Ireland To Bid For 2023 World Cup?

[McCloud]

Welcome to mf.com Boca J I like the final!

[Boca J]

If the World Cup was to go ahead inIreland in 2023 there are probably 2 scenarios on how the Rugby World Cup mightlook. The first Rugby World Cup would be an All-Ireland World Cup where allgames are played in Ireland. The second scenario would be to use 10 stadiums inIreland with the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Murrayfield in Edinburgh. Ithink the second scenario will probably be used by the IRFU as them have onlynamed 6 GAA stadiums that they would like to use and I can only think of 4possible rugby stadiums that could be used. The four rugby stadiums wouldprobably be Aviva Stadium, Thomond Park, Ravenhill Stadium and RDS Arena. The 6GAA Stadiums named are Croke Park Dublin, Pairc Ui Chaoimh Cork, Casement ParkBelfast, Gaelic Grounds Limerick, Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney and PearseStadium Galway. The other 2 stadiums I picked to make up the numbers to 12stadiums are McHale Park in Castlebar and Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. But these 2stadiums could be replaced by any other 2 suitable stadiums as long as the capacityis greater than 15,000 (minimum capacity used in New Zealand).

The following 12 stadiums could be used for the tournament:

Croke Park (82,300) - 7 games
Aviva Stadium (51,700) - 7 games
Pairc Ui Chaoimh (45,000) - 5 games
Casement Park (40,000) – 5 games
Thomond Park (26,500) - 4 games
Fitzgerald Stadium (43,000) - 4 games
Pearse Stadium (36,000) - 4 games
Gaelic Ground (49,500) – 3 games
Ravenhill Stadium (18,000) - 3 games
RDS Arena (18,500) - 2 games
McHale Park (42,000) - 2 games
Nowlan Park (30,000) – 2 games

I have given Croke Park and Aviva Stadium only 7 games each.This was done to spread the pool matches around the country and gives thepitches a chance to recover for the semi finals and finals. I also gave ThomondPark 4 games and Gaelic Grounds 3 games. I think 7 games is enough games forLimerick to cope with and since Thomond Park is the home of Munster rugby Igave it the extra game. I may be lower capacity but Thomond Park is a globallyfamous rugby playing sports field and deserves it on that basis.

If we use the same groups as the 2011 World Cup and start thetournament on Friday the 15^th September 2023 this is how thetournament might look:

Pool A:
Australia
Ireland
Italy
USA
Russia

Sep 15 Ireland v USA......................Croke Park
Sep 16 Australia v Italy...................Pearse Stadium
Sep 20 Russia v USA.......................McHale Park
Sep 22 Australia v Ireland...............Croke Park
Sep 24 Italy v Russia......................RDS Arena
Sep 27 Australia v USA...................Fitzgerald Stadium
Sep 30 Ireland v Russia..................Pairc Ui Chaoimh
Oct 3 Italy v USA...........................Gaelic Grounds
Oct 7 Australia v Russia..................Ravenhill Stadium
Oct 8 Ireland v Italy.......................Aviva Stadium

Pool B:
England
Argentina
Scotland
Georgia
Romania

Sep 16 Scotland v Romania...............Thomond Park
Sep 16 England v Argentina...............Aviva Stadium
Sep 20 Scotland v Georgia.................Gaelic Grounds
Sep 23 Argentina v Romania...............Fitzgerald Stadium
Sep 24 England v Georgia..................Casement Park
Sep 30 England v Romania.................Thomond Park
Oct 1 Argentina v Scotland..................Aviva Stadium
Oct 4 Georgia v Romania....................McHale Park
Oct 7 England v Scotland....................Croke Park
Oct 8 Argentina v Georgia...................Pearse Stadium
Pool C:
New Zealand
France
Tonga
Canada
Japan

Sep 17 New Zealand v Tonga...............Pairc Ui Chaoimh
Sep 17 France v Japan.........................Casement Park
Sep 21 Tonga v Canada.......................Nowlan Park
Sep 23 New Zealand v Japan................Casement Park
Sep 26 France v Canada......................Pearse Stadium
Sep 29 Tonga v Japan.........................Ravenhill Stadium
Oct 1 New Zealand v France................Croke Park
Oct 3 Canada v Japan..........................Nowlan Park
Oct 7 France v Tonga..........................Thomond Park
Oct 8 New Zealand v Canada...............Pairc Ui Chaoimh
Pool D:
South Africa
Wales
Samoa
Fiji
Namibia

Sep 16 Fiji v Namibia..........................Fitzgerald Stadium
Sep 17 South Africa v Wales...............Aviva Stadium
Sep 20 Samoa v Namibia....................RDS Arena
Sep 23 South Africa v Fiji....................Pairc Ui Chaoimh
Sep 24 Wales v Samoa.......................Thomond Park
Sep 28 South Africa v Namibia............Gaelic Grounds
Oct 1 Fiji v Samoa..............................Ravenhill Stadium
Oct 2 Wales v Namibia.......................Pearse Stadium
Oct 6 South Africa v Samoa................Fitzgerald Stadium
Oct 8 Wales v Fiji..............................Casement Park
Quarter Finals:
Oct 14 New Zealand v Argentina…………Pairc UiChaiomh
Oct 14 England v France......................Aviva Stadium
Oct 15 Australia v South Africa.............Casement Park
Oct 15 Ireland v Wales........................Croke Park
Semi Finals:
Oct 21 Ireland v France…………………….Croke Park
Oct 22 New Zealand vAustralia............Aviva Stadium
3^rd/4^th Place Play-off:
Oct 27 France v Australia.....................AvivaStadium
Rugby World Cup Final:
Oct29 Ireland v New Zealand……………Croke Park

Also:

To allow for the GAA All-Ireland football final to be played on the 3rd Sunday in September the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup would be held as normal the Friday. It only takes Croke Park 24 hours to convert the rugby pitch back to a Gaelic football pitch, allowing for the All-Ireland football final to take place that Sunday. There would be no rugby games played in Dublin that Sunday to overcrowding in the capital.

[the plastic paddy]

I hope you have copywritten that schedule Boca J.

[TokyoCrusaders92]

After the scheduling difficulties / mismatches in the last few world cups I think a world cup of 4 groups of 4 = 16 teams with games played primarily at the weekend and a 2nd tier competition (similarly of 16 teams) could be played at the same time mid-week.