baggy… Of course it is about more than the stadia I was simply trying to start a debate and sometimes one has to use a spark. In fairness I think the use of football grounds has worked in this case bringing the game to areas not usually associated with the game. My original post referenced that maybe there would be a need to extend into other Home Nations and yes like you there is no better ground than that situated in Cardiff.BaggyTrousers wrote:Cockatrice wrote:Baggy… The RWC in France had average attendances of 47,000 and up to now the record. New Zealand past seen a drop and now this RWC looks set to break records for attendance. I have a feeling that Japan will surprise a few people and then what a choice between the USA and Ireland.
We ain't big enough and without billions of investment in stadia upgrades we are likely to have Australia v England at Kingspan with an 18,500 sell out. We may want to see that but I suspect that TV, Sponsors and the IRB might like something bigger.
FFS Cockers are you on the halfwit pills this last few days? I expect better of you than this ould hand. Yes of course France can stage a RWC, they have the population the facilities rugby & otherwise BUT if you read what I wrote I specifically mentioned their national TV coverage was sparse to non-existent for non-French games.
I have no doubt Ireland could stage a wonderful world cup, as a spectacle, but as Kofi says, like Royal Portrush and the Open, it's not simply about the stadia, it's all the other stuff that is required logistically and it simply doesn't appear to be there in sufficient quantities.
I would be happy with a smaller version - we simply can't compete with England on the grounds of scale - but will World Rugby see it that way? I would be just as happy for the old way of having the tournament based all around the British Isles using the best rugby stadia - I'm not fond of games being played on tiny wee football pitches, nor in all honesty on massive GAA pitches. Think back to the Croker days and barring one or two massive occasions it was like having a knees up in a morgue.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but only slightly, I also feel that every major rugby occasion in these isles should culminate with a Cardiff final, it is by a very large distance the finest rugby ground in the NH, everyone on top of the playing surface, slap bang in the city centre, none of the Twickenham nonsense of being at least half a pitch length from the playing surface - oh how I loathe Twickenham - not to mention it being full of ugly drunken fat English ganches who resent the mere presence of "other races".
If both governments decide to bankroll it then so be it but for now we can't bankroll the Health Service or little else. The most likely to benefit will be the GAA with several newly build stadia up and down the length of the country with capacity they may use once in god knows when. As for Casement purely personal but as with Culchie never will I set foot on its footprint again and if that is my loss I couldn't give a flying feck...
