This is a conceptual rendering of the Western Sydney Stadium, which will serve as the venue for the event.
In October of 2018, the brand new Western Sydney Stadium, which cost $300 million to build, will play host to the first-ever World Cup 9s, which will feature competition from twelve different countries.
Principal ideas:
It is expected that the 9s game will provide a significant boost to the dwindling number of attendees.
Tonga, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea, along with other nations, will compete in the tournament alongside New Zealand and Australia.
The National Rugby League has stated that its players are “desperate” to play for their respective countries.
Although the short-form league game has been played for over 20 years, this tournament will mark the first time that the World Cup will be played every four years.
NRL Chief Executive Todd Greenberg made the following statement today: “Imagine Fiji, PNG, Samoa, and Tonga going up against Australia, New Zealand, and England.”
“There will be preliminary rounds, followed by the semifinals, and then the finals.”
The fast-moving competition lasts for a total of 20 minutes, divided into two halves of nine minutes each and separated by a halftime break of two minutes.
After a double knock-on, only five players from each side are allowed to form a scrum. There are nine players total on each side, with six of those players being interchangeable.
On the world stage, there is a growing interest in rugby league, as evidenced by the fact that a match between Australia and Tonga in Auckland a month ago drew a crowd of 26,000 people, all of whom purchased tickets.
On the other hand, the National Rugby League (NRL) has been having trouble attracting and maintaining its home crowds.
This version is being promoted as a possible improvement to the gameplay of the game.
According to Nigel Wood, the chief executive of the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF), “Nines” is already a very important part of the organization’s overall strategic objective for this year.
“Nines was a game that was played at the Commonwealth championships in Brisbane, and it will also be a game that is played at the Pacific Games next year.”
From the outside looking in at the nearly finished Western Sydney Stadium.
(Compliments of the NRL)
The event, which will take place in 2019, will also feature competition from four women’s teams and is scheduled to take place two weeks after the NRL grand final.
The National Rugby League insisted that it would be able to attract the best players even though there were some who were concerned about player fatigue.
Mr. Greenberg stated that “we have taken the concept through all of our clubs and the players’ association, and we’ve looked at player workload.”
However, introducing nines to the international game will be very successful because the players will be representing their countries rather than their clubs. This is a very different experience.
In 2017, the Auckland Nines tournament was canceled after only four years of existence; however, according to Mr. Greenberg, the NRL is optimistic that holding the tournament at the end of the season will ensure its continued existence in the long run.
“They want to play for their countries more than anything in the world,” he said.
We are looking into the possibility of scheduling international matches at the end of each season, when there is a clear window for international competition.
The NRL boss had a message for both the left and the right sides of politics as the discussion regarding future funding for the stadium upgrades in Sydney continues.
“If you build facilities like [Western Sydney Stadium], the world’s very best events will continue to come,” he said. “Western Sydney Stadium is a great example of this.”
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