WORLD CUP 2007: England want to break with tradition and host the 2007 World Cup in the summer to maximise the chances of hiring major soccer grounds and make the event truly national.
Twickenham was due to announce details of its bid today, only to be told by the International Rugby Board (IRB) to keep quiet until the board of Rugby World Cup Ltd had met on October 18th or face being disqualified from the hosting race. France are also believed to be pitching for a summer tournament.
Next year's World Cup is being staged in Australia in October and November, the first time it has been staged in the summer months in the southern hemisphere.
England and France were asked by the IRB to submit stand-alone bids in a break with tradition. On the other two occasions when the World Cup has been held in Europe, in England in 1991 and in Wales in 1999, group matches were shared between the home unions and France, along with the quarter and the semi-finals, with unions keeping their gate money.
Ireland, Scotland and Wales are concerned that sole hosting by England or France would leave them out of pocket, particularly if South Africa, New Zealand and Australia decline to tour Europe the following autumn.
Wales maintain they have an agreement with the pair that they will stage a pool and a quarter-final but a stand-alone bid would render any promises redundant.
Playing in summer would allow England to offer locations relatively close to the Celtic unions: Newcastle for the Scots, Liverpool for the Irish and Bristol and Birmingham for the Welsh. It has not been lost on the RFU that Wales played to sell-out crowds at Wembley while Cardiff's Millennium Stadium was being built between 1997 and 1999.
It is not venues which concern the Celtic nations as much as finance. One of their suggestions is that Twickenham should allow them to keep receipts from their group matches, even if played in England.
England alone of the home unions has the infrastructure and the stadiums to stage a World Cup on its own. But even though grounds have improved considerably since the onset of professionalism seven years ago, Leicester are the only club with a 15,000-plus capacity. The IRB council votes on November 14th.
England prop Julian White has been provisionally booked to appear before the English RFU disciplinary chiefs in Newbury this day week. The Bristol forward was sent off for head-butting in the third minute of his team's 25-20 Premiership victory over champions Leicester on Sunday.
If, as looks likely, the RFU take a dim view of White's misdemeanour, then he looks certain to miss England's entire autumn Test series against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
The recommended punishment for butting an opponent is a 20-week suspension, with the minimum punishment being seven weeks.
White, who has won 13 caps for England, received a three-week suspension for punching last season.
Guardian Service
