2011 Rugby World Cup

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2011 Rugby World Cup

2011-09-24 - 2011-11-05
Host nation	New Zealand
No. of nations	20

The 2011 Rugby World Cup will be the seventh time that the Rugby World Cup (RWC) has been held. At a meeting of the International Rugby Board (IRB) held in Dublin on 17 November 2005, New Zealand was selected as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa.

There were two rounds of voting by the IRB Council, with South Africa eliminated in the first round.

The New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRU) is planning to hold the tournament from September 23 to November 5. The IRB will make a final decision on the exact timing during a meeting November 2006. There will be 48 matches, and the potential for 12 different venues. The final will be played in Auckland, with a crowd capacity of over 60,000. The event will cost about $NZ152.05 million to run. It will be the largest sporting event ever held in New Zealand, eclipsing the 1987 Rugby World Cup, 1990 Commonwealth Games and the 2003 America's Cup.^{[citation needed]}

1 Stadiums
- 1.1 Auckland Options
2 Bids
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Stadiums

The stadiums that will host games were due to be announced in late 2006. The NZRU has yet to confirm the location of any matches, but has said that it is likely that an upgraded Eden Park and Jade Stadium will host the knockout matches, with pool matches likely to be played at the other test venues. Auckland's Eden Park (or North Harbour Stadium as a reserve option) will host the final. ^[1]

Stadiums almost certain to receive games:

City	Stadium	Capacity
Auckland	Eden Park	60,000*
Christchurch	Jade Stadium	43,000
Wellington	Westpac Stadium	35,000
Dunedin	Carisbrook	35,000
Auckland	Mount Smart Stadium	30,000
Hamilton	Waikato Stadium	30,000

-* - capacity due to be increased

Possible venues to receive games:

City	Stadium	Capacity
Rotorua	Rotorua International Stadium	35,000
Auckland	North Harbour Stadium	25,000
New Plymouth	Yarrow Stadium	25,000
Tauranga	BlueChip Stadium	20,000
Invercargill	Rugby Park	17,000
Napier	McLean Park	16,000
Palmerston North	Arena Manawatu	15,000

Many of the other smaller stadiums, like Lansdown Park in Blenheim, are undergoing major revamps.

[edit] Auckland Options

On November 10, 2006, the New Zealand Government announced plans for Stadium New Zealand for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The proposal was to build the new stadium seating 60,000 on the Auckland waterfront. After much public outcry, and lack of support from the Auckland Regional Council, the proposal was dropped in favour of the redevelopment of Eden Park.

[edit] Bids

New Zealand co-hosted the highly successful first Rugby Union World Cup with Australia in 1987. However, its lack of accommodation and sporting stadiums were speculated as impediments to future chances. Originally set to co-host the 2003 tournament with Australia, New Zealand lost the privilege due to a disagreement over ground signage rights. Prior to the 2005 Lions tour to New Zealand, critics doubted that New Zealand had the infrastructure to host an event of this size. The New Zealand bid contained plans to enlarge the size of Eden Park to help increase the commercial viability of the bid. The Lions tour was held successfully in New Zealand, without doubt. The NZRU and New Zealand are working towards hosting a memorable World Cup.

Of the three candidates, Japan was widely expected to win hosting rights. It was believed to be the desire of the IRB to move the tournament from the traditional rugby nations such as New Zealand and South Africa. If it were to have been held in Japan it would be the first time a Rugby World Cup had taken place in Asia. With stadiums from the 2002 FIFA World Cup, it had the necessary infrastructure already in place. The Japanese bid also had the support of World Cup winning players (Martin Johnson, Toutai Kefu, Matt Cockbain, and John Kirwan) and coaches (Eddie Jones, Rob Andrew).

However, the Japan Rugby Football Union had never hosted a major rugby tournament before. Support for rugby in Japan was considered relatively poor, with many foreign players based in Japan commenting on the Top League's low crowd numbers. The biggest factor in preventing Japan winning the bid was believed to be its leaving important bid details until its final presentation in Dublin. Many delegates had been instructed who to vote for prior to the final bid presentations.

The South African bid, led by former national captain Francois Pienaar, had strong support from their government. It successfully hosted the tournament in 1995. There was belief throughout the rugby community that the organisation of the Rugby World Cup would be overshadowed by the organisation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

After an IRB inspection of each applicant host nation during June and July 2005, the winning bid of New Zealand was announced during the IRB Council meeting in Dublin on November 17, 2005.

The ballot was secret, but by process of elimination and prior announcements, the voting has been deduced. It is thought the final ballot was 13–8 in favour of New Zealand.

For New Zealand (in parentheses is number of votes available to the Union)
- On the first and second ballot — Wales (2), Scotland (2), Canada (1), Oceania (1), possibly Italy (1)
- On the second ballot after South Africa's dropping — South Africa (2), France (2), Africa (1), Argentina (1)
For Japan
- On the first and second ballot — Australia (2), England (2), Ireland (2), Asia (1)
- On the second ballot after South Africa's dropping - Europe (1)