Bring the Rugby League World Cup back!

We the fans of the greatest game, Rugby League want a World Cup of our own. Rugby League World Cup history stretches back as far as 1954 when Great Britain came from behind to beat France 16-12, even Union's World Cup only came into existance in 1987. Sure the 2000 World Cup was clouded with poor decisions and planning and sadly it is remembered for the all wrong reasons by most people but cast your minds back to the fantastic Centenary World Cup of 1995 even though it was played during the Super League war it was a great success. Who knows how much attention it would have drawn if the Australian media wasn't clouded by the Super League drama. Who knows how successful the 2000 World Cup may have been if the Super League war never happened.

It helped kick start developement in countries all over the world. Today Rugby League is growing all over the world, sadly it does this relatively on it's own with little help from the big league nations of Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand. It grows on the back of the determination of Rugby League supporters and the sheer brilliance of the game we have. With backing from the big three growth in countries such as Lebannon, Russia, France, USA and Morocco would quantum leap. We need to let them know they aren't alone, we need to give these smaller nations something to aim for or they may be taken away from us by Union and it's "World Cup". Whether it's the World Cup or a competition run in tandem called Emerging Nations World Cup, we need to give these smaller countries inspiration. A profitable World Cup could see funds go into their local competitions, a small amount of money goes a long way in those nations, it's not a multi million dollar enterprise like the Super Rugby League or National Rugby League. Many many people would like to see a world cup co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia. There are 100s of 1000s of diehard league fans in Australia that will back the World Cup passionately. Just look at the success of the World Sevens, over 50,000 people to the tournament over 2 days with minimal promotion, we are trying to send a message.

We need to inspire and help the growth nations and we need to celebrate Rugby League, that is what a World Cup is all about. We want a tri-series between AUS, GB and NZ, but certainly at the expense of the World Cup! Wayne Bennett came up with the concept of a tri-series to encourage growth in the international arena not rationalise it. The selfishness in Rugby League must end, enough with the focus on club competitions and competition between only the big 3 nations, we need to show our great game on the world stage, if we want to have any hope of future growth and sponsorship. The Australian Kangaroos also have to play more games in Australia to combat the popularity of Union's Wallabies. The Kangaroos are the greatest "rugby" team in the world, we need to show them off. We have the greatest game in the world, it's time to nurture and celebrate it and there is no better way then having a World Cup! Bring our World Cup back to us!

Please pass this on to all your rugby league loving friends and get them to sign it. It's time to send a message to the people that govern rugby league!