In a past that now seems dim and distant, this Rugby League World Cup was bound for North American shore; a bold, ambitious new step for a sport so often accused of parochialism. “It is exciting that our sport is expanding into a new destination for our premier event,” Nigel Wood, the then-chair of the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF), beamed in 2016 of a tournament due to take place in 2025. “The USA and Canada provide world-class stadiums allied to a significant multi-cultural population which made the bid so persuasive."
It did not last, of course. Little more than two years later, the USA/Canada bid was withdrawn over financial concerns – which proved prescient, perhaps, given the Toronto Wolfpack debacle that followed. At the start of 2022, in stepped France as an alternative host and another significant expansionist step.
