Rugby league’s 2013 incarnation of the World Cup certainly attracted more than its fair share of critics, but surely nothing can detract from that consummate Kangaroos performance against the Kiwis at Old Trafford in the final.
That’s the long and the short it.
What must be seriously questioned, though, is the wisdom of playing the code’s international showpiece at a soccer ground.
Old Trafford is the home of Manchester United has some of the shortest in-goal areas for any match of rugby league that I have seen.
It was a disaster waiting to happen.
It’s not as if Cup officials hadn’t been forewarned, the Luke Lewis injury earlier in the tournament, for one, should have had the alarm bells ringing.
In the event, they must have breathed a huge sigh of relief that the injuries to Australia’s Brett Morris and New Zealand’s Manu Vatuvei weren’t more serious.
The solution?
In the circumstances, while Cup organisers were playing so fast and loose with player eligibility laws, I wonder if they shouldn’t also have agreed to shorten the playing field length by, say, five metres to ensure (slightly) more player-friendly in-goal areas.
Controversial, maybe.
But I’d suggest a lot less controversial than if the in-goal farce had turned into a tragic “own goal” for the code.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
I agree, smaller in-goals are better. As for the safety issue, all they had to do was fill it up with padding. Not really that hard.
Peter Thomson
Roar Guru
I can imagine that German Shepherd would have enjoyed defusing those bombs, John.
john badseed
Guest
These kids today are just soft. When I was young we played tests on asphalt playgrounds and parks full of bindiis. And the fullback was a German Shepherd.
polly
Guest
Yeah, surely there is plenty of commercially available types of synthetic padding that could have at least been softer than the concrete drainage !
up in the north
Guest
Back in the day players weren't doing these amazing acrobatic leaps to keep the ball in play either. Now they do. What we would expect as a reasonable safety issue was ignored by organisers. If it was solely to enable the visibility of advertising signs, then that is pretty poor.
Peter Thomson
Roar Guru
Sadly,I suspect you're right, Christo. Nothing will be done ... until someone finishes up in a wheelchair.
The eye
Guest
Sooks ? Luke Lewis has a broken shoulder,previously knocked himself out in goal try hunting..looks like he'd do it again too without flinching.Moz said after the game the team made a pact to put the body on the line regarding the sign boarding,they're warriors not 5 year olds playing on the trampoline.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
Ideally play on grounds that have a sensibly sized ground for the game. Failing that, some serious padding needs to be put in place. My tip is that neither will be done.
Ando
Guest
So Morris should have just let the ball go dead, good solution. Do you prefer the fence being so close? Maybe we should change all our grounds to have the fence closer, we could add barbed wire to weed out the real sooks. Different grounds should not change the nature of how a try is scored due to infrastructure outside the field of play
Storm Boy
Guest
Seriously Aussies are just sooks. You don't think the English Super League players haven't been getting by without this causing major injury? No examples at all. If you know there is a cliff or wall at the end of the field THEN DON'T RUN OR JUMP SO RECKLESSLY that you will end up there.
The eye
Guest
I'm with pot stirrer..keep 'em small,just rent padding for the day.
Pot Stirrer
Guest
I actually like the smaller ingoal areas. Takes away the over use of the kicks i thought. Although i cant believe they didnt put some kind of padding there.
Avon River
Guest
That was astounding that for the final they served that up. Got a fair whack on Sunday morning tv sports segments. Reminiscent of cricketers about 25 yrs ago sliding into fences and a key reason for the ropes being in place as the boundary. Not really an option for the RLWC final though to bring the boundary in.
Adam Everitt
Roar Rookie
20-years worth of finals have been played there and this is the first time, to my recollection, that the issue has arisen. I concur that the situation is worthy of debate, and that something needs to be done - by why after all this time are we only starting to talk about it? The Morris try happened right in front of me. We noted before the kick off that the in-goals were short, but they always have been.