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On an epic rugby league grand final day that began with the stunning Super League clash between glamour clubs Wigan and Warrington, this viewer woke before dawn, put his boots on, prepared his laptop to stream from the online sporting gallery and then he walked on down the hall.
He plugged his laptop into his big screen television and then he paid a visit to the kitchen and then he prepared a cup of tea and then he watched rugby league all day.
“This is the end,” he thought, as he lay staring at the ceiling, filling in the aching hours between Wigan’s Old Trafford exhibition and Sterlo’s NRL grand final preview to come on the Sunday Footy Show.
“The end of hit-ups and good tries, the end of footy on Friday nights. It hurts to set league free. This is the end.”
Despite the stunning rugby league that continued throughout the day – culminating in Sonny Bill Williams saving his blushes from a genuinely poor first half by producing two of the most stunning pieces of game-breaking big match play you’ll ever see – the viewer’s mood continued to drop as the day wore on.
With every breathtaking piece of skill, heroic piece of defence or thundering collision, the end of the rugby league season drew closer, always closer.
With nothing but a likely drubbing at the hands of England to look forward to in the summer cricket season, the viewer grew despondent about the approaching sporting landscape.
As predicted by science’s most brutal analysts, the climate is changing and the future is not pretty. Or so the viewer thought!
As the days that followed grand final day have come and gone, the Rugby League World Cup has soared majestically into view.
England had already named NRL stars James Graham, Gareth Widdop and the three Burgess brothers to line-up alongside Super League stars like the world-record transfer fee-attracting Sam Tomkins, Golden Boot winner Kevin Sinfield, World XIII winger Ryan Hall, world class hooker James Roby and record try-scoring winger Josh Charnley in their side.
Still, it’s been recent days that have seen the really exciting squad announcements come to light.
Australia has named another exceptional side – surely the most gifted side in either code of world rugby – but the Kiwis will challenge them.
Over the ‘dutch’, they have have named superstars like Kieran Foran, Kevin Locke, Manu Vatuvei, Isaac Luke and more to play alongside the best dual code talent in history (Shaun Johnson has excelled at both touch footy and rugby league).
Meanwhile ‘lesser’ sides like Samoa, Tonga and Fiji are littered with world class talent. Even weaker Northern Hemisphere sides like France and Wales are full of top line professionals from both Super League and the NRL, most of whom were locally-produced.
With Scotland putting more Aussies and Poms in kilts than Braveheart did, they’ll also be fairly competitive.
Based on all of this, it seems like the on-field action could well take care of itself – the Kangaroos are obviously favourites, but with SBW in tow and Foran well and truly ready to grab Benji’s baton, the Kiwis (who, if you’ll remember, actually hold the trophy) are the strongest they’ve ever been.
This is also the strongest England/Great Britain side for 20 years, so they won’t be pushovers either.
Even with prospects for on-field action that should whip all league watchers into a drooling frenzy, the most exciting aspect of this World Cup is the occasion itself.
For the first time in living memory, international rugby league is being treated as if it means something – not just by the players, but also the administrators. Even Sonny Bill is keen for a run!
The reason? The World Cup is being treated with respect; as an occasion that is, as it should be, the pinnacle of the sport.
Great stadiums across the the UK like the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wembley in London and Old Trafford in Manchester should play host to a combined attendance of around 200,000 people for the Opening Ceremony, semi-finals and final respectively.
These are big crowds in great stadiums seeing exceptional international sport.
These big occasions will be broadcast live on the BBC in the UK, Sky Sports in New Zealand and 7mate in Australia.
These are the international audiences and occasions that our star rugby league athletes deserve – it’s exciting that the game’s administrators have finally got back to making it happen.
As excited as I am for these big games between the big sides, it is the so-called ‘minnows’ that will really lay the foundations for the success of this World Cup.
Almost across the board – and admittedly boosted by ‘heritage’ players – the teams are strong. They will compete well and upsets seem quite possible and, happily, the crowds look set to support them.
A number of the smaller matches being played in France and throughout England, Wales and even Ireland are already selling well or close to selling out.
When the big nations clash with the smaller ones, attendance records look set to tumble.
England and Ireland seem set to battle it out in front of 24,000 people in Huddersfield; France and New Zealand will play in front of 18,000 people in Avignon (which should also attract massive media interest, given the likely appearance of French sweetheart SBW); Australia will play Ireland, in Limerick, in front of over 10,000 people.
As part of an Opening Ceremony double header, Wales and Italy will play in front of 60,000 people in Cardiff.
For some context, the current record international rugby league crowd in Wales is 17,000.
Indeed, the more I think about it the more I realise that rugby league fans have no reason to despair; instead, it would seem rather more fitting to rejoice!
Grand final Day was not the end – it was the beginning!
Rugby league is about to embark on a journey and celebration of the international game the likes of which it has never before seen.
I genuinely cannot wait.
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