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This past week I was able to fulfill a dream I have had since High School – I got to watch an international rugby match in possibly the greatest rugby stadium of them all, the Millennium Stadium. What an experience and what outstanding viewing angles for spectators.
Inside the stadium and around supporters were vocal and beer was cold. The location of the stadium within Cardiff is truly a masterstroke but let’s not kid around the Millennium Stadium is not an English stadium nor is Cardiff an English city.
Why oh why are World Cup matches in Wales every 8 years is anybodies guess. Actually, wait, it is not. It is in fact not exactly a great secret. The stadium has no magical spell cast over World Rugby nor is it necessary for other nations to include with their own to adequately host World Cups. The answer is, rather two factors: politics and hosting shortcomings.
Old Boys Club
France’s opportunity of hosting the World Cup in 2007 ought to have been alone. The proof is in the numbers as 97% of all match tickets for tournament fixtures played in France were sold. Neither Wales nor Scotland achieved such a figure for their home matches.
Edinburgh hosting two pool matches while Cardiff hosted three and also a Quarter Final. The return did not justify the allocation of matches. Wales vs Japan in Cardiff had an attendance of 35,245 while Fiji vs Canada had 21,125. By way of comparison Wales’ matches in Nantes, France had 36,939 vs Canada and 37,080 vs Fiji. The opening weekend of the current World Cup did much better but interest has not been high for other games.
It was no different in Edinburgh as a crowd of 31,222 attended Scotland vs Romania while 34,162 were on hand in St. Etienne, France to see Scotland vs Portugal. The reason for greater interest in France had far less to do with population and the profile of rugby than it did organization. The French felt a part of the World Cup while those in Scotland and Wales more like step children.
Their inclusion in the first instance came down to two deals having been made. The first of which saw the FFR honoring a deal struck with the WRU which would see Wales hosting matches in exchange for France having done so in 1999 when Wales was the official host yet England, France, Ireland and Scotland hosted a pool each and Paris also had two play-off matches.
Added to this was the second factor, that being additional horse trading, but of a different nature. The FFR was bidding against the RFU and in order to gain a greater standing France promised both Scotland and Wales, in addition to Ireland, matches. Ireland ultimately hosted none due to the reconstruction of what is now known as the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
The Old Boys Club thus enabled sub-hosting in both Rugby World Cup 1999 and 2007 but this factor was not what led to Cardiff getting a staggering 8 matches. The total equates to 7 more than Manchester, 6 more than Leeds or Birmingham and more than all venues aside from Twickenham Stadium.
Shortcomings
World Rugby was never interested in Wales hosting matches in the first place. Headed discussions between IRB (now World Rugby) officials and the RFU centered around ensuring all matches would be played in England.
Rugby World Cup 2015 organizers (the RFU) defended the choice of Cardiff on the grounds of it being a convenient location for England’s West Country. The region is home to Aviva Premiership sides Bath, Exeter and Gloucester as well as former top tier side Bristol.
With England failing to secure hosting rights to the 2018 FIFA World Cup construction of Bristol’s proposed new stadium did not go ahead. It is highly ironic then that Japan has been under fire from World Rugby following the government’s decision not to construct the new national stadium.
Indeed the West Country is a hot bed of English rugby and lacks a large stadium to the extent that Exeter and Gloucester are easily the smallest capacity stadiums hosting matches at the World Cup. Both are more than justifiable choices as support stadiums for much larger venues elsewhere in England.
The same cannot be said of the Millennium Stadium which came to host so many matches after the RFU was unable to acquire the use of soccer owned or run stadiums that had been included in England’s official bid. Such instances of venues which missed out can be found in Anfield (Liverpool), Old Trafford (Manchester) and Emirates (London).
Great importance was placed on Old Trafford with an official even telling me that it was to host big pool matches and Quarter Finals. The local soccer club, Manchester United, made a lat decision against allowing Rugby World Cup matches to be played at the stadium. The consequences were extreme . Without the use of Old Trafford England’s plans came crashing down like a ton of bricks and I was at Cardiff last week for this reason.
World Rugby required the RFU to provide compelling reasons for Cardiff’s inclusion. Indeed World Rugby was on record stating that the RFU needed to show that hosting games outside of England was were in the best interests of the game globally.
Hosting matches outside of England is harmful rather than positive to the profile of the World Cup. Ireland is confirmed as bidding to host the event in 2023 and clear doubt exists over the islands ability to host alone. World Rugby desires no more than one stadium per city with there being tolerance for the center-piece city – i.e London in 2015 and Auckland in 2011.
Ireland’s bid will therefore require great scrutiny due to Belfast and Limerick both having been said to be set for two venues each in addition to Dublin’s three. GAA venues in Castlebar, Cork, Galway, Killarney and Tipperary have been put forward as the realistic options to join them. It would therefore not reach World Rugby’s requirement of nine cities. As France 2007 and England 2015 illustrate it should be Ireland alone or not at all. Cardiff must be absolutely out of the question.
Misleading Bidding
Another flaw in England’s bid was that the World Cup would be the most attended of all time. The claim, could, certainly be absolutely correct but this would, nonetheless not have been likely without games being played in Wales.
More importantly is how strongly attended games have been in the cities of Brighton, Birmingham and Leeds. These three have already hosted all their Rugby World Cup games and two of them are larger than Wellington which hosted two Quarter Finals in 2011. England could, thereby, have done without Cardiff and still had sizeable venues. Forget about breaking records and host the event on your own.
