Villa park chosen to host Rugby World Cup matches

[UK Redsox]

If you have a free weekend I'd get to Worcester or Glos for a premier league match, it is actually pretty enjoyable. Last matches of the season on saturday though.

Worcester or Gloucester isn't proper rugby.

I pine for the days of Lydney playing away at Tredegar on a wet Wednesday night in February

Either that or Lydney 3rds versus Drybrook 2nds.

That's proper rugby.

[paul_e]

Birmingham does have a rugby team, Moseley are in the championship (much like football that's the 2nd division) and have done a decent job staying in that league despite having nothing like the finances of the other sides in there.

Don't forget that Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C. are in National 2 (North)

Don't count them as a birmingham team seeing as their ground is in solihull.

[dekko]

If you have a free weekend I'd get to Worcester or Glos for a premier league match, it is actually pretty enjoyable. Last matches of the season on saturday though.

In my experience, the total lack of anything resembling an atmosphere at Worcester games (compared to VP) is more than made up for by the masses of booze and posh totty

[PeterWithesShin]

Rugby is shite.

[Lastfootstamper]

Birmingham does have a rugby team, Moseley are in the championship (much like football that's the 2nd division) and have done a decent job staying in that league despite having nothing like the finances of the other sides in there.

Don't forget that Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C. are in National 2 (North)

Don't count them as a birmingham team seeing as their ground is in solihull.

And their old ground wasn't in Birmingham.

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

Good.

Still can't believe we turned down the Olympics.

[PaulWinch again]

I don't follow rugby at all, but I'm sure Birmingham doesnt have a Rugby team so they'll naturally be less fans in this area. Like Richard says above would have made more sense to have it elsewhere. The pitch is going to get cut up so could have an effect on the way we play afterwards.

Rugby doesn't seem like football, where there's a strong interest in the national team fuelled by interest in local teams.

I might be wrong but I get the impression that the vast majority of people who follow international rugby don't care about the club game as they do with football.

That's pretty correct with regards my liking of rugby. I do follow club rugby a bit, but it's the international game I follow properly. That is almost the polar opposite of my football supporting.

[itbrvilla]

Good.

Still can't believe we turned down the Olympics.

Wasn't it due to the fact they were scheduling stadium expansion for that time? They can't hold up the organising of a major international event.  They had to give a 'yes' or 'no' answer, not a 'maybe'.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Athletics, Rugby and assorted other minority sports - isn't it West Ham's responsibility to dig their new pitch up to host these games now?

[paul_e]

I don't follow rugby at all, but I'm sure Birmingham doesnt have a Rugby team so they'll naturally be less fans in this area. Like Richard says above would have made more sense to have it elsewhere. The pitch is going to get cut up so could have an effect on the way we play afterwards.

Rugby doesn't seem like football, where there's a strong interest in the national team fuelled by interest in local teams.

I might be wrong but I get the impression that the vast majority of people who follow international rugby don't care about the club game as they do with football.

From my experience domestic rugby support is less tribal than football.  You do still get fans like in football but there's a far higher percentage of people who are much closer to neutral, and people liking 2-3 sides is fairly common.

You also don't get the segregation you do in football, I can't think of a single rugby game I've been to where I haven't been in with fans from both teams.

Aside from that the TV coverage, historically, was all about the international and maybe the cup final.  Seeing much outside of that was pretty rare, which will have affected the casual support.

Finally rugby does have a smaller following and a lot of the people who would go to games are involved with amateur teams who play on a saturday afternoon.  Rugby has started to move games around a little in the last 4-5 years but it's still primarily a saturday afternoon game.  For internationals people are more willing to miss their game than they are for a domestic game.

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

Good.

Still can't believe we turned down the Olympics.

Wasn't it due to the fact they were scheduling stadium expansion for that time? They can't hold up the organising of a major international event.  They had to give a 'yes' or 'no' answer, not a 'maybe'.

Apparently not.

Question Nine: Do you regret turning down the chance of Olympic Football now that no development is taking place at Villa Park this summer?

No. We held preliminary discussions with LOCOG about the possibility of hosting some games, (none of which were to feature Team GB), in the Olympic football tournament in 2008 and early 2009, but took the decision that the requirements of LOCOG around exclusive access to Villa Park and the potential disruption that would cause to our preparations for the start of the 2012-13 season, as well as our non-matchday business (such as conferences and weddings) during the summer, meant that hosting such games was not in the best interests of Aston Villa.This decision was never made in light of firm plans for development work to be taking place at the stadium this summer. We hope and expect that the Olympics will be a fantastic success for the country, and will be cheering on all of the British athletes involved in the games.

Paul Faulkner, Chief Executive

[tomd2103]

Swansea share their stadium with a rugby team and their pitch has always been in good condition. 

[Ger Regan]

As does the Aviva in Dublin. 2 games shouldn't cause any problems really.

[dave.woodhall]

2 hours 37 minutes. Longer than I thought.

[TonyD]

Will they let them bring pints out into the stands??