2008 Rugby League World Cup

The hosts, Australia, were given automatic entry into the World Cup, along with New Zealand, England, France and Papua New Guinea. The five remaining places in the World Cup were determined by qualification rounds. Two European rounds and Pacific, Atlantic and Repêchage rounds were scheduled.

Tonga and Fiji became the first two nations to qualify after Tonga defeated Samoa 18–10 in Leeds on 22 October, forcing Samoa to enter the repêchage. In the European Group Two, Ireland drew 16–16 with Lebanon to ensure qualification, while Lebanon were forced to enter the repêchage. The final automatic place went to Scotland, who defeated Wales 37–32 on aggregate after two legs. Wales then faced Lebanon in the repêchage semi-final, where they lost in a surprise 50–26 defeat, to knock them out of World Cup Qualifying. Lebanon then faced Samoa, who beat USA 42–10 in the first semi-final, on 14 November for the final qualifying position. The game was won by Samoa, 38–16, and so they booked the tenth and final place.[6] Many qualification matches were broadcast live by Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, whilst BigPondTV broadcast matches online for other fans around the world.[7]

Team	Nickname	Coach	Captain	RLIF Rank
Australia	The Kangaroos	Ricky Stuart	Darren Lockyer	1
England	The Lions	Tony Smith	Jamie Peacock	3
Fiji	The Bati	Joe Dakuitoga	Wes Naiqama	6
France	Les Chanticleers	John Monie	Jerome Guisset	5
Ireland	The Wolfhounds	Andy Kelly	Scott Grix	9
New Zealand	The Kiwis	Stephen Kearney	Nathan Cayless	2
Papua New Guinea	The Kumuls	Adrian Lam	John Wilshere	7
Samoa	Toa Samoa	John Ackland	Nigel Vagana	12
Scotland	The Bravehearts	Steve McCormack	Danny Brough	11
Tonga	Mate Ma'a Tonga	Jim Dymock	Lopini Paea	4

The draw, after being confirmed by the RLIF on 19 April 2007, involved three groups. The first group was made up of four teams; Australia, England, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Whilst the other two groups involved three teams each. The semi finals were made up of the first three teams in the first group and the winner of a playoff between the winners of the second and third groups.

The draw was put into doubt after the Papua New Guinea team claimed that it was unfair to them and threatened to boycott the tournament should it not be changed. Marcus Bai, former Papua New Guinean winger and captain, said:[8]

They have to change it and if they don't, we won't come. We will ring up the other island nations and teams elsewhere who don't qualify and we can have our own competition. They have shown no respect for our country or for our efforts to promote the game up there.

Fortunately for the tournament, this separate island competition did not eventuate. Papua New Guinea still remained upset with the draw, seeing it as a huge challenge but one which would have seen them be rewarded if they had won. The draw was finalised on 4 October 2007.[9]

The first match took place in Townsville between England and Papua New Guinea, although the official opening ceremony of the competition occurred before the Australia and New Zealand match the following day in Sydney.[10] The final took place at Lang Park (Suncorp Stadium) in Brisbane.

Teams received 2 points for a win, and 1-point for a draw. This meant that, unlike in the Australasian National Rugby League, there was no "golden point" rule enforced. In group stages, if two teams had the same number of points then positions were determined on points difference, the number of points scored minus the number of points conceded.

After group matches were completed, a match featuring the second placed teams in Group B and Group C took place with the winner receiving 7th place. Similarly the third placed teams in Group B and Group C played off for 9th place. It was believed that these results were to be taken into account in the 2009 RLIF World Rankings.

Each nation competing in the tournament named 24-man squads in the weeks prior to the group stage commencing.[11][12]

7 tries

• Billy Slater

6 tries

• Greg Inglis

5 tries

• Akuila Uate
• Damien Blanch

4 tries

3 tries

2 tries

1 try

Promotional video scene

Heroes Here 08 strapline

The World Cup's "Heroes Here 08" promotional campaign was launched at the Sydney Opera House on 6 May 2008.[31] At the launch, Paul Kind, the World Cup Director of Marketing, explained, "Heroes Here 08 underlines that fact that the international game, and particularly this tournament, will bring out the best in every player who takes part. It will create heroes."

Natalie Bassingthwaighte recorded an "Australian version" of the Mariah Carey song "Hero" which accompanied the "Heroes 08" promotional video and other World Cup advertising. The World Cup Opening Ceremony featured a live performance of the song by Bassingthwaighte.[31]

Filming of visuals for the promotional video began in Leeds during the worldwide ticketing launch for the event in November 2007.[31]

Advertising agency MJW, celebrity photographer Garry Heery and production company Engine worked together to combine the latest digital animation with a dark and determined set that highlighted the passion players feel in representing their country on the international stage.[31]

The Heroes campaign featured Mark Gasnier (Australia), Roy Asotasi (New Zealand), Rob Burrow (England), Keith Peters (PNG), Waisale Sukanaveita (Fiji), Nigel Vagana (Samoa), Jerome Guisset (France), Lee Paterson (Scotland), Stuart Littler (Ireland) and Lopini Paea (Tonga).[31] Gasnier was later removed from some of the promotional material after he left the sport mid-season and was replaced by Darren Lockyer.

The video also appeared in the video game Rugby League 2: World Cup Edition, which featured a world cup mode based on the event.

Tickets for Australian residents went on sale 7 November 2007 and internationally on 18 February.[32] However tickets were not distributed until 3 March. Ticketek were announced as the official ticketing agency for the competition, selling tickets for all matches.[33] Ticketmaster and Pilbeam Theatre were selling tickets to the Telstra Dome and Browne Park matches respectively.

The World Cup final sold out months in advance.[34]

The Official Sponsors of the Rugby League World Cup 2008 were:[35]

• Jetstar: Official Airline
• Foster's: Official Beer
• Bundaberg Rum: Official Spirit
• AAMI: Official referee sponsor
• Telstra: Official Telecommunications sponsor
• Gillette: Official Male products
• Holiday Inn: Official Accommodation Supplier
• Coca-Cola: Official Soft drink
• Harvey Norman: Official retailer
• Bic: Official stationery

The 2008 World Cup had 26 separate television deals taking coverage to 127 countries and generating more than $20 million income.[36] A global television audience of 19.2 million made it the most widely broadcast event in the game's history.[37]

Channel 9 broadcast all Group A matches and the Knockout Stage matches in Australia. Fox Sports broadcast all Group B and C matches plus Ranking Stage matches live. In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports broadcast all matches live,[38] meaning that all were shown in the morning and some as early as 06:00 am[39] with highlights being shown on the BBC. Sky Sport showed all games live across New Zealand. Mai TV broadcast all matches live in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands.[40] Orange Sport provided coverage of all matches live in France.

Coverage of the competition also extended to countries not taking part. Showtime showed all matches live across the Middle East. G offered coverage of all games in many countries in Africa. Astro showed all matches in Malaysia, and ESPN360 showed all matches in the United States. In Brazil, some matches were broadcast by Bandsports.

The only participating country with no television coverage of the matches was Tonga; the RLIF were hoping to secure a deal before the World Cup started, but this never happened.

BigPondTV, an online television station, broadcast all matches live and also repeated matches. This service was available to everyone for free.

• UK – BBC Radio 5 Live and its sister station BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra broadcast selected games.
• UK – some non-rights holders used Australian freelance reporter Tim Stackpool to report on games for UK broadcasters. An extensive archive can be heard here: RLWC Archive
• AUS – ABC and 2GB Radio broadcast selected games.
• NZ – Radio Sport broadcast the Kiwi's games, including the Kiwi's victory in the final.