The shocking news emerged yesterday that France will no longer host the 2025 Rugby League World Cup, plunging the sport into disarray.
The international calendar is sparse most of the time but without the major tournament to crown the world’s best at the end of each four-year cycle it looked to be very bleak.
Yesterday’s announcement was even more devastating given the success of the most recent World Cup, hosted here in England.
The 2021 World Cup, hosted a year late due to the pandemic, was a roaring success and a true celebration of rugby league.
Therefore the potential inability to build on that great tournament would be a disaster given host nation France’s withdrawal from hosting 2025.
A change in French government meant that the new government don’t see the event as being potentially profitable, and the “risk” associated was too large.
Questions immediately arose regarding where and what next for the tournament and one nation have now formally stepped forward to try answer that.
New Zealand Rugby League have tweeted a statement from their CEO Greg Peters declaring an interest in hosting the tournament, something that would be huge for the sport and could see the Kiwis acting as the sport’s international saviour.
The statement was announced via Twitter.
“We are exploring the possibility of a Southern Hemisphere RLWC as an alternative to France 2025.
“We’re keen to work with the ARLC to host the tournament in NZ and Australia and have started the conversations.
“Bringing the international tournament down under is an exciting proposition, not only for the fans but our Indigenous and Pasifika communities.”
New Zealand haven’t hosted a World Cup final since 1988, and any tournaments held there since have been shared and seen the final held in Australia instead.
