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June 3, 2009 South Africa play 'clean' in RWC race
Posted by Graham Jenkins on 06/03/2009 The IRB Council will announce the hosts of the 2015 and 2019 tournaments on July 28 with England, South Africa, Italy and Japan battling it out to host the first of those tournaments. The countries put their respective cases to the IRB Council last month and the sport's powerbrokers are currently digesting the pros and cons of each nation's bid. A couple of points of note have surfaced since I arrived here in South Africa for the Lions tour, with SA Rugby taking the opportunity to push their cause. In the official tour magazine, produced by SA Rugby, they claim one of the strengths of their bid is that they will be a 'clean' host nation. By this they mean that, "the tournament would dominate the host union's media space without having to compete with soccer's English Premier League or italy's Serie A." I find it amazing that a country's passion for sport, not just rugby, could hamper its chances of hosting the sport's showpiece event. However, such a scenario is obviously a factor otherwise SA Rugby would not give it such emphasis. Surely tournament officials are well aware of the Rugby World Cup's status as the third biggest sporting event on the planet behind the Olympics and the Fifa World Cup and have no real concerns about goign head-to-head with domestic football competitions? Something else many may not be aware of is that the current bid process involves one significant change to previous tournaments. The Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) Board will make a firm recommendation to the IRB Council on their preferred bidders. The Council does not have to accept that recommendation but we can assume that their thoughts carry some weight especially when the same man - Bernard Lapasset - is chairman of both organistions.
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