For the first time ever, the wheelchair Rugby League World Cup is to be held in Liverpool.
The tournament will be contested of eight teams over 15 days starting on Thursday, 11 November with an epic Ashes style open event at the Copper Box in London’s Olympic Park as England face off against Australia.
The Final will be held at the M&S Arena in Liverpool on Friday 26 November as part of a ‘Finals weekend’ as both Men’s and Women’s events are held at Old Trafford, Manchester the next day.
Wheelchair Rugby League is considered the most inclusive sport of all – not only as a disability sport but as bodied-abled people and teams can compete with both men and women in the same team.
The tournament will be contested of eight teams over fifteen days starting on Thursday, 11 November with an epic Ashes style open event at the Copper Box in London’s Olympic Park as England face off against Australia.
England has also drawn to play against Spain and Norway in group A.
While other home nations Wales and Scotland will take on USA and France in group B.
The top two teams from the group stages advance to the semi-finals being played Sunday 21 November to compete for a place in the World Cup Final at the M&S Arena.
Wheelchair Rugby League was first held in Australia in 2008 Only four teams took part in the competition, with England beating the hosts in the final 44-12.
The competition in 2013 was held in England with five teams competing three of the home nations, England; Scotland and Ireland with Australia and France also taking part. France won the tournament beating the host 42-40 in the final at Medway Park in Gillingham.
France hosted the competition in 2017 and went on to win the third edition of the tournament after the expansion of the tournament to six teams. Spain, Wales, Italy, Australia and England all took part. With England once again losing in a too close to call final 38-33.
Though there are some concerns about whether or not the Rugby League World Cup tournament will go ahead, Chief Executive Jon Dutton has said to BBC Sport:
“They’ve clearly raised the stark challenges of the quarantine and international travel”.
“We are very well aware of that and that’s why we continue to work together sharing that intelligence and making sure of (the health and safety of the athletes) who play not only just for Australia and New Zealand in any of the three tournaments, but the athletes who will populate all the competing nations”.
Dutton also explained “We’ve certainly got some challenges and we’re not going to shy away from those. We’re living through exceptional circumstances but in a very fluid environment where things are literally changing by the day”.
