Rugby League World Cup 2021 chief executive reflects on fantastic first week

By Jack Lacey-Hatton

Rugby League World Cup 2021 chief executive Jon Dutton can’t wait to see the tournament go from strength to strength after the first week of action on the field.

All of the men’s first round fixtures have now taken place with defending champions Australia and hosts England making strong starts on the opening day with emphatic victories over Fiji and Samoa respectively.

Italy impressed in their win over Scotland while New Zealand survived a scare to get past Lebanon after Ireland had seen off Jamaica in the Reggae Warriors’ debut on the big stage.

France overcame the competition’s other new boys Greece before Tonga beat Papua New Guinea and the round concluded with Cook Islands’ thrilling 18-12 win over Wales on Wednesday night.

Dutton revealed some of his favourite moments so far in what is set to be the best attended Rugby League World Cup in history, with not only the remainder of the men’s tournament to come but the women’s and wheelchair events fast approaching.

“Reflecting on week one,” he said. “There has been a real feel-good factor that has set the tone.

“It was an incredible home performance by England and an incredible day inside the venue [St James’ Park] and we’ve had lots of positive feedback from those who attended.

“We’ve had the Kangaroos playing in England for the first time since 2016 and what struck me that evening was the players at the end spending at least 45 minutes going round the pitch, meeting fans and taking selfies. That was a really special moment for the tournament.

“And seeing the teams out and about in their local communities has been another personal highlight for me.

“We’ve still got the women’s and wheelchair events to come as well and we’ll start off strong in both tournaments.

“We’ve got a five-figure crowd for the women’s double header opener at Headingley featuring England.

“And for the opening game and final of the wheelchair event, we’ve got just under 1,000 tickets left.

“So I think we’ll see some great crowds at those tournaments and I am personally really looking forward to them.”

Revenue director Mick Hogan also picked out his favourite moment of the tournament so far, which came at St Helens on Tuesday night.

“Tonga vs Papua New Guinea was for me a personal highlight,” said Hogan. “I was spellbound by it.

“Everything about it was fantastic, the crowd, the action on the field.

“It was a prime example of what the international game can deliver and that the club game, as good as it is, just can’t do.

“And it showed that if people can, they should get themselves down to a game.”

Dutton also praised the BBC’s broadcast coverage of the tournament so far, with viewing figures surpassing the tournament organisers’ expectations.

The broadcaster is showing every single game from the tournament live via BBC One, Two, Red Button, iPlayer and BBC Sport online.

“The total collective match audience so far is 3.8million, that will grow because that doesn’t yet include the digital side of the audience,” explained Dutton.

“The audience share for our opening game (England v Samoa on BBC One) was 22 percent and that is incredibly high. We are off to a flying start.”

The chief executive also suggested the demographic of the fans in the stands is a great example of how the Rugby League World Cup is already helping the sport reach a new, previously untapped, audience.

“From a spectator perspective,” he added. “We’ve already had just under 100,000 come through the turnstiles in the first week.

“The stat that really stands out to me is that 55 percent of those inside St James’ Park on Saturday were from the North East. That is quite staggering and shows how these major events can attract a new audience.

“We also saw a real rush of tickets being bought on Saturday night and are now approaching a sell-out for England’s next game [against France] at Bolton [on Saturday].”

The Rugby League World Cup promises to be the biggest, best and most inclusive event in the sport’s 127-year history with men’s, women’s and wheelchair teams competing in 61 games across 21 venues throughout England. Tickets are available via rlwc2021.com/tickets