Whatever the outcome of Brexit and any potential hard border, Ireland's 2023 Rugby World Cup Bid Oversight Board is determined it won't compromise their application to stage the tournament. Ireland are competing with South Africa and France for the right to stage the event in six years time.
Speaking at a press conference following a two-day visit from the World Rugby Technical Review Group (WRTRG) to Dublin, IRFU Chief Executive Philip Browne said: “While it wasn’t asked directly we covered it off indirectly. No one knows at this stage how Brexit is going to manifest itself.
“The one thing that we do have is a commitment from the governments in the Republic of Ireland, the Northern Ireland Executive and indeed Whitehall in the UK to ensure that nothing will stand in the way to make this a seamless competition on both sides of the border.”
The five-person WRTRG delegation comprised of World Rugby Chief Executive Brett Gosper, Ross Aitken World Rugby cities and venues manager, Alan Gilpin, head of Rugby World Cup, Linda Hoey bid manager and Robert Brophy, chief financial officer World Cup.
A significant coup for Ireland is that the STH Group – they are a joint venture business between Sodexo, a global service company with a turnover of over €19.8 billion, and the Mike Burton Group, one of the UK’s leading sports travel and hospitality businesses – who have overseen the sale of the commercial hospitality rights for the past four Rugby World Cups, will exclusively work for the Irish bid.
The WRTRG began their 48-hour appraisal – they were in South Africa recently and go to France next week – starting on Tuesday morning in Croke Park where they were met by former Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll, a member of the Irish Rugby World Cup 2023 Oversight Board, and Dublin footballer Bernard Brogan who took them on a tour of the GAA headquarters.
The Technical Review Group then had a series of meetings that included a presentation by Tourism Ireland followed by briefings on finance and governance that dealt with the tournament fee of €127 million and financial commitments for the winning union.
There followed an outline discussion on the RWC commercial rights, a ticketing strategy overview including international and domestic marketing campaigns, team base and match venue strategies and, in relation to Croke Park, discussions on the opening match and final.
They also attended a reception given by the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins in Aras an Uachtarain.
On Wednesday morning the Technical Review Group travelled to the Aviva Stadium where tournament services (transport, accommodation, information technology and security overviews were discussed), a discussion on the commitments from host cities and towns, legislation concerning the tournament, a tour of government buildings and a meeting with An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny.
The final bids for the 2023 Rugby World Cup will have to be lodged by June 1st, with a decision on the successful applicant union will be announced after the World Rugby Council meeting in November.
As things stand there are 37 votes to be cast with the probability that Argentina and Japan will receive an additional vote each after a World Rugby Council meeting in May, taking the final figure to 39.
A video of four of the 12 Irish stadiums that are part of the 2023 RWC bid was unveiled and from today will be launched on social media; Brian O’Driscoll did a voiceover for the Aviva stadium, Dublin footballer Bernard Brogan for Croke Park, Philip Matthews for the Kingspan stadium and Paul O’Connell for Thomond Park.
On the issue of the stadia Browne said that any refurbishment costs would come from ticket sales but declined to specify exactly the potential cost pointing out that it was commercially sensitive information with the delegation still to go to France. He explained: “It will come from ticket revenue.”
He continued: “We’ve had a really positive couple of days; it really was a great example of how we can bring things together on this country, before going on to thank the GAA, amongst others, for their support.
The issue of price gouging in relation to hotel bedrooms was raised: Browne said: “We’re already in discussions with the hotel federations about putting in a price charter; it’s already there for Euro 2020.”
The IRFU has already met most of the other unions at this point to discuss their bid for the 2023 Rugby World Cup now and the focus between now and June 1st, when the final bid is submitted, will centre on commercial issues relating to the tournament.
