Manly Sea Eagles, the newly-crowned Australian
National Rugby League (NRL) champion, has suggested Dubai as a venue for
rugby league’s World Club Challenge in 2012.
The match, which is staged between the champions
of the Australian and English rugby leagues, has been staged in England
for the past 11 years. However, having conceded home advantage to Leeds
Rhinos for the World Club Challenge, Manly chairman Scott Penn has
proposed the Middle East as a neutral venue in the future.
Penn believes staging the contest in Dubai would provide a platform for the sport in a new market. He told the Sydney Morning Herald: “There's no reason why we can't play the game in Dubai or somewhere in the Middle East. They are always looking for major sporting events and it could really benefit the game. I've spoken to a few people about it and from what I understand they have a 30,000-seat stadium there that would be ideal.”
NRL manager of football operations, Nathan McGuirk, confirmed the proposal would be discussed if all parties could agree on the idea. “We would look at any types of proposals to take a game of that nature to another country,” he said. “There are big expenses associated with taking the game to somewhere like that.”
McGuirk added: “We'd need to explore commercial partners and offers and the Rugby Football League (in England) would feel similar to us. But if that type of offer did come around we would definitely look at that.”
Penn believes staging the contest in Dubai would provide a platform for the sport in a new market. He told the Sydney Morning Herald: “There's no reason why we can't play the game in Dubai or somewhere in the Middle East. They are always looking for major sporting events and it could really benefit the game. I've spoken to a few people about it and from what I understand they have a 30,000-seat stadium there that would be ideal.”
NRL manager of football operations, Nathan McGuirk, confirmed the proposal would be discussed if all parties could agree on the idea. “We would look at any types of proposals to take a game of that nature to another country,” he said. “There are big expenses associated with taking the game to somewhere like that.”
McGuirk added: “We'd need to explore commercial partners and offers and the Rugby Football League (in England) would feel similar to us. But if that type of offer did come around we would definitely look at that.”
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