Saudi/Qatar et al bidding for RWC

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Like a number of nations SA are being caught out by the need to stump up a lot of money. Though I'm not sure if stating if a corrupt nation doesn't get a World Cup if should go to a corrupt nation is a line of thinking without issue

"Corrupt nation"

That's a nice bubble you live in.

We're certainly far from an ideal, but we don't have corruption on an ANC level, if arguably because we've sorted ours over the longer term via the class system, and we don't have rape as the national sport

[assfly]

We're certainly far from an ideal, but we don't have corruption on an ANC level, if arguably because we've sorted ours over the longer term via the class system, and we don't have rape as the national sport

Like I said, enjoy your bubble.

Your last comment is incredibly crass and seemed unnecessary.

[Uncle fester]

It needs to come to Ireland you bunch of scaldy pricks

[Yeeb]

Like a number of nations SA are being caught out by the need to stump up a lot of money. Though I'm not sure if stating if a corrupt nation doesn't get a World Cup if should go to a corrupt nation is a line of thinking without issue

"Corrupt nation"

That's a nice bubble you live in.

We're certainly far from an ideal, but we don't have corruption on an ANC level, if arguably because we've sorted ours over the longer term via the class system, and we don't have rape as the national sport

Mixed doubles world champs

[Yeeb]

It needs to come to Ireland you bunch of scaldy pricks

Seems about right , you had a few games but that’s it , probably the highest ranked nation that’s not been a host so far ?

You don’t have lots of stadia so would have to have some group games in the uk though

[Rhubarb & Custard]

We're certainly far from an ideal, but we don't have corruption on an ANC level, if arguably because we've sorted ours over the longer term via the class system, and we don't have rape as the national sport

Like I said, enjoy your bubble.

Your last comment is incredibly crass and seemed unnecessary.

sad but true. and actually the sad thing is that's the situation, not people commenting on it.

[assfly]

sad but true. and actually the sad thing is that's the situation, not people commenting on it.

But it's not true, is it?

[Slick]

It needs to come to Ireland you bunch of scaldy pricks

Oh, can we have another vote?

[Paddington Bear]

It needs to come to Ireland you bunch of scaldy pricks

Let the record show that I was the FIRST to support a Saudi Arabian world cup

[Uncle fester]

It needs to come to Ireland you bunch of scaldy pricks

Seems about right , you had a few games but that’s it , probably the highest ranked nation that’s not been a host so far ?

You don’t have lots of stadia so would have to have some group games in the uk though

We've loads of stadia actually, 18 of them over 20k capacity and the third largest stadium in Europe.

[Tichtheid]

The last time the RWC was held in England the only two rugby grounds used were Twickenham and the Millennium Stadium. On that basis Scotland could host it - three large (50k+) stadiums in Glasgow, Murrayfield (67k) plus two more 20k+ in Edinburgh, Aberdeen 20k, Dundee 15k, Kilmarnock, 15k,
We could use The Toon as well 52k.

Not a snowballs chance of it happening.

[Yeeb]

It needs to come to Ireland you bunch of scaldy pricks

Seems about right , you had a few games but that’s it , probably the highest ranked nation that’s not been a host so far ?

You don’t have lots of stadia so would have to have some group games in the uk though

We've loads of stadia actually, 18 of them over 20k capacity and the third largest stadium in Europe.

Mate, that would be fine for Georgia V Canada , but nowhere near enough for any of the top dozen countries in a RWC

Wasn’t it only England that voted for you last time ?
IIRC then fucking lolz right there

[Biffer]

It needs to come to Ireland you bunch of scaldy pricks

Seems about right , you had a few games but that’s it , probably the highest ranked nation that’s not been a host so far ?

You don’t have lots of stadia so would have to have some group games in the uk though

We've loads of stadia actually, 18 of them over 20k capacity and the third largest stadium in Europe.

A lot of them are old shite though. Not up to spec.

[Paddington Bear]

The last time the RWC was held in England the only two rugby grounds used were Twickenham and the Millennium Stadium. On that basis Scotland could host it - three large (50k+) stadiums in Glasgow, Murrayfield (67k) plus two more 20k+ in Edinburgh, Aberdeen 20k, Dundee 15k, Kilmarnock, 15k,
We could use The Toon as well 52k.

