Potential Venues Revealed For Rwc 2015
England Rugby 2015, the tournament organiser for Rugby World Cup 2015, has announced the long list of 17 potential match venues that will be considered to host the 48 Rugby World Cup matches in three years time.
The potential venues span 15 different cities across England and Wales.
The list follows approval from the Rugby World Cup Limited Board (RWCL) and an extensive evaluation process undertaken by ER 2015 in collaboration with tournament owners RWCL, host broadcaster ITV, and commercial stakeholders.
The selection procedure for the long list of venues took into account a geographical spread across the country, sporting and facilities criteria, levels of support from candidate host cities and capacity requirements for the successful delivery of a Rugby World Cup that will see approximately 2.9 million tickets being made available to fans, and upwards of 400,000 international fans visiting England from over 100 countries.
The Pool Allocation Draw for Rugby World Cup 2015 takes place in London on 3rd December 2012, after which ER 2015 and RWCL will be in a position to work through the fixture schedule with all stakeholders to select a final list of up to 12 venues, which will be concluded by spring next year.
Following the selection of match venues, England Rugby 2015 will also subsequently be selecting a range of training and team base camps at locations throughout the country, as well as numerous locations for fan zones.
Rugby World Cup 2015 will involve 48 matches and will take place over a six week period from 18thSeptember to 31st October 2015.
The long list of venues selected by ER 2015 and approved by the RWCL Board is as follows:
- Villa Park, Birmingham
- Brighton Community Stadium, Brighton
- Ashton Gate, Bristol
- Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
- Coventry Stadium, Coventry
- Pride Park, Derby
- Kingsholm, Gloucester
- Elland Road, Leeds
- Leicester City Stadium, Leicester
- Olympic Stadium, London
- Twickenham Stadium, London
- Wembley Stadium, London
- Old Trafford, Manchester
- Stadiummk, Milton Keynes
- St James’ Park, Newcastle
- St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton
- Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Andy Cosslett, England Rugby 2015 chairman, commented: ‘The selection of the long list of potential venues represents an exciting milestone for Rugby World Cup 2015, when fans up and down the country can begin to get excited about the prospect of one of sport’s greatest events coming to their local city or town.’
‘Our vision for Rugby World Cup 2015 is to ensure that we take this prestigious tournament to as many parts of the country as possible and we believe that the geographical spread of venues selected will enable us to maximise the reach of the tournament. In addition, we will be selecting further venues for training and team base camps that will ensure that the rugby community is at the very heart of Rugby World Cup 2015.’
‘We will now continue to work extremely closely with the venues, cities and stakeholders, including the Premier League and Football League, to plan the scheduling of matches and city hosting programmes to select a final list of up to 12 venues, which will be agreed by the early part of next year.’
Bernard Lapasset, Rugby World Cup Limited chairman, added: ‘Rugby World Cup Limited is delighted with the range of locations and iconic stadia, steeped in sporting folklore, that have been selected as potential Rugby World Cup 2015 match venues. We are very fortunate that England possesses some of the finest sporting venues in the world.’
‘We have developed a strong working partnership with ER 2015 and planning and preparation continues to advance ahead of schedule. We are sure that this selection of sporting venues will capture the imagination of rugby and sport fans not just in England but all over the world. It is a testament to the strength of the Rugby World Cup brand that there has been such strong interest from a wide range of English cities and venues to host and be a part of the world’s third largest sporting event.’
