It’s been a great year for Tyneside rugby fans. Only a few weeks ago the city played host to the Rugby League's Magic Weekend and now the city has marked the 50 Day Countdown to the Rugby League World Cup 2021, with the opening match of the tournament taking place at Newcastle's St James' Park on Saturday October 15th, a contest between the England and Samoa men’s teams.
If you’re confused about it being billed as the Rugby League World Cup 2021, don’t be: like the Olympics earlier this summer, the RLWC was postponed last year because of the pandemic. And this is a big year for the tournament; for the first time, the men’s, women’s, and wheelchair competitions are being staged simultaneously, a total of 61 games, running for around a month until the men’s and women’s finals take place on November 19th at Manchester Old Trafford (the wheelchair final will take place the day before at Manchester Central). All the games in the three tournaments will be broadcast live on the BBC too.
The countdown was officially launched today on Grey Street in front of the Theatre Royal at a ceremony which included an appearance from the children from the RLWC2021 Dance Movement Group, who performed dances from a number of cultures, including a traditional Siva Tau dance from Samoa (which the national team will perform before each of their matches). Today also marks the start of the National Lottery Trophies Tour, which will see the three trophies taken around the country, starting in Newcastle and visiting all the host towns and cities before heading back to Newcastle for the opening weekend. Also joining the tour will be newly-revealed mascot RugBee, who made his debut at the launch today before taking a trip on the Tyne Zipwire.
The opening weekend will see a second Newcastle Match on Sunday October 16th with the Scottish and Italian men’s teams squaring up at Kingston Park. To mark the occasion, there will be a fan village set up on the Quayside on October 14th and 15th – running from the Tyne Bridge to Gateshead Millennium Bridge – which will have entertainment, food and drink, a firework display on the Saturday night and of course the matches on a big screen.
There are still tickets left for the matches Newcastle is hosting, available from the RLWC21 website.