Not a snowballs chance of it happening.

Kingsholm and Sandy Park were used as well

[Uncle fester]

Kiwi world cup was significantly lower spec. Enjoy your world cups in shithole countries that don't give a shite about rugby but have nice stadia built with slave labour.

[Guy Smiley]

Mate, that would be fine for Georgia V Canada , but nowhere near enough for any of the top dozen countries in a RWC

https://www.world.rugby/rankings

11. Georgia

[Hugo]

Kiwi world cup was significantly lower spec. Enjoy your world cups in shithole countries that don't give a shite about rugby....

Yeah, honestly the more I think about it the more it pisses me off that the Saudis might end up hosting a RWC before Argentina or Italy and before South Africa gets a second bite of the cherry.

I get the need to maximise revenue on the RWC and to play it in non traditional regions but it's almost forty years old and the powers that be have not been able to manifest an Argentine tournament or Italy or one even in a non rugby playing part of Europe?

I think Germany would be an entirely reasonable option tbh, easily accessible to everyone in Europe, great stadia and it could be used as a platform to try and promote rugby on the continent outside of the usual hotbeds..... Germany or Spain would be great shouts imo.

[boere wors]

Kiwi world cup was significantly lower spec. Enjoy your world cups in shithole countries that don't give a shite about rugby....

Yeah, honestly the more I think about it the more it pisses me off that the Saudis might end up hosting a RWC before Argentina or Italy and before South Africa gets a second bite of the cherry.

I get the need to maximise revenue on the RWC and to play it in non traditional regions but it's almost forty years old and the powers that be have not been able to manifest an Argentine tournament or Italy or one even in a non rugby playing part of Europe?

I think Germany would be an entirely reasonable option tbh, easily accessible to everyone in Europe, great stadia and it could be used as a platform to try and promote rugby on the continent outside of the usual hotbeds..... Germany or Spain would be great shouts imo.

95% of Germans don’t even know that sport. It would be a disaster

[Yeeb]

Mate, that would be fine for Georgia V Canada , but nowhere near enough for any of the top dozen countries in a RWC

https://www.world.rugby/rankings

11. Georgia

Thank you Captain Logic

[Insane_Homer]

Host nation(s) should have to field a team.

[Yeeb]

Host nation(s) should have to field a team.

Doesn’t always guarantee getting out of pool

:(

[Hugo]

Kiwi world cup was significantly lower spec. Enjoy your world cups in shithole countries that don't give a shite about rugby....

Yeah, honestly the more I think about it the more it pisses me off that the Saudis might end up hosting a RWC before Argentina or Italy and before South Africa gets a second bite of the cherry.

I get the need to maximise revenue on the RWC and to play it in non traditional regions but it's almost forty years old and the powers that be have not been able to manifest an Argentine tournament or Italy or one even in a non rugby playing part of Europe?

I think Germany would be an entirely reasonable option tbh, easily accessible to everyone in Europe, great stadia and it could be used as a platform to try and promote rugby on the continent outside of the usual hotbeds..... Germany or Spain would be great shouts imo.

95% of Germans don’t even know that sport. It would be a disaster

It's close enough to Britain & France that fans would travel in droves as they do for 6N & Lions tours.

Sure, the locals may not be rugby fans but a decent chunk of people who attend RWCs are not dyed in the wool rugby fans who go to matches week in, week out. That's the nature of stuff like RWC and Olympics - they are once in a blue moon events that have novelty appeal to non traditional fans. It's what world rugby will be banking on in 2031.

[Sandstorm]

Host nation(s) should have to field a team.

You think Qatar won't buy in a bunch of Fijians/Argies/Saffers to make up a "local" team?

[tabascoboy]

Well Qatar does have a team that competes in the Asia Cup at Division 1 - and in a recent team sheet only two of the names look possibly Qatari, in amongst the Johnston, Phillip, Swart and Bezuidenhout, Rakabu etc - but that's two more actual locals than the UAE team!

[Yeeb]

Yeah, honestly the more I think about it the more it pisses me off that the Saudis might end up hosting a RWC before Argentina or Italy and before South Africa gets a second bite of the cherry.

