Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'Selfish, parochial and cowardly' - Rugby League World Cup implodes

Sam Burgess (R) of England pushes Billy Slater (L) of Australia during the rugby league World Cup men's final match between Australia and England in Brisbane on December 2, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Patrick HAMILTON

Rugby Football League chairman Simon Johnson has savaged Australia and New Zealand as “selfish, parochial and cowardly” over their decision to pull out of the World Cup.

ADVERTISEMENT

Organisers are frantically trying to work out their next step after being caught on the hop by the joint decision of the holders and New Zealand, which came just seven days after it was announced the tournament would go ahead as planned.

It provoked an angry response from the RFL, the governing body for professional rugby league in England.

Video Spacer

A video that will completely change the way you see rugby star Jason Robinson | RugbyPass

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
      Video Spacer

      A video that will completely change the way you see rugby star Jason Robinson | RugbyPass

      “The World Cup organisers have bent over backwards and turned double somersaults to meet every single requirement that was asked of them, by the Australians particularly,” Johnson said.

      “To have those assurances completely dismissed, I am angry about this.

      “This is a selfish, parochial and cowardly decision which has been taken by the Australian and New Zealand leadership.”

      The decision comes a week after the NRL relocated its competition to Queensland following fresh COVID outbreaks in NSW and Victoria but Johnson says the rugby league authorities in Australia are bucking the trend as the world emerges from lockdown.

      “I would have some sympathy for them were I not aware that right now Australian athletes are in Tokyo for the Olympics, that New Zealand men’s cricketers have played in England this summer and that the rugby union team from Australia will be coming for a series of internationals in October,” he said.

      ADVERTISEMENT

      “So, if their sports’ governing bodies are comfortable with the arrangements that are made, why are the rugby league authorities not satisfied with that?

      “I think the impact, particularly for women’s rugby league and wheelchair rugby league will be particularly devastating.

      “And I cannot escape the irony of a country which only yesterday was awarded the Olympic Games for 2032 and which promotes itself as the home of sport, has taken a decision that might well cause a fatal blow to the development of women’s rugby league and wheelchair rugby league.”

      ADVERTISEMENT

      HSBC SVNS Singapore 2025 | Day Two Men's Highlights

      HSBC SVNS Singapore 2025 | Day Two Women's Highlights

      Jet Lag: The biggest challenge facing international sports? | The Report

      Boks Office | Episode 39 | The Investec Champions Cup is back

      Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry? | New Zealand & Australia | Sevens Wonders | Episode 5

      Kobelco Kobe Steelers vs Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo | Japan Rugby League One 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

      The Rise of Kenya | The Report

      The Fixture: How This Rugby Rivalry Has Lasted 59 Years

      Trending on RugbyPass

      Comments

      0 Comments
      Be the first to comment...

      Join free and tell us what you really think!

      Sign up for free
      ADVERTISEMENT

      Latest Features

      Comments on RugbyPass

      T
      Timothy Hoffman 1 hour ago
      ‘We don’t fear them’: Blitzboks ready for must-win clash with SVNS leaders

       I started getting into Bitcoin in late 2020 when the price was nearly at 30,000 USD, back at the time I was just following the footsteps of my friend, she saw it as a good long-term plan and I was on board with it so we started buying bit by bit at the end of every Month. Now fast forward to January 2023 when she came up with the great idea to go into crypto trading, this was supposed to be our game changer, we already accumulated a nice amount of Bitcoin since we started holding so once we invested with that we would make more than enough profits to last us and we won’t have to work anymore, amazing plan until it all went wrong, we invested with the wrong broker company that made away with all of our investments.. the agent blocked us Instagram and disappeared leaving us in the dark but all thanks to Infinite Digital Recovery, getting in contact with Infinite Digital Recovery made it possible that we recovered back our money today, it took him less than 48hours to trace the transactions and accessed the company website database to recover our already hanging funds in our account, it was then we found out they continued trading with our Money and kept generating more profits, very fraudulent act and we made sure to take every penny of ours thanks to Infinite Digital Recovery, You can also reach out to Infinite Digital Recovery for help for anyone in a similar situation, the contact details are below :

      W\APP : +19085848908

      EMAIL  : infinitedigitalrecovery@proton.me

      Website :https://infinitedigital.online

      0 Go to comments
      T
      Timothy Hoffman 1 hour ago
      ‘We don’t fear them’: Blitzboks ready for must-win clash with SVNS leaders

       I started getting into Bitcoin in late 2020 when the price was nearly at 30,000 USD, back at the time I was just following the footsteps of my friend, she saw it as a good long-term plan and I was on board with it so we started buying bit by bit at the end of every Month. Now fast forward to January 2023 when she came up with the great idea to go into crypto trading, this was supposed to be our game changer, we already accumulated a nice amount of Bitcoin since we started holding so once we invested with that we would make more than enough profits to last us and we won’t have to work anymore, amazing plan until it all went wrong, we invested with the wrong broker company that made away with all of our investments.. the agent blocked us Instagram and disappeared leaving us in the dark but all thanks to Infinite Digital Recovery, getting in contact with Infinite Digital Recovery made it possible that we recovered back our money today, it took him less than 48hours to trace the transactions and accessed the company website database to recover our already hanging funds in our account, it was then we found out they continued trading with our Money and kept generating more profits, very fraudulent act and we made sure to take every penny of ours thanks to Infinite Digital Recovery, You can also reach out to Infinite Digital Recovery for help for anyone in a similar situation, the contact details are below :

      W\APP : +19085848908

      EMAIL  : infinitedigitalrecovery@proton.me

      Website :https://infinitedigital.online

      0 Go to comments
      TRENDING
      TRENDING Leinster lose James Ryan but another Ireland star back in mix Leinster lose James Ryan but another Ireland star returns
      Search