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The NRL is an absolute disgrace, they are dictating what can happen on an international level.
Someone in Australia, who has the welfare of the game as a whole, needs to step in and change things.
Whatever we do will have no bearing on their decision.
Push the start of the NRL season back to allow the World Cup to go ahead, for the good of the sport.

Becaus they think they’re a superior competition & are so bloody arrogant with it!

RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

RLWC2021 has been informed at very short notice that Australia and New Zealand will not be participating in the Rugby League World Cup this year.

We understand this will impact our fans so please bear with us while we continue discussions with all stakeholders to agree on the best way forward.

A further statement will be made in due course and we will communicate this with you via email as soon as a possible.

Thanks for your continued support,
RLWC2021

This was an email I’ve received.

Cant see it happening now. If you watch some of the news coming out of Oz not surprising.

And yet they send their olympians and RU side abroad no problem.

We should enter a Aussie and NZ select side on their behalves and eject the two governing bodies from the international game.

josie andrews wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:30 am

RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

RLWC2021 has been informed at very short notice that Australia and New Zealand will not be participating in the Rugby League World Cup this year.

We understand this will impact our fans so please bear with us while we continue discussions with all stakeholders to agree on the best way forward.

A further statement will be made in due course and we will communicate this with you via email as soon as a possible.

Thanks for your continued support,
RLWC2021

This was an email I’ve received.

Just got the email myself while I don’t think the way it’s been handled is right or proper it’s clear that COVID is again rising in OZ and is still very much a problem here,it should sadly have been called off last month at the latest as it became clear they didn’t want to come,ŵe may not like it but they’re needed here for the comp to have any legitimate standing.

Mike wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:54 am All the southern hemisphere teams rely on NRL players too, so they will be massively depleted.

If it were not for this I'd say go ahead without them. I think there would be a great deal of support for the competition not only despite of the Oz/NZ withdrawal but because of it.

If you read the news articles on this it's clear NRL club concerns are at the forefront of the decision anyway. Players retuning would have to isolate for two weeks and due to NRL rules will also be entitled to holidays before they have to return to training before the next season. The clubs don't like that and that's the main issue in my opinion, not that the WC organizers can't ensure player safety re covid.

This is what is wrong with the decision. At a time the sport needs all the help it can get they have pulled the plug for selfish reasons. Parochial is the right word to describe their actions.

That said the fact cases are going through the roof here has given the Aussie's and NZ'ers the perfect excuse they need to keep their clubs happy.

josie andrews wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 10:18 am I think it’s disgraceful!

The whole of the NRL teams have encamped in the northern part of the country because the bottom half, New South Wales etc, is rife with Covid & is on lockdown!

My friend who lives in Melbourne told me about their lockdown weeks ago!

Yeh, thought it odd that Sydney Roosters played their home game v Melbourne in Newcastle on the 1st of July.
Just catching up on the NRL games on Sky - but Parra are playing Canberra on the Gold Coast today.

DaveO wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:37 am

Mike wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:54 am All the southern hemisphere teams rely on NRL players too, so they will be massively depleted.

If it were not for this I'd say go ahead without them. I think there would be a great deal of support for the competition not only despite of the Oz/NZ withdrawal but because of it.

If you read the news articles on this it's clear NRL club concerns are at the forefront of the decision anyway. Players retuning would have to isolate for two weeks and due to NRL rules will also be entitled to holidays before they have to return to training before the next season. The clubs don't like that and that's the main issue in my opinion, not that the WC organizers can't ensure player safety re covid.

This is what is wrong with the decision. At a time the sport needs all the help it can get they have pulled the plug for selfish reasons. Parochial is the right word to describe their actions.

That said the fact cases are going through the roof here has given the Aussie's and NZ'ers the perfect excuse they need to keep their clubs happy.

Support from who because of the withdrawal?

If I lived and worked in NZ or Aus I wouldn't think of going to the UK for anything!
Aus have had 915 people die of Covid, NZ have had 26. The UK deaths from Covid is over 153,700.
The whole world knows what's happened here. The worst death rate in Europe and one of the worst in the world per capita. "Plague Island" is how the NY Times described the UK.

They must watch in astonishment when our PM announces "Freedom Day", his title, then on July 19th we all see he's locked away together with his Chancellor. When our PM and his Govt are so staggeringly incompetent is it any wonder the RL Governing bodies down under don't want to risk their players and staff.

There's a book out called "Failures of State" by two Sunday Times journos Calvert & Arbuthnot about Johnson and his Gov't handling of Covid since the Chinese first warned them end of 2019. A very good read.