RLWC2021: Tournament chief executive Jon Dutton on breaking records and learning from the women’s Euros | Rugby League News

Rugby League World Cup chief executive Jon Dutton has high hopes for the women’s tournament, including setting the record attendance for a home international involving England in either code; he also explained what has been learned from the ongoing Women’s Euro 2022

England’s women will be centre stage at a home Rugby League World Cup later this year

The record attendance for an England women’s home international of either code of rugby is 15,863. Organisers of this year’s Rugby League World Cup have set their sights on breaking that.

That aforementioned record was set during rugby union’s Women’s Six Nations earlier this year when England faced Ireland at Leicester’s Mattioli Woods Welford Road ground, signifying just how much that competition has grown in recent years.

But with rugby league’s global gathering coming to these shores for the first time since 2013 – albeit a year later than originally planned – the ambition is to at least replicate the success of that edition, particularly with the women’s and wheelchair tournaments being held alongside the men’s event.

A crowd of over 5,000 is anticipated at the Copper Box for England’s wheelchair opener against Australia, while the first match of the men’s tournament between England and Samoa at St James’ Park is heading for a sell-out too. Now, it is hoped the women’s opener between England and Brazil at Headingley on November 1 will set a new benchmark too.

“It’s massive, isn’t it?” RLWC2021 chief executive Jon Dutton said over the possibility of getting close to Headingley’s 19,700 capacity for the England-Brazil clash.

“We’re talking about big moments; we’re going start with a bang in Newcastle and with Leeds [when Australia face Fiji at Headingley] on the opening day. We go then right to the end of this tournament and the three finals in Manchester, which will be, I think, an incredible moment for us all.

“Then we have these spikes including that England versus Brazil game, so the sales for that and England-Australia in the wheelchair at the Copper Box, are extraordinary.

Organisers are aiming for a record crowd at Headingley for the women’s World Cup opener

“It’s the biggest moment in 127 years in terms of tournament rugby league and we’ve got some real celebrations along the way. But I’m looking forward to England versus Brazil and being in a crowd that, hopefully, we’ll sell out at Headingley.”

That match and the host nation’s final game in Group A will be played as double-headers involving the other two teams in the group, Canada and Papua New Guinea, while all of the Group B matches between Australia, New Zealand, France and the Cook Islands will be played as double-headers at York Community Stadium.

York will be the venue for the semi-finals too while the women’s final takes place ahead of the men’s game at Old Trafford – another day heading for a sell-out – on November 19.

Dutton sees no reason RLWC2021 cannot replicate the success of football’s ongoing Women’s Euro 2022 by attracting big crowds for the matches not involving the hosts, something he has seen first-hand from attending group-stage matches held in his hometown of Leigh.

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Highlights of the Test match between England Women and France Women in June

He was at the opening game between England and Austria in Manchester as well and has been collaborating with his counterparts on the Euro 2022 organising committee to see what lessons can be applied in the build-up to the Rugby League World Cup

“It just feels like a festival – it feels like a celebration,” Dutton said of his experiences at Euro 2022. “It was a big party at Old Trafford; we walked from the tram station at Old Trafford and saw people queuing up outside the turnstiles ready for the gates to open and that to me was just a really big moment.

“I think inside the venues we’ve seen a family atmosphere. We’ve seen a celebration. It’s obviously different when England are playing compared to the games, but the other games have been really well attended with some overseas spectators, but predominantly local people, and I think that’s exactly the same as what we will experience.

“In terms of what we can learn from the organisers, we’ve been very close to them all the way through because they obviously had the tournament postponed as well.

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England captain Emily Rudge previews the World Cup ahead of the competition in November

“I think what we’ll learn from them is particularly around the ticket buying habits of what they had going into day one, but then the benefits of having that visibility thereafter from a media perspective, but also a broadcast perspective.”

The decision of reigning world champions Australia and 2008 World Cup winners New Zealand not to travel to the UK last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the tournament being pushed back to this October and November.

Rather than being able to own the space as was the case in 2021, the tournament now falls in a year which sees England hosting the Commonwealth Games along with the Women’s Euros, yet Dutton has no fears that will mean RLWC2021 gets drowned out with everything else going on.

“We wouldn’t have had this in ’21,” Dutton said. “I said we were proud to be on our own in ’21, but as it happens, we are delighted to be amongst other events in ’22 and seeing the positivity, the optimism and seeing a real family audience as well.

“I think that’s one of the things, again, we link back to the sport of rugby league.”