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The former Rugby League World Sevens tournament was a useful format in creating a level playing field to give minnow countries valuable experience playing against the best athletes the game has to offer.
Many of those countries now also have specialist teams that play in various Sevens competitions and have become experts at the game.
Unfortunately when the competition was brought back after the Super League war, it wasn’t used to its full potential and suffered the burden of over-scheduling and resultant audience apathy.
However there is an appetite with Rugby League fans to see it brought back if done so correctly. With the ARL & Kangaroos declaring 2012 a test series gap year before the World Cup, there lies an opportunity to put the World Sevens back on the calendar.
Rather than have NRL clubs play international sides in the pools, perhaps we could have three different tiers and fans could see club Sevens games mixed in between international and representative fixtures. The best seven players would be selected for their nations first and then the club sides would require a minimum quota of star players.
It would be a pre-season event with a schedule like this:
Day 1 – Friday – Sydney from 4:30pm to 10:30pm EST
International Pool A games – 12 games x 15 mins = 3 hours
Australia
Fiji
Lebanon
South Africa
Italy
NRL Pool A games – 12 games x 15 mins = 3 hours
South Sydney
Sydney Roosters
Wests Tigers
Canterbury Bulldogs
Central Coast Bears
Day 2 – Saturday – Auckland from 12:00pm to 6:00pm EST
International Pool B games – 12 games x 15 mins = 3 hours
New Zealand
Tonga
Cook Islands
Japan
Papua New Guinea
NRL Pool B games – 12 games x 15 mins = 3 hours
New Zealand Warriors
Cronulla Sharks
Wellington Orcas
Parramatta Eels
Penrith Panthers
Saturday – Melbourne from 3:00pm to 10:30pm EST
International Pool C games – 12 games x 15 mins = 3 hours
England
Wales
United States
Greece
Serbia
NRL Pool C games – 12 games x 15 mins = 3 hours
Melbourne Storm
Canberra Raiders
St George Illawarra Dragons
WA Reds
Manly Sea Eagles
Representative Pool I games – 6 games x 15 mins = 1.5 hours
Victoria XIII
Indigenous XIII
Maori XIII
West Australia XIII
Saturday – Brisbane from 3:00pm to 10:30pm EST
International Pool D games – 12 games x 15 mins = 3 hours
France
Ireland
Samoa
Russia
Scotland
NRL Pool D games – 12 games x 15 mins = 3 hours
Brisbane Broncos
Gold Coast Titans
Newcastle Knights
Central Queensland
North Queensland
Representative Pool II games – 6 games x 15 mins = 1.5 hours
Brisbane Firsts XIII
Queensland Country XIII
South Australia Rams XIII
NSW Country XIII
Day 3 – Saturday – Perth (8:30pm EST finish, 6:30pm local)
There’s two possible ways to do the finals:
Thee separate knockout finals tournaments:
– 8 team International team knockout 15 games = 3.75 hours
– 8 team NRL team knockout 15 games = 3.75 hours
– 2 team Representative final = 15 mins
or
The top 16 teams are put into a randomly drawn knockout final:
– Top 4 international pool winners
– Next 3 highest ranked international teams
– Top 4 NRL pool winners
– Next 3 highest ranked NRL teams
– The 2 representative pool winners
If a knockout final is used, we can determine which are the top teams based on their finishing rank.
Total prize money pool: – $1,000,000
Overall tournament winner – $425,000
#1 International team – $75,000
#2 International team – $25,000
#1 NRL club team – $75,000
#2 NRL club team – $25,000
#1 Highest Minnow nation (or next highest if ranked 1 or2) (teams who have not played 4 nations) – $75,000
#2 Highest Minnow nations – $25,000
Remaining 17 International teams automatically gets – $10,000 appearance
Representative Sevens team – $75,000
Player of the tournament – $30,000
Any International/NRL/Minnow/Representative team that plays and comes first overall outright collects $500,000 guaranteed. That would be a massive boost for any of their grassroots organisations.
The broadcast rights could be sold to Fox and a free to air network, played over both their primary and secondary channels – so on Saturday – the best games are shown on the main network and the coverage can shift between streaming telecasts in Auckland, Melbourne and Brisbane.
After 2012 the series could then be played in 2015 and then on every four years (alternating against the world cup), travelling to the UK, continental Europe and the USA. If the USA are serious about one day hosting the World Cup, then the Million Dollar World Sevens are a great tool to prove it.
Bring back the Rugby League World Sevens.
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