The RWC 2015 Thread

[ColinM]

Have to say I agree with Martyn Thomas, a big chunk of the money coming into English Rugby will be going to the wendyball clubs. Welford Road being left off is causing a bit of a stir

Organisers of the 2015 Rugby World Cup had a "moral obligation" to use more rugby stadiums as venues, says ex-Rugby Football Union chairman Martyn Thomas.

Only three rugby grounds - Kingsholm, the Millennium Stadium and Twickenham - have been included on the long list of venues for the tournament.

"It's a great shame, I'm very disappointed," said Thomas, chairman when the RFU won the hosting rights.

"There was a moral obligation to use more rugby stadiums."

There was particular controversy over the omission of Leicester's Welford Road, with tournament organisers deciding that Leicester City Football Club's King Power Stadium is a more appropriate venue.

RWC 2015 long list of venues
Old Trafford (Manchester)
St James' Park (Newcastle)
Stadium of Light (Sunderland)
Villa Park (Birmingham)
St Mary's (Southampton)
Amex Stadium (Brighton)
Ashton Gate (Bristol)
Pride Park (Derby)
Ricoh Arena (Coventry)
Elland Road (Leeds)
Stadium MK (Milton Keynes)
Wembley (London)
King Power Stadium (Leicester)
Olympic Stadium (London)
Twickenham (London)
Millennium Stadium (Cardiff)
Kingsholm (Gloucester)


Thomas, who stepped down as RFU chairman last November, led England's winning bid for the competition and became chairman of England Rugby 2015, the body set up to plan and deliver the tournament. He relinquished his duties with the latter when he vacated his role at the RFU.

Welford Road was included as a venue in the RFU's bid tender and Thomas believes it was wrong for it to be omitted.

"Welford Road is a great venue and I think we've lost the chance to develop rugby clubs," he added.

"We wanted rugby stadiums. The great thing about Welford Road is that the Leicester faithful would have turned out even to watch a game between minnows.

"For a game such as Japan against Fiji for example, there's not a lot of point putting it in a stadium with a capacity over 20,000."

The list of 10 to 12 venues will be finalised early in 2013, after the tournament match schedule has been formulated. The stadiums that are selected to host games will be able to levy a "hire charge".

Tournament organisers England Rugby 2015 must sell 2.9m tickets to cover the £80m guarantee owed to the International Rugby Board.

Andy Cosslett, ER2015 chairman, said: "We are confident that, with the venues selected, we will be able to reach our target of having up to 2.9m tickets available - opening up the tournament to more people than ever before and in turn delivering the biggest and best Rugby World Cup there has ever been."

RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie said Welford Road had not met the necessary criteria to stage matches.

"They do a great job, they are a fantastic club," he said. "I can understand their disappointment but I think you've got to look at what were the facts of the review and the audit that went on."

[Rovi Snave]

Just wait until we get to the ticket application process and pricing - that's when the fun will really start.

[ColinM]

Ah there'll be plenty of tickets. Sure how many people up in Geordieland are interested in one of the less glamorous fixtures? Between the Stadium of Light and St James's Park theres well over 100,000 seats to fill.

What match in London will be big enough for Wembley, that isnt already being held in Twickers.

Will the fans in Leicester actually turn up at the King Power dome or will they all still be ragin that its not in Welford Road?

[Jackie Brown]

Teehee, the irony of the PRC getting left out due to money is delicious.

They'll be out of Europe and lose out on RWC ticket money. The death kneel of the private, commercial rugby clubs in England has been sounded.

[mikerob]

From what I remember, do the tickets go on sale about 14 or 15 months or so before the RWC?

The list of venues is the long list - they'll be cutting it down. I can't see them having two venues in the north east so I'd say they will see who they can get the best deal from and pick one. The NE would be the obvious place to have Scotland's bigger games.

I think they'll want to use Wembley for Ireland and/or Wales games as they should be able to sell them out. They won't be able to play all the big games at Twickers as there will be clashes with England games. Games at Twickers cause a lot of disruption in the local area so I think there would be major objections to games on Saturdays and Sundays over 4 or 5 consecutive weekends.

They have the Millenium Stadium on the list, but I can see them using this for a game between Wales and a minnow country only.

I'm not convinced about the Olympics stadium as a venue for rugby unless they reconfigure the seating in some way. I was there for the Olympics and you really are quite a long way back from where a pitch would be.

[The FRU]

Those are big figures the RFU have committed to 2.9 million tickets over 48 matches is just under 60,000 per match and they would have to be charging an average of £28 per ticket if they are to raise the £80 million from ticket sales. I think the IRB own the advertising/sponsorship revenue for the WC's so I wonder what other revenue streams the RFU have.

[Wee Woman]

They have the Millenium Stadium on the list, but I can see them using this for a game between Wales and a minnow country only.

Potentially handing 'home' advantage to Wales seems a bit odd to me - why should they get to play their games there? Wales is not the host country and they are a rival to England in this competition.

Or is this England keeping to their side of the bargain .

[Rooster]

Sounds about right FRU as the good tickets will all be in the IRFU scale of pricing or higher, thing is how much can they charge and how many can they sell for the crap matches with little interest ? Froggies practically gave them away and in some case actually gave them away to fill the stadiums.
You could almost double your £28 though to cover stadium hire ?

[ColinM]

They have the Millenium Stadium on the list, but I can see them using this for a game between Wales and a minnow country only.

Potentially handing 'home' advantage to Wales seems a bit odd to me - why should they get to play their games there? Wales is not the host country and they are a rival to England in this competition.

Or is this England keeping to their side of the bargain .

Well if Wales are playing Japan in Cardiff or Bristol it makes little odds, except there'd be an extra 50,000 seats in Cardiff

[mikerob]

The initial ticket sales for RWC07 were city packs where you could stay in a particular location and see all the games there, or country packs where you got tickets for all the games of a particular country. I think the country packs also gave an option for QF and SF tickets if your team made the knock-outs.

I think they only sold individual tickets nearer the time.

[Rooster]

The initial ticket sales for RWC07 were city packs where you could stay in a particular location and see all the games there, or country packs where you got tickets for all the games of a particular country. I think the country packs also gave an option for QF and SF tickets if your team made the knock-outs.

I think they only sold individual tickets nearer the time.

I bought 10 individual tickets for the quarter final in the Millenium stadium the summer before the competition at the time they were selling country packs, the individual pool match tickets were later though.

[damianmcr]

Anyone planning on going? I definitely want to goto the Ireland games but just wondering should I travel over and travel back or just stay over for the duration. Maybe some buses go over for each game if we get a crowd?

[AyeYerMa]

Anyone planning on going? I definitely want to goto the Ireland games but just wondering should I travel over and travel back or just stay over for the duration. Maybe some buses go over for each game if we get a crowd?

The current plan here is to buy a big, silly wagon of some sort and stay in it for the duration.

Will be shopping in earnest for it next summer.

[damianmcr]

I'll hitch a ride!!

That's not a bad idea.