2008 Rugby League World Cup

Tickets

Tickets for Australian residents went on sale 7 November and internationally on 18 February [ [http://www.pilbeamtheatre.com.au/worldcuprocky.html Pilbeam Tickets] ] . However tickets were not distributed until 3 March. Ticketek were announced as the official ticketing agency for the competition, selling tickets for all matches [ [http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=RLWCUP08 Ticketek Tickets] ] . Ticketmaster and Pilbeam Theatre are selling tickets to the Telstra Dome and Browne Park matches respectively.

On the 9 May it was announced that 25,000 tickets had been sold for the final in Brisbane [ [http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/story/0,26799,23670688-5006066,00.html 25,000 Final Tickets Sold] ] .

ponsorship

Broadcasting

Television

Channel 9 will broadcast all Group A matches and the Knockout Stage matches live across Australia. Fox Sports will broadcast all Group B and C matches plus Ranking Stage matches live. In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports will broadcast all matches live [ [http://www.rlwc08.com/news/news/archive/2007/10/11/Britain_1920_s-World-Cup-Television-Bonanza.aspx Sky Sports Broadcasting Bid] ] , because of this all will be shown in the morning, some as early as 06:00AM [ [http://www.rlwc08.com/broadcast/uk.aspx UK Broadcasting] ] . Sky Sports will also show all games live across New Zealand. Mai TV will broadcast all matches live in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands [ [http://www.rlwc08.com/broadcast/pi.aspx Pacific Broadcasting] ] . Orange Sport will provide coverage of all matches live in France.

Coverage of the competition will also extend to countries not taking part. Showtime will show all matches live across the Middle East. G will offer coverage of all games in many countries in Africa. Astro will show all matches in Malaysia and finally ESPN 360 will be showing all matches in the United States.

The only participating country with no television coverage of the matches is Tonga, however the RLIF are hoping to secure a deal before the World Cup starts.

BigPondTV, an online television station, will be broadcasting all matches live and will also repeat matches, this service is available to everyone for free.

Radio

* UK - BBC Radio 5 Live and its sister station BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra will be broadcasting selected games.

Criticism

Due to the generally poor response of the 2000 World Cup, there were several key criticisms of the tournament before any matches had kicked off. The RLIF were forced to defend the credibility of the tournament in October 2007 after New Zealand, one of the favourites for the competition, were heavily beaten in a Test match 58-0 in Wellington against Australia [ [http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22595095-5016312,00.html Kiwi Pre-WC Criticism] ] . Another criticism was whether there would be enough competitiveness throughout the ten teams, with some fans hoping they won't see too many one-sided matches [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/7089791.stm Competitiveness Pre-WC Criticism] ] , which was a common sight in the Group Stages of the 2000 tournament [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/world_cup_2000/1040510.stm 2000 WC Overview] ] .

Group Stage

All teams from group A (shaded in green) with the exception of the bottom qualifying team will progress to the semi-finals, the other two groups the top finisher will progress to a playoff match, in which the winner will qualify to the semi-finals.

Group A

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Ranking Stage

7th Place Playoff

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9th Place Playoff

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Knockout Stage

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Qualifying Final

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emi-Finals

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Final

rugbyleaguebox
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date = November 22, 2008
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ources

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/4972052.stm "World Cup Moved To End of Season"] , BBC website, retrieved 4 May, 2006.
* [http://www.rlef.eu.com/newsstory.php?id=184 "RLIF Meeting"] , Rugby League European Federation website, retrieved May 8 2006
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/low/rugby_league/world_cup_2000/1034927.stm "McDonald defends World Cup"] , BBC website, retrieved 6 May, 2006.
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2004/01/01/slwhal01.xml "Lewis backs Australia for World Cup"] , telegraph.co.uk website, retrieved May 8 2006

References

External links

* [http://www.rlwc08.com/ Official Website]
* [http://www.rlwc08.com/forum/ Official Forum]