RWC 2015 Stadium Longlist - No Welford Rd

First topic message reminder :

http://www.therugbyblog.co.uk/rugby-world-cup-2015-longlist-of-venues

Can't believe some of the omissions. No Welford Rd but Leicester City Stadium gets the nod? Kingsholm, the only club rugby stadium to make it and who knows if that will even be included on the shortlist?

Terrible, terrible list, devoid of soul, support for the Club game, stadia that rugby fans will want to go to and so obviously picked for petty political reasons I'm left once again amused and amazed that the RFU is allowed to exist as an entity

HERSH wrote:Thanks bluestone thats given me a nice warm feeling inside.

No worries buddy. Any time. I've got your back

ChequeredJersey wrote:Terrible, terrible list, devoid of soul, support for the Club game, stadia that rugby fans will want to go to and so obviously picked for petty political reasons I'm left once again amused and amazed that the RFU is allowed to exist as an entity

CJ,

I agree with all you said about the grounds chosen, I live (for me) on the wrong side of the bridge but over the years have been to most of the big club grounds in England and loved it.

Come the WC despite Wales games (wrongly IMO) being played in the MS I will go to watch the other games and would enjoy the whole thing more if they were in proper rugby grounds.

One thing though, how much is this the RFU fault or is the decision the WC organising committees?

They are preferring the Leicester football ground a mile away. So whilst they want to capitalise on the general strength of rugby support in Leicester they want to go for a ground where they can fit 60,000 punters in. And sod the Tigers

It's not even that, the KP can only hold 32k which is 8k more than WR but the same as the projected capacity of a redeveloped WR.

Looks like the absurd sense of entitlement is not limited to the Tigers

chairman

Yes, definitely arrogant to think the RFU would put some of the smaller pool games in at the biggest club rugby ground in England in front of the biggest crowd in the AP from the team that provides a good proportion of the players England select.

offload wrote:This isn't just about capacity, although there are massive financial targets to hit that can only be reached in certain stadiums. ER 2015 has said that there just isn't room at Welford Road, the pitch is 9m too short for starters!

Leicester's chairman has had a good old rant about the clubs contribution to the game (true) but what has that got to do with staging international rugby? Nothing. Get over yourself.

Are you serious? you can't make the connection of hosting matches at one of the most famous club grounds in the NH?

Or did you just see this as an poor attempt to WUM?

How would anything but capacity regarding stadia affect financial targets?

And how can a rugby pitch, all built to the correct specifications, and one that has staged international matches, be too short by anything other than self-defeating internal decisions? I'm not a Tigers fan but this stinks of politics and defeats one of the purposes of the World Cup- to properly promote rugby as a sport in its own right rather than a baby of football. Awful decision

nathan wrote:

offload wrote:This isn't just about capacity, although there are massive financial targets to hit that can only be reached in certain stadiums. ER 2015 has said that there just isn't room at Welford Road, the pitch is 9m too short for starters!

Leicester's chairman has had a good old rant about the clubs contribution to the game (true) but what has that got to do with staging international rugby? Nothing. Get over yourself.

Are you serious? you can't make the connection of hosting matches at one of the most famous club grounds in the NH?

Or did you just see this as an poor attempt to WUM?

Just because I have a different opinion doesn't mean it has to be a WUM?
Frankly I don't care where the matches are played. The WC is not an opportunity for International teams to tour some of our most famous grounds. The criteria for deciding where to host the games should not include 'being famous' or how much a club has contributed to rugby. Why don't you find out why Welford Road was excluded and present a counter argument? So far I've seen no argument challenging the criteria.

I was also surprised that WR was not on the list but I didn't immediately jump to a conspiracy theory. Leicester have no right to host a game just because they are Leicester, which is unfortunately exactly how the Chairman has come across. I'll make my point again just in case you've still not understood it. Challenge the criteria used to make the decision - don't base the argument an a misplaced sense of entitlement. That's just silly.

Offload:

Why was Welford Road left off the list?

(its a genuine question)..

Auckland, I don't know and as you can tell it surprised a lot of people. I have not seen a list of selection criteria and the only thing I've seen in print is ER 2015 saying that the pitch is too small? If its not used then that's a shame - I've only been there a couple of times but its a great place to watch rugby.

If the pitch is too small then no way should it be a venue for a World cup fixture, being a great place to watch a game should not form part of the criteria.

The Rec is a also a great place to watch rugby but you wouldn't really want it to host an international match and before I get accused of being an ABL I used to live in Leicester and loved going to Welford Road.

However for better or worse they will (and should) chose capacity and facilities over tradition every time for an event like this - and it keeps coming back to the corporate pound and "executive boxes", which are universally bigger and better at football grounds in England.

These two links give a bit more insight behind the decision.

http://www.espnscrum.com/2015-rugby-world-cup/rugby/story/170873.html#

http://www.nowrugby.com/long-list-of-potential-venues-named-for-rugby-world-cup-2015/7599.htm

Irish Londoner wrote: it keeps coming back to the corporate pound and "executive boxes", which are universally bigger and better at football grounds in England.

and there we have it!

Nail on the head, Executive Boxes for Corporate Guests.

and it keeps coming back to the corporate pound and "executive boxes", which are universally bigger and better at football grounds in England.

Having viewed both whilst planning a wedding (we ended up using neither) the facilities at Tigers are far nicer than the KP. The KP is basically a multi-storey car park with seats, a pitch andfast food kiosks. I'm saying that as a Leicester City fan as well. The place has none of the soul of Filbert St.

It boils down to capacity and capacity alone. They'll never sell all the seats and so it will be a waste. The beauty of Welford Rd is that they could have put a tiny game on (if they are clever a PI team with a Tigers player vs a minnow) and be guarenteed a sell out with a big atmosphere. If you think I'm being one eyed then Martyn Thomas the former RFU Chairman has said exactly the same thing.