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Armenta at 2008 World Cup Race Walk pausatf.org | Greater Framingham Running Club - 2008 Marathon Cup Challenge Relay gfrcrun.org | Almere, Holland - 31st August 2008... bratclub.co.uk |
The 2008 Rugby League World Cup tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final between Australia and New Zealand on 22 November. It was the 13th staging of the World Cup since the inauguration of the tournament in 1954, but the first since the 2000 event[3]. It was the fourth time that the tournament has been held in Australia, the first being in 1957. The winner was New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34-20 in the final in one of the greatest upsets in the history of the sport. The tournament featured the best ten teams across the globe which were split into three groups. A total of eighteen matches took place in twelve different venues across four Australian states. The tournament ended a year of celebrations commemorating the centenary of the game in the southern hemisphere and is part of the Festival of World Cups. The thirteenth Cup was originally scheduled to be held in Australia in 2004[4], however the lack of international success by Great Britain and New Zealand after the 2000 World Cup, and the rise of the Tri-Nations tournament, meant that it was delayed for a further four years.[5] The Rugby League International Federation officially announced this tournament on 6 May 2006[6], with further details on scheduling and dates following on 19 April 2007[7]. The first match took place in Townsville between England and Papua New Guinea, although the official opening ceremony of the competition occurred before the Australia and New Zealand match the following day in Sydney[8]. The final took place at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. The tournament also proved a commercial success, delivering a profit and re-establishing the credibility of the competition after the loss-making 2000 event in Britain.[9]
[edit] Opening Ceremony.jpg) On Sunday night, October 27, the Sydney Football Stadium hosted the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Rugby League World Cup. It started with Greg Inglis reciting a speech about "Playing Fair". Following Inglis' speech, there was an Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony to welcome all the athletes and participants. This included a rather large sized Rainbow Serpent which represented the Aboriginal Dreamtime. The last part of the ceremony involved a performance of the Rugby League World Cup Anthem "Hero" by Natalie Bassingthwaighte. A curtain raiser to the Australia vs. New Zealand match included a Indigenous Australian squad playing against a New Zealand Māori squad which featured several prominent NRL players and rising stars including Chris Sandow, Wairangi Koopu, Preston Campbell, Sam Thaiday, Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Carl Webb. [edit] TeamsSee also: 2008 Rugby League World Cup squads
[edit] Match Officials
[edit] Pink Charity ShirtsIn support of the Australian National Breast Cancer Foundation referees wore pastel pink shirts while officiating matches to raise awareness. The shirts, which carry the NBCF logo on the collar, were to be signed by the team captains at each World Cup game and later auctioned off with the proceeds going to the NBCF.[12] [edit] Qualification[edit] Automatic EntryThe following teams were given automatic entry into the World Cup: [edit] TournamentsMain article: 2008 Rugby League World Cup qualifying
The five remaining places in the World Cup were determined by qualification rounds. Two European rounds and Pacific, Atlantic and Repechage rounds were scheduled. Tonga and Fiji became the first two nations to qualify after Tonga defeated Samoa 18-10 in Leeds on 22 October. Samoa were forced to enter the repechage. In the European Group Two, Ireland drew 16-16 with Lebanon to ensure qualification, while Lebanon were forced to enter the repechage. The final automatic place went to Scotland, who defeated Wales 37-32 on aggregate after the two legs. Wales then faced Lebanon in the repechage semi-final, where they lost in a surprise 50-26 defeat, to knock them out of World Cup Qualifying. Lebanon then faced Samoa, who beat USA 42-10 in the first semi-final, on November 14, for the final qualifying position. The game was won by Samoa, 38-16, and so they booked the tenth and final place. Many qualification matches were broadcast live by Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, whilst BigPondTV broadcast matches online for other fans around the world[13]. [edit] Format[edit] DrawThe draw, after being confirmed by the RLIF on 19 April 2007, was up of three groups. The first group was made up of four teams, Australia, England, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, whilst the other two groups involved three teams each. The semi finals were made up of the first three teams in the first group and the winner of a playoff between the winners of the second and third groups. However, the draw had been put into doubt after the Papua New Guinea team claimed that the draw was unfair to them, and threatened to boycott the tournament should it not be changed. Marcus Bai, former Papua New Guinean winger and captain said[14]:
