BRETT GOSPER, CEO of World Rugby, says Ireland’s bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup will be “very attractive”.
Ireland’s intention to bid was formally announced last December in Armagh, when the IRFU was joined by the Irish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, both of whom pledged their support to plans for an All-Ireland World Cup.
The official bidding applications will not be distributed by Rugby World Cup [the organisation that oversees the competition on behalf of World Rugby] until next year and a final decision on the host nation will be made in mid-2017.
Ireland are likely to face strong competition from countries such as South Africa, Italy, Argentina, and the US for the right to host the 2023 competition, but there will be a degree of confidence behind Ireland’s €1.5million campaign.
Speaking yesterday as TV3 announced that they will exclusively screen all 48 games of this year’s World Cup in HD, Gosper intimated that Ireland will have a good chance of success.
“I think it’ll be a very attractive bid,” said Gosper.
Ireland have announced that they’re up for it, which is great. It would be a very strong candidature, given what we know about Ireland, geographically, it being on times zones that are broadcast-friendly, and we know this is a rugby-loving country.
“It’s very easy for other countries to come and visit Ireland, the infrastructure is good, the hotels are good, the Irish love receiving people from overseas. It’ll be a wonderful candidature and it coincides with a time when Irish rugby is incredibly strong.
“That duality of having a very strong home team and providing a candidature is important too.”
There have been some suggestions that following this year’s competition in England and the 2019 World Cup in Japan, the organisers would look again to the Southern Hemisphere and in particular South Africa, who hosted the 1995 tournament.
However, Gosper said there are no binding contracts in World Rugby law that state the Southern Hemisphere couldn’t miss out for a third consecutive World Cup.
“There’s no rule or law on that,” said the former Racing Métro back. “I guess there’s a natural feeling that the World Cup is both to generate financial growth to benefit the world game, but also it is the shop window that you want to take around the world as much as you can.
Hence, here we are in Europe [for 2015], then we’re going to Japan, a non-tier one country for the first time in Asia, which is not a traditional rugby territory.
“After that, there would probably be a tendency that it comes back onto a time zone more in the European sphere, but who knows? The council has to vote for these things. They’ll see six or seven very strong candidates and make a call on that basis.”
Meanwhile, Gosper confirmed his impression that Ireland is “keen to host the Women’s World Cup” in 2017, although nothing official has been announced in that regard at this stage.
A decision on the host nation is set to be made in May of this year, with Gosper commenting that “there’s a couple of nations vying and Ireland are a very strong candidate too.”
