal.

However, the tiny chance of a victorious WC throwing us a lifeline is better than the no chance at all we'd have if Australia romp to yet another easy and predictable success ... so it's still England for me.

100% for Warrington their board there again i have heard that next year is going to be their year.

Wigan every time.

I'd even rather see Wigan win a pointless friendly vs Batley above anything for England RL.

Pointless and meaningless team that's full of players from teams i don't either particularly like or want to support.

Does anybody really believe that the sporting world gives a flying if England win the RL world cup?

The title of this thread is Wigan or England, when the first World Cup was held in 1954 the decision for the players was home or England.

The 1954 tourists had just lost a series 2-1 to the Aussies in what was a gruelling and brutal tour, in fact in the match against NSW the Ref walked off the field with 10 minutes left and left the players to fight it out.

The GB tourists played 22 matches in Australia and 12 in New Zealand and remember these men where only part time and most of them had to beg time off work for 3/4 months often with loss of pay.

The French had come up with the idea of an inaugural RL world Cup to counter the immense pressure they where put under by the French RU, the W/c began with 4 teams , France, England, Aus and NZ.

The majority of the England players opted out, quoting that they where spent after only getting home from the tour, which meant that they went into the competition with a scratch team.

England went on to win the competition and what made it unusual was the Captain was a Scotsman, Dave Valantine,
this makes me wonder why the name for the team was changed to England instead of GB which it had always been.

I hope some historian of the game can help on this.

Both.

Both for me. I have a bet that will buy a new motorcycle !!!!

Sigh.

Couldn't agree more, plus I assume you would feel the same if Saints replaced Wigan in the question

My response to the same question on the saints board before we were knocked out of the playoffs :

I think people are missing the point.

It's not about media exposure, although that would be nice and a positive by-product. It's about restoring integrity to the international game. We have been whipping boys for a generation, and international RL in England now has a horribly low profile, even amongst RL fans.

It would restore credibility to SL and pride to English fans. We would harp on less about the substandard fare served up in SL and see it as a top level competition that has bred a World Cup winning team. It would help oil the wheels of Ashes tours, a proper world club championship competition. We would start to have more of a seat at the table in international discussions. It would increase our value to Sky as a demonstrably top line competition with international results to prove it. The international game would be more marketable to TV, bringing more of a buzz to that scene, more revenue and boosting international crowds (which should be the sport's number 1 money maker).

We trail behind union due to the international game. Building the international game is central to the sport's survival and future prospects. A world cup win would move us along the road to recovery a lot quicker IMO.

By comparison, Saints winning the GF would probably reduce our club's annual loss be a couple of hundred grand.

I may ruffle a few feathers but imo true RL fans would choose country over club every time.