World Rugby demands new World Cup venue list after stadium fiasco

Tokyo Dome...

What a disappointment seriously.. I was looking forward so badly to watching as many games as possible in the new stadium as it's so close to where I live, plus looked awesome.. I don't think I could even be bothered to travel all the way to Yokohama or wherever else they are rescheduling..

Yokohama, Ajinomoto, Toyota, to name but three. All of which were built for the football world cup but the latter two not used, as Korea got half the tournament.

I want to watch the rugby too.

I've been both surprised and disappointed at how inept Japanese organizers have become at planning and executing on their commitments.

Still, we are 4 years out, but if they can't convince that they can get the act together, I'd rather a country that is serious about staging these events gets it instead.

I can almost hear those responsible on the Japan side panicking behind closed doors as they try and come up with ways of falsely reassuring people that "everything is under control" and that "everything will be fine" even though NOTHING has been decided yet at all.

Take it out of Japan, please, unless they are willing to commit to something TOMORROW, and that doesn't require contests for bid-rigging and all sorts of other, typical bribery and what have you.

The unkindest scrum of all....

World Rugby said it was giving the tournament’s Japanese hosts until the end of September to come up with a “revised detailed host venue proposal that delivers exceptional team and fan experience, maximising opportunities for fans to be a part of rugby’s showcase event”.

“Following… the Japanese Government’s disappointing decision to remove the new National Stadium from the inventory of Rugby World Cup