Rugby League World Cup
From NSwiki, the NationStates encyclopedia.
| Top ten rugby league world rankings (post-RLWC 4) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1 | Sorthern Northland | 30 |
| 2 | Lurikastan | 27.6 |
| 3 | Peisandros | 26 |
| 4 | Somewhereistonia | 16 |
| 5 | Lovisa | 15.2 |
| 6 | Kura-Pelland | 14.4 |
| 7 | Newmanistan | 12.8 |
| 8 | The Yorozuya | 9.2 |
| 9 | Norwellia | 7.2 |
| 10 | Dancougar | 6.8 |
- This article is about the Rugby League World Cup, for the Rugby Union World Cup, see Rugby World Cup.
The Rugby League World Cup (commonly abbreviated to RLWC) is an international competition contested between rugby league national teams. Compared to tournament's such as football's World Cup, ice hockey's World Cup, field hockey's World Cup, American football's World Bowl and the Rugby Union World Cup the Rugby League World Cup is a relatively minor tournament with a generally small number of nations taking part in it. It also lacked any formal worldwide governing body prior to the fifth tournament, despite calls for an International Rugby League Federation (IRLF) to hold a summit. The lack of governing body has at times led to somewhat chaotic scenes during the choosing of hosts. This was finally resolved with the creation of the International Rugby League Committee (IRLC) to preside over the tournament. The IRLC has 10 founding members.
The first Rugby League World Cup was hosted and founded by Sorthern Northland and was won by Docky. The most recent tournament was hosted by Logria and was won by newcomers Virabia who edged out the favourites Sorthern Northland in the final.
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Format
The Rugby League World Cup's format is variable due to the small numbers of nations taking part and can vary according to the host prerogative. It's small number of participants means that no qualifying round takes place allowing any nation to make it to the finals. The first cup saw ten nations taking part, the subsequent two editions saw twelve nations take part, whilst a record high of twenty-four nations took part in the fifth tournament. Puppet nations are allowed into the tournament, though generally restricted to one per master nation, though they tend to be used mainly to round tournaments to a workable number for the host.
Hosting and scorination
There is no formal host selection process in the Rugby League World Cup and indeed the first two tournaments were hosted due to the hosting nations volunteering to do them. A voting process was held to decide the host of the third Rugby League World Cup after three nations, Kjomasaopia, Kura-Pelland and Somewhereistonia, all expressed an interest in hosting and put forward bids. Kjomasaopia however withdrew their bid leaving Kura-Pelland and Somewhereistonia to contest a vote which was won by Kura-Pelland. Two competing bids were put forward for the fourth tournament, one from Lurikastan and one from Somewhereistonia. Sorthern Northland also expressed an intent to bid, though they would later withdraw this intent to support the Somewhereistonian bid, which was chosen as the default winner after Lurikastan withdraw it's hosting bid. Lurikastan were controversial winners of the second Rugby League World Cup, due to hosting the tournament and failing to hand over scorination of the final to a neutral party.
All tournaments so far have been scorinated by a Starblaydi developed scorinator, which has also been used in the Rugby Union World Cup in the past. Other rugby scorinators exist, such as a version of NSFootySim modified by Dancougar to give rugby scores (for both codes). The Starblaydi scorinator produces scores with a score breakdown, scores were given with this breakdown during the first World Cup, however in the interests of roleplaying freedom, only the final scores without breakdown have been given since.
History
Pre-RLWC 1
A number of attempts were made to start an NS Rugby League tournament, the most succesful was perhaps the International Rugby League[1], which was won by Locke Harbour of PopularFreedom. A second edition[2] of the International Rugby League was held, this time won by The Liberty Raiders. A third edition[3] was started, but never finished. PopularFreedom then hosted the Rugby Premier League[4], which was won by Risian of Risa-Aramour. This was followed up by an InterNation Rugby League[5], however it didn't last long and was quickly cancelled due to "disinterest".
All of these were competitions run on a league format, the first attempt at a cup format was the Rugby League Nationstates Cup[6]. The tournament however never materialised due to a mere two nations expressing interest. Rugby League then disappeared from the NSverse until thirteen months later when the Sorthern Northland proposed Rugby League World Cup took place.
RLWC 1
- Main article: Rugby League World Cup 1
A signup thread for the inaugural Rugby League World Cup was started by Sorthern Northland.[7] A total of ten nations signed up for the competition, of which six would go on to post squads.[8] The tournament, and a new era of rugby league, were introduced with what was described as a "spectacular opening ceremony" which is thought to have involved 1093 donkeys.[9] The four nations to advance from the group stage to the semi-finals were Lurikastan, The Bostopian Empire, Docky and Kjomasasopia. Hosts Sorthern Northland finished third in their group and were eliminated.[10] The semi-final fixtures had to be delayed due to a freak storm at one of the venues that made play unsafe, this resulted in both the semi-finals and final being delayed.[11] The delayed final was won by Docky who defeated Kjomasaopia 22-19.[12]
RLWC 2
- Main article: Rugby League World Cup II
Ten teams contested the second Rugby League World Cup which was co-hosted by Lurikastan and The Yorozuya. The group stage saw two groups of five with the two groups winners advancing to the semi-final, these were Dancougar and Lurikastan. The second and third placed teams were entered into a wild card round, from Group A these were Peisandros and Sorthern Northland and from Group B, Lovisa and The Yorozuya.[13] From the wild card round Sorthern Northland and The Yorozuya advanced to the semi-finals. The semi-finals saw Sorthern Northland defeat Dancougar and Lurikastan defeat The Yorozuya 10-0 (though this score wasn't announced by the hosts at the time[14]. In the final, co-hosts Lurikastan defeated Sorthern Northland.[15]
RLWC 3
- Main article: Rugby League World Cup III
The third Rugby League World Cup hosted by Kura-Pelland after defeated Somewhereistonia in the bidding process.[16] The group stage followed the same format as the second Rugby League World Cup with the two group winners going straight into the semi-finals and the second and third placed teams going into a repêchage round. The group winners were Lovisa and Lurikastan.[17] Peisandros and Sorthern Northland joined them in the semi-finals after winning their repêchage round matches.[18] Sorthern Northland defeated Lovisa whilst Peisandros beat the then champions Lurikastan in the semi-finals.[19] The final saw Sorthern Northland lose their second final in a row as Peisandros became world champions by winning 10-6.[20]
RLWC 4
- Main article: Rugby League World Cup IV
The start of the fourth Rugby League World Cup was beset by controversy after Salzadonia (a puppet of Lurikastan) proposed setting up and International Rugby League Association and installing itself as president.[21] This move brought threats of a boycott from certain nations[22][23]. Due "mishaps in [the] organisation of [the] tournament", Lurikastan eventually withdrew their hosting bid[24] leaving Somewhereistonia as hosts by defualt.
