Discord 2010: Edition Nine

Wednesday 24th February 2010

Most of you will be happy with the news that the World Cup is to be expanded to 14 teams in 2013 - and so am I.

Certainly, the tournament deserved to benefit from the profit made in 2008 and success of teams like Fiji, Ireland and even winless PNG
Discord's understanding is that the Rugby Football League wanted 16 teams while the Australians favoured something like 12 - it's a fair compromise politically too.
And 14 teams allows for games to be played almost every day, keeping the tournament in the public eye.

But what disappoints me enormously is how the qualifying tournament - surely a big success before the last World Cup - has been completely decimated.
Instead of five places being decided through qualifiers, only two countries will have to navigate this route. Put another way, we must assume that every side which played in the last tournament will be admitted automatically next time - PLUS TWO MORE!
Were the qualifiers such a disaster in 2006-07? Clearly not. I attended plenty of them, from Campbelltown to Glasgow, and they were great vehicles to promote our game with meaningful matches which were competitive.
Certainly, the European and Pacific Cups of 2012 - if they are held at all - will now be wholely meaningless.
No, the goalposts have been shifted here for the same sort of ... er ... cunning reasons that we had three teams from the same pool qualifying for the semis of RLWC08. Here's a couple of Discord's early theories:

1. To protect the positions of Scotland and Ireland AND admit Wales. These are likely to be host countries and there is money at stake;
2. A massive leg up for France. They finished last in 2008 and SHOULD have to qualify. Instead, they get a rails run.
I'm sure there's sneakiness there as well.
I'm tipping the 10 teams from 2008 plus Wales and Cook Islands to be given the nod. The next two teams will be the best-performed European team from the previous year, plus the winner of an pool comprising the United States, the West Indies and Japan.
US involvement in our World Cup will be good for our sport - particularly if their new domestic league is up and running by then.
PS: Rah-rah types would have been sniggering at the RLIF media release the other day. Chairman Colin Love was quoted as referring to the "Rugby World Cup".
In my experience that is something typed by a weary media man - and a good indication that a rival code has done a very good job of brand awareness.
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TO those of us involved in rugby league for work, the game is professional, everyone looks after themselves and that's about it.
But to most fans, Benji Marshall's decision to stay with Wests Tigers for six years is an affirmation. It shows that loyalty lives, clubs can still be family and there are players and teams you can follow for your whole life.
The contrast with the position of Daniel Mortimer - who wants to sign a two-year deal so he is off-contract when the next TV deal is signed - could not be greater.
It's not every day that David Gallop congratulates a player on signing a new contact. Let me join him. Well done, Benji.
And thankyou.
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SUNDAY's crowd at The Stoop for Quins-Melbourne was respectable at just under 4000.
But three stands and plenty of food outlets were closed, suggesting low expectations, and Harlequins coach Brian McDermott hardly seemed thrilled afterwards about the prospect of playing the Aussie champions again next year.
The gist of what he had to say was they didn't necessarily want to call off the final match of the three-year deal.
Discord believes the game should be shared around expansion franchises like Catalans, Celtic and Harlequins in future seasons - beginning in 2012.