It may have escaped your notice but another World Cup kicks off on Thursday. While the Rugby League World Cup last autumn was more successful than most of us had dared hope, the foundations it laid for the international game are still lying there, looking rather neglected, like the half-built houses dotted around Greece since the financial crash. And just to rub it in, the England rugby union team have gone down to New Zealand and still put in a decent performance with half a side. No one seemed to mind. At least they were playing.

Meanwhile, we still have no England home game planned this autumn, no dates for the European Championship, no announcement on the qualifying process for 2017 Rugby League World Cup and no official news on the proposed Great Britain tour to Australia next year.



The Rugby League International Federation executive committee meet this month so most of that should be cleared up by the time the shenanigans in Brazil are reaching its fevered climax, enabling league fans to start planning a trip down under to our own version in three years’ time – but not to see the Lions next year.



Press speculation that the Australian players union are putting the kibosh on that and demanding a "fallow" year in the World Cup cycle, as they had in 2012, seems to be close to the mark. Great Britain will only be resurrected for an Ashes tour. If that is not possible yet, it will remain in hibernation until it is.

Instead, expect England to play in a low-key European Championship in 2015, with a Four Nations on home soil in 2016. Australia are not the only nation welcoming a fallow 2015. Some of the Celtic associations will be only too pleased to give their star players an extra month off and field experimental squads in 2015 if they have a Four Nations and a World Cup coming up.



With European Championships B and C under way, the World Cup 2017 qualifying schedule needs to be confirmed pronto. Expect the 2013 quarter-finalists to get an invite to the final party, with qualifying tournaments in Europe, Africa/Middle East and the Americas in 2016, with a set of entry criteria enforced ahead of qualifiers for RLWC 2021. What happens if Wales or Ireland win the European Championship this autumn and therefore a place in the Four Nations 2016, but also have World Cup qualifiers to fit in, is anyone’s guess.

With no home England games planned, the RFL have gone quiet on any mention of "World Cup legacy". They may be rescued by the Celts, for once. Although discussions are ongoing, international rugby league could return to several RLWC2013 venues this autumn.



In the meantime, if you want an entertaining international tournament with future world stars and blokes you will never hear of again, get along to Broadwood Stadium in North Lanarkshire for the inaugural Rugby League Commonwealth Championships on 27-28 June. A Nines tournament ahead of Glasgow2014, it features Under-19 teams from hosts Scotland, England, Wales, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Canada, South Africa and favourites Australia, who will be represented by NSWRL champions Sydney Rooster. Entry is free. More on this next time.

Clubcall: Oldham RLFC

Last week, I found myself making my first visit to Whitebank, the newish home of Oldham RLFC, for their game against London Skolars. Having never made it to Watersheddings but knowing of its reputation and once-held esteem, it was clear that Whitebank is the ultimate comedown.



A former amateur football ground on an estate on the south edge of town – miles from their home territory – it is as basic as most BARLA grounds throughout the heartlands. If Oldham get promoted to the Championship, the thought of Bradford or Wakefield (or even Halifax and Featherstone) going there next season must bring the safety officer out in a cold sweat. All the sweat last week was warm.



On a glorious day, nearly 500 surrounded the two-thirds of the sloping pitch that was accessible, creating a lively atmosphere. There was a woman with red, white and blue spiky hair and a group of vociferous fans in the Roughyeds’ wonderfully traditional red and white hoop shirts, who resembled a Where’s Wally? fancy dress outing.



I think I enjoyed my visit more than bewildered Skolars did. I was told that Oldham have given up hoping for a better alternative and plan on developing the site as a long term home. There is certainly plenty of space on two sides but several fans said it was the ‘wrong’ location. But at least it’s theirs if they want it.

Foreign quota

Our sport took another step forward on Saturday afternoon with the debut of Larry David and Woody Allen’s neighbourhood team: the Brooklyn Kings. After a thrilling 30-all draw at Rhode Island in their USARL debut, the Kings saw off Boston 13s in another cracker, 26-24 at Midwood Athletics Complex. The Kings have a very cool look online, not surprising given Nick Youngquest’s involvement, and they have paired up with his former club, Cas Tigers. I’m sure they could sell plenty of their gold and navy shirts.



