RWC vote: Japan not complacent
Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:17
Japan, bidding to become the first Asian country to host the World Cup, are taking nothing for granted ahead of Tuesday's vote.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) council will decide in Dublin whether or not to accept recent recommendations by Rugby World Cup Ltd. (RWCL) that England and Japan respectively host the 2015 and 2019 events.
But Japan's bid chief Nobby Mashimo warns that South Africa and Italy, the other bidding countries, have lobbied hard and are still in with a chance of being selected by the 26-member council to host one of the tournaments.
"I think we have done everything we could. But our campaign will continue until midnight in the hotel bar on Monday," Mashimo, vice president of the Japan Rugby Football Union, told reporters before leaving for Dublin.
RWCL, made up of the five top IRB leaders to organise Rugby World Cups, has not always had its way. Its move to cut the number of World Cup participating teams was once rejected by the council.
Mashimo denied a Japanese press report that, after touring Europe in mid-July, he was certain of support from 10 members of the council for Japan's bid.
Koji Tokumasu, the Japanese union's director of international affairs, told Japan's Rugby Magazine: "Of course, we are considering the possibility that Japan will not be endorsed. The situation is changing day by day."
RWCL chairman Bernard Lapasset, who also heads the IRB, says England can stage a "commercially strong" World Cup while Japan can "provide a gateway to the further development and expansion of the game in Asia."
Japan, champions in Asian but minnows on the global stage, narrowly lost to New Zealand four years ago in the 2011 World Cup bid.
If selected, Japan will be the first country outside rugby's heartlands - Europe, South Africa and Oceania - to host the quadrennial World Cup since its inception in 1987.
"Our message to the IRB council members is that 60 percent of the world's population lives in Asia and with 26 unions it could fire rugby," Mashimo said when he submitted Japan's bid last May.
Under Japan's plan, one of the World Cup pools will be split between Singapore and Hong Kong, home to the world's biggest Sevens tournament.
Japan coach and All Black legend John Kirwan has said: "I think we saw how much soccer grew in 2002 when the World Cup was in Japan and we have the same dream."
Japan and South Korea co-hosted the 2002 football World Cup and both achieved their best-ever results. Japan reached the last 16 and South Korea finished fourth.
Kirwan, who powered New Zealand to the 1987 World Cup title as a wing, took the helm of the Brave Blossoms in 2007 and helped them end a 13-match World Cup losing streak with a 12-12 draw with Canada in France that year.
He also guided Japan to win the inaugural Asian Five Nations title in 2008 and retained it this year.
By hosting the World Cup, Japan hopes to more than double the average number of Test match spectators to 40,000 and boost the number of registered players from the present 125,000 to 200,000 by the year 2015.
"Hosting the World Cup would change the subdued popularity of Japanese rugby," Mashimo said. "We want to bring back good news no matter how."
AFP
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