I get the need to maximise revenue on the RWC and to play it in non traditional regions but it's almost forty years old and the powers that be have not been able to manifest an Argentine tournament or Italy or one even in a non rugby playing part of Europe?

I think Germany would be an entirely reasonable option tbh, easily accessible to everyone in Europe, great stadia and it could be used as a platform to try and promote rugby on the continent outside of the usual hotbeds..... Germany or Spain would be great shouts imo.

95% of Germans don’t even know that sport. It would be a disaster

It's close enough to Britain & France that fans would travel in droves as they do for 6N & Lions tours.

Sure, the locals may not be rugby fans but a decent chunk of people who attend RWCs are not dyed in the wool rugby fans who go to matches week in, week out. That's the nature of stuff like RWC and Olympics - they are once in a blue moon events that have novelty appeal to non traditional fans. It's what world rugby will be banking on in 2031.

Stay off the Heroin Mein herr

[Hugo]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/ ... -world-cup

Spain are serious about their bid for 2035 and are likely to propose a final at the Nou Camp. La Liga have apparently given the tournament their blessing. Italy are supposedly their main competitors for the tournament, either one would be great hosts and be a breath of fresh air.

[Paddington Bear]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/ ... -world-cup

Spain are serious about their bid for 2035 and are likely to propose a final at the Nou Camp. La Liga have apparently given the tournament their blessing. Italy are supposedly their main competitors for the tournament, either one would be great hosts and be a breath of fresh air.

It would be an enormous missed opportunity for the sport not to go for this. Spain getting to where Italy are now is pretty viable, Italy pushing on is a genuine possibility. All in the right part of the world as well

[Hugo]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/ ... -world-cup

Spain are serious about their bid for 2035 and are likely to propose a final at the Nou Camp. La Liga have apparently given the tournament their blessing. Italy are supposedly their main competitors for the tournament, either one would be great hosts and be a breath of fresh air.

It would be an enormous missed opportunity for the sport not to go for this. Spain getting to where Italy are now is pretty viable, Italy pushing on is a genuine possibility. All in the right part of the world as well

Agreed. Even as a standalone tournament (ignoring long term benefits) Spain would be a brilliant RWC but certainly there is every chance it would be a huge boost to the game there.

There's nothing to not like about this and if Italy miss out it would be great if they were given the next European tournament whenever that may be.

[Uncle fester]

Mate, that would be fine for Georgia V Canada , but nowhere near enough for any of the top dozen countries in a RWC

https://www.world.rugby/rankings

11. Georgia

Thank you Captain Logic

Top dozen means top 12 teams so that includes Georgia (and Wales... Just about)

[Slick]

Well Qatar does have a team that competes in the Asia Cup at Division 1 - and in a recent team sheet only two of the names look possibly Qatari, in amongst the Johnston, Phillip, Swart and Bezuidenhout, Rakabu etc - but that's two more actual locals than the UAE team!

My dad was one of the founding members of Dhahran Rugby Club in Saudi and has 14 unofficial caps for Saudi Arabia (they were the only team)

[SaintK]

A much better idea.

The 2035 Rugby World Cup final could be staged at the revamped Camp Nou in Barcelona with the Spanish rugby federation in discussions with La Liga over using celebrated football stadiums as part of its bid to host the tournament.
Delegates from the Spanish federation met World Rugby executives last weekend to demonstrate their intentions to host the tournament in 2035 and discussions are said to have piqued interest.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025 ... rld-cup

[Yeeb]

https://www.world.rugby/rankings

11. Georgia

Thank you Captain Logic

Top dozen means top 12 teams so that includes Georgia (and Wales... Just about)

Should have probably said top dozen countries in terms of fans likely to attend, or just top ten. As usual, this place is a vicious hub of pedants and cunts !

*huff*

[Sandstorm]

A much better idea.

The 2035 Rugby World Cup final could be staged at the revamped Camp Nou in Barcelona with the Spanish rugby federation in discussions with La Liga over using celebrated football stadiums as part of its bid to host the tournament.
Delegates from the Spanish federation met World Rugby executives last weekend to demonstrate their intentions to host the tournament in 2035 and discussions are said to have piqued interest.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025 ... rld-cup

Sweet