Further south, current champions Philadelphia Fight have hired a billboard on a freeway to promote this Saturday’s home opener against Brooklyn in AA Garthwaite Staduim, Conshohocken, tagging it "Fight Club".

Less encouraging is the plight of Baltimore Blues, who have conceded 192 points in their opening two games. They will have to summon the spirit of Victoria Knights, who conceded 1,008 points in their seven Scottish Conference games last year. Their points against scores read: 134, 150, 160, 150, 138, 132, 134. Surely a world record.



At least they were consistent. While you can imagine how woeful that must have been to watch – kick-off, score, convert, kick-off, score, convert – it is hard to measure the guts and desire the Victoria players had to keep coming back for more. Men of Foil, Minds of Steel.

It looks like we could end up with just one American competition after all. While the 11 teams are all up and running in the supposedly "rebel" USARL – including new clubs Tampa Mayhem, Atlanta Rhinos and Central Florida Warriors – the "official" AMNRL competition failed to kick off on 7 June as planned. There is no sign on social media of any of their clubs even having a team this year. Northern Virginia Eagles have followed the Fight across to the USARL from the AMNRL. It would be a major surprise if a "merger" is not forced through by the RLIF this year.

“The USARL has applied for RLIF Membership,” league chief Darryl Howland told me. “We meet all the criteria and are moving forward with our plans to become the National Governing Body. We see the future as having a top level competition, plus multiple lower level comps, teams and regions, youth development, etc. all across the USA.”

Goal-line drop-out

Since the demise of the much-missed Sportspages, you would be hard pushed to pick up a copy of League Express or League Weekly in central London these days, but you can still keep abreast of goings on in French rugby league!



Heading up Tottenham Court Road after a meeting at the RFL office last week I saw the unmistakable yellow broadsheet pages of rugby paper Midi Olympique on a newsstand. With my grade C GCSE French I managed to work out that "les Draks" are fearing Saturday’s encounter with St Helens, "les ogres de la Super League"; that Limoux are replacing their coach-turned-Oxford prop Karl Temata with former player Olivier Janzac, currently coaching second division Lescure; and that double-winners Toulouse have lost wild-haired Fiji World Cup star Eloni Vunakece back to Australia rather than the rumoured Hull FC, but star full-back Mark Kheirallah is staying put for another year despite interest from Super League and Championship clubs and an offer from Carcassonne rugby union.

Another sports club has joined the battle for attention in Toulouse: Luzenac FC have got promoted to Ligue 2 and will share the legendary Stade Ernest-Wallon, where Hull KR played Catalans last season, with union giants Stade Toulousain. The groundsman could take some tips from some of Super League’s. This used to be the time of the year when the half of Super League who shared their ground with football or rugby union would play away for six weeks while the pitch recovers. Technology has moved on so much that only Hull FC have not had a home game in the gap between football’s play-offs and pre-season. Salford, Leeds, Huddersfield and London have all staged two games, Wigan the same three as is par for the period. Hats off to the men on the mowers.

Fifth and last

So the Challenge Cup has had another kiss of life thanks to Leigh and Castleford’s heroics at the weekend. Surely I was not alone at being even more delighted by the semi-final draw and the guarantee of seeing either Cas or Widnes back at Wembley at last? Nostalgics and sports historians alike can fill the ludicrous eight weeks between the quarters and semi-finals by watching some of the old finals online thanks to a magnificent new treasure trove of news clips at www.BritishPathe.com. There are cup finals from 1925 through to 1968 – including rare colour footage of the 1964 final – along with a haul of internationals, many of them England games, some at random venues such as Herne Hill velodrome and Llanelli. There are delightful rugby league follies: Newcastle’s first game in 1936; Wigan and Warrington playing in Dublin in 1934; Liverpool Stanley taking on Swinton at a rammed Station Road in 1937; an equally-packed Marseille velodrome for France against the British Empire in 1952; and a bizarre France Army v British Army game from 1945, when I thought league was banned in the services. One to investigate further. For our Australian readers there are even a few Sydney Premiership Finals, featuring Easts, Canterbury, St George and Souths. All are free to view.