By STEVE MASCORD
THE World Cup is still a year away but England have already suffered a defeat, their opening match to be played in sweltering Townsville despite official protests.
Rugby League International Federation officials announced after the Challenge Cup final that England’s campaign would start on October 25 against Papua New Guinea at Dairy Farmers Stadium.
“The England team is really looking forward to the World Cup and we =an’t wait for our first fixture in Townsville,” England coach Tony Smith was quoted as saying in the media release.
But World Cup sources have told Rugby League World the English camp made it clear to organisers they did not want to start their campaign in tropical heat straight out of a northern hemisphere autumn and the possibility of changing the draw so they played Australia in Melbourne first-up was explored.
The stand-off, which lasted for at least two weeks, came after negotiations for the England-PNG game to be held in Perth broke down. The West Australian government baulked at the RLIF’s asking price.
“The fact is that the match would not have brought enough to our economy to justify the cost,” a WA Tourism source told us.
PNG Rugby League chief Bob Sinclair also said he had been told Port Moresby was a chance of holding a match – even though this was never a real possibility as terrestrial broadcasters Channel Nine Australia refused to even consider sending equipment there.
England must now face a new hurdle – temperatures around 30 degrees celsius – to get their campaign off to a winning start.
Rugby League World can also reveal that the RLIF executive had been scheduled to meet in London before the Cup final and stage an extensive launch at Wembley Stadium in the days before the decider – but this was mysteriously aborted.
RLIF chairman and World Cup tournament director Colin Love told fellow officials the organisation was “not ready” for the issues to be finalised. Whether this has anything to do with controversy over his tournament director’s salary is not known.
At the time of writing, there had been no announcement as to whether Love had actually signed his contract, which reportedly involves a payment of around £130,000 for two years’ work.
There is now no hope of any matches being played in New Zealand, with the logo on the letterhead announcing the England-PNG game including the words “Rugby League World Cup, Australia 2008”.
Injured Australia captain Darren Lockyer was dispatched to Britain last month to promote the tournament – but without any information on many aspects of the draw which are yet to be announced.
It is understood a draw launch is pencilled in for Sydney before the Australian team leaves for Wellington to take on New Zealand in a one-off Test on October 14.
This story appeared in the October, 2007 edition of Rugby League World magazine.