Fortunately for the tournament, this separate island competition did not eventuate. Papua New Guinea remained still angry with the draw, but saw it as a huge challenge, but one which would have seem them be rewarded if they had won. The draw was finalised on 4 October 2007[15]. [edit] PointsTeams received 2 points for a win, and 1 point for a draw. This meant that, unlike in the Australasian National Rugby League, there was no "golden point" rule enforced. In group stages, if two teams had the same number of points then positions were determined on points difference, the number of points scored minus the number of points conceded. [edit] Ranking MatchesAfter group matches wre completed, a match featuring the second placed teams in Group B and Group C took place with the winner receiving 7th place. Similarly the third placed teams in Group B and Group C played off for 9th place. It is believed that these results will be taken into account in the 2009 RLIF World Rankings[citation needed]. [edit] Venues
[edit] MatchesMain article: 2008 Rugby League World Cup matches [edit] Pool StageAll teams from group A (shaded in green) with the exception of the bottom qualifying team progressed to the semi-finals, the other two groups the top finisher progressed to a playoff match, in which the winner would qualify to the semi-finals. [edit] Group A
England survived a scare from Papua New Guinea who led at half time to win the first match of the tournament.
After the tournament's opening ceremony, Johnathan Thurston inspired Australia to a comfortable victory over their arch rivals New Zealand despite mourning the death of his uncle the previous day.
New Zealand's thorough ravaging of Papua New Guinea's defence meant the Kumuls had to win against their next opponents Australia in order to stay in the tournament.
Australia's winning margin over England was the largest of the tournament so far and guaranteed the Kangaroos would go on to the finals.
Despite getting out to a 24 - 8 lead early in the match, England's woes continued as they were blitzed in the second half by New Zealand's five unanswered tries.
[edit] Group B
[edit] Group C
[edit] 7th Place Playoff
[edit] 9th Place Playoff
[edit] Knockout Stage
[edit] Semi Final Qualifier
[edit] Semi Finals
[edit] Final
Australia went into the match as favourites, having not only won every game of the tournament so far, but each by margins ranging from 24 to 52 points. The match started after a confrontational haka, Australia marching forward to face the Kiwis rather than watch from the usual distance of several metres away. .jpg) New Zealand almost opened the scoring, Benji Marshall just knocking on in the in goal area. Australia then struck with two quick tries to captain Darren Lockyer and David Williams, a mid-week replacement for the injured Brent Tate. Australia almost scored a third time, however Darren Lockyer knocked on over the goal line in similar circumstances to Benji. At this point Australia looked like they could run away with the match. Jeremy Smith then opened the scoring for the Kiwis by busting over right under the goal posts. Four minutes later New Zealand were in again, via an Anthony Laffranchi strip which led to a Jerome Ropati try. With only five minutes before the break Darren Lockyer scored to put Australia in front 16-12 at half-time. After half time both teams came out fired up however it was the Kiwis who scored first, fullback Lance Hohaia slipped past Lockyer and beat Slater to score. Billy Slater then panicked under pressure in the 65th minute, throwing the ball behind him as he neared the touch line, and gifted Benji Marshall an easy try. The Kangaroos then closed the gap to 22-20 with a Greg Inglis try before a controversial penalty try put New Zealand comfortably clear. A Nathan Fien kick into the in goal was mishandled by Joel Monaghan who then took out Lance Hohaia, denying him a chance to ground the ball. Adam Blair then scored for New Zealand to seal the win, and the World Cup, for New Zealand. It was the Australian team's first loss since Great Britain defeated them in November 2006 and their first loss to New Zealand since November 2005. It was their first loss in a World Cup match since 1995 and in a Final since 1972. Prior to the final New Zealand had only ever