RELAX, LET YOUR hair down during Euro 2012, it seems you may not have to start saving for the next Rugby World Cup just yet.
The offices of England 2015 opened yesterday to mark the official start of the tournament’s planning and the one of the first acts of chief executive, Paul Vaughan, was to put all our minds at ease.
“We will make sure it is affordable and accessible to everyone,” Vaughan told the BBC. It is also reported that, in an effort to coax extra fans into large football grounds, selected tickets for the group stages could be priced under the £10 mark.
Organisers are also hopeful that England can play in more than just Twickenham during the tournament. In last year’s World Cup the hosts, New Zealand played in Hamilton, Wellington and had planned to appear in Christchurch (until the city was devastated by an earthquake) before returning to Auckland for the knock-out stages.
Old Trafford is top of the wish list, a move with the added benefit of increasing interest in the north where football and rugby league are the traditionally dominant codes. However, as the tournament will be held parallel to the English football season, clubs will take some convincing to allow 30 heavy men trample across their finely manicured lawns.
“The Premier League happens week-in, week-out” said IRB chief executive Mike Miller, evidently beginning his campaign, ”this happens every four years, and once every 20, 30 or 40 in England, so this is a special event. It’s a world event.”