Once the tournament got under way it was hit by further controversy. Firstly as the Palmouth team announced that they had signed former Sorthern Northland coach Eddy Chadwick,[25] something that was dismissed by Chadwick himself.[26] An apology was given by Palmouth following the incident.[27] More controversy was around the corner though when Palmouth's coach John Cookson was stabbed following their opening match against Sorthern Northland. Palmouth's media initially attributed the stabbing to a Sorthern citizen[28], something that was vehemently denied by the Sorthern Home Office.[29] Cookson died a day after the stabbing due to severe bleeding.[30] Shortly afterwards Palmouthian media announced that his killer, a Sorthern Northland fan, had been arrested and jailed.[31] Somewhereistonian police however announced that whilst they had arrested a suspect, he wasn't a Sorthern national.[32] It was later announced that the man in custody had been charged with Cookson's murder and was in fact a Palmouthian citizen. Palmouth's fans were also banned from the remainder of the tournament as a safety precaution.[33]
Whilst the tournament was dominated by off pitch events, the occasional bit of rugby that took place. A notable performance was Newmanistan, who on their début made it to the semi-final. They lost there to Sorthern Northland[34], who would go on to win the final at the third time of asking after defeating hosts Somewhereistonia 37-30.
RLWC 5
- Main article: Rugby League World Cup V
The fifth iteration of the Rugby League World Cup began with more controversy. With Peisandros threatening to boycott if Lurikastan's "successor-state" Antarctistan hosts. Antarctistan and RLWC I hosts/defending champions Sorthern Northland put forward bids. Lithatrius also submitted a bid but later withdrew due to international pressure. With the formal creation of the International Rugby League Committee the host vote for the tournament was able to get underway more easily. Sorthern Northland was voted to host the tournament for the second time, with the founding nation now presiding over the largest tournament in it's history.
Despite the early controversy over the hosting of the tournament, the event itself took place without a hitch or any major shocks. Somewhereistonia narrowly won 21-20 over Peisandros in the semi-final to gain a rematch against rivals and hosts Sorthern Northland. Somewhereistonia won a tight encounter 11-8 whilst Peisandros took third place.
Results
| RLWC | Host | Teams | Final | Third place match | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Score | Runner-up | 3rd place | Score | 4th place | |||||
| 1 |  Sorthern Northland
| 10 |  Docky
| 16-0 | Kjomasasopia
|  Lurikastan
| 27-20 |  The Bostopian Empire
| ||
| 2 | Lurikastan/ The Yorozuya
| 12 | Lurikastan
| 12-7 | Sorthern Northland
| Image:Dancougar 608505.png Dancougar | 15-0 | The Yorozuya
| ||
| 3 |  Kura-Pelland
| 12 |  Peisandros
| 10-6 | Sorthern Northland
| - | No 3rd PPO was held | - | ||
| 4 |  Somewhereistonia
| 16 | Sorthern Northland
| 37-30 | Somewhereistonia
| Lurikastan
| 28-2 |  Newmanistan
| ||
| 5 | Sorthern Northland
| 24 | Somewhereistonia
| 11-8 | Sorthern Northland
| Peisandros
| 20-18 |  The Yorozuya
| ||
| 6 |  Logria
| 28 |  Virabia
| 24-19 | Sorthern Northland
| The Yorozuya
| 20-8 | Somewhereistonia
| ||
Records and statistics
| RLWC | Matches | Points | Average points per match | Most points by a single team in a match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 | 673 | 24.92 | 27 (Lurikastan vs. The Bostopian Empire) |
| 2 | 38 | 649 | 17.08 | 24 (West Zirconia vs. Kura-Pelland) |
| 3 | 38 | 1290 | 33.95 | 60 (Lurikastan vs. Taeshan) |
| 4 | 32 | 825 | 25.78 | 37 (Sorthern Northland vs. Somewhereistonia) |
| 5 | 68 | 2131 | 31.34 | 47 (Somewhereistonia vs. Palmouth) |
| Total | 203 | 5568 | 27.43 | Most points by a single team in a match |
External links
- RLWC 1: Scores/RP thread
- RLWC 2: Scores/RP thread
- RLWC 3: Scores/RP thread
- RLWC 4: Scores/RP thread
- RLWC 5: Scores/RP thread
References
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- ^ [28]
- ^ [29]
- ^ [30]
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- ^ [32]
- ^ [33]
- ^ [34]
- ^ [35]
| Rugby League World Cup |
|---|
| Editions: I | II | III | IV | V | VI |