beaten Australia once in a World Cup match (7 July 1985). [edit] Criticism/Controversy[edit] Tournament CriticismDue to the generally poor response of the 2000 World Cup, there were several key criticisms of the tournament before any matches had kicked off. The RLIF were forced to defend the credibility of the tournament in October 2007 after New Zealand, one of the favorites for the competition, were heavily beaten in a Test match 58-0 in Wellington against Australia[34]. Another concern was whether there would be enough competitiveness throughout the ten teams, with some fans worried about the possibility of too many one-sided matches[35], which was a common sight in the Group Stages of the 2000 tournament[36]. [edit] Australian Coach's AttacksRicky Stuart, coach of the Australian team, was reported to be so incensed by his team's defeat in the final that he verbally attacked Geoff Carr, the Chief Executive of Australian Rugby League, claiming that tournament organizers and match officials conspired to cause the Australian loss.[37] The next morning he had a chance meeting with Ashley Klein, who refereed the final, and Stuart Cummings, the Rugby Football League's director of match officials, at their hotel. He reportedly abused both officials in front of a number of witnesses, calling Klein a cheat, and behaved in an aggressive and physically intimidating manner.[38] Stuart later apologised for his behaviour and resigned from his post. [39] [edit] TicketsTickets for Australian residents went on sale 7 November and internationally on 18 February [40]. However tickets were not distributed until 3 March. Ticketek were announced as the official ticketing agency for the competition, selling tickets for all matches[41]. Ticketmaster and Pilbeam Theatre were selling tickets to the Telstra Dome and Browne Park matches respectively. The World Cup Final sold out months in advance. [edit] SponsorshipThe Official Sponsors of the Rugby League World Cup 2008 were:[42]
[edit] "Heroes 08" campaign The World Cup's "Heroes 08" promotional campaign was launched from the Sydney Opera House.[43] Natalie Bassingthwaighte has recorded an "Australian version" of the Mariah Carey song "Hero" which accompanied the "Heroes 08" promotional video and other World Cup advertising. The World Cup Opening Ceremony featured a live performance of the song by Bassingthwaighte.[43] Filming of visuals for the promotional video began in Leeds during the worldwide ticketing launch for the event in November 2007.[43] Advertising agency MJW, celebrity photographer Garry Heery and production company Engine, worked together to combine the latest digital animation with a dark and determined set that highlighted the passion players feel in representing their country on the international stage.[43] The Heroes campaign featured Mark Gasnier (Australia), Roy Asotasi (New Zealand), Rob Burrow (England), Keith Peters (PNG), Waisale Suka (Fiji), Nigel Vagana (Samoa), Jerome Guisset (France), Lee Paterson (Scotland), Stuart Littler (Ireland) and Lopini Paea (Tonga).[43] Gasnier was later removed from some of the promotional material after he left the sport mid-season and replaced by Cameron Smith. [edit] Broadcasting[edit] TelevisionThe 2008 World Cup had 26 separate television deals taking coverage to 127 countries and generating more than $20 million income[44]. A global television audience of 19.2 million made it the most widely broadcast event in the game's history.[9] Channel 9 broadcast all Group A matches and the Knockout Stage matches in Australia. Fox Sports broadcast all Group B and C matches plus Ranking Stage matches live. In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports broadcast all matches live[45], because of this all were shown in the morning, some as early as 06:00AM[46]. Sky Sport showed all games live across New Zealand. Mai TV broadcast all matches live in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands[47]. Orange Sport provided coverage of all matches live in France. Coverage of the competition also extended to countries not taking part. Showtime showed all matches live across the Middle East. G offered coverage of all games in many countries in Africa. Astro showed all matches in Malaysia, and ESPN 360 showed all matches in the United States. In Brazil, some matches were broadcast by Bandsports. The only participating country with no television coverage of the matches was Tonga; the RLIF were hoping to secure a deal before the World Cup started, but this never happened. BigPondTV, an online television station, broadcast all matches live and also repeated matches. This service is available to everyone for free. [edit] Radio
[edit] Sources
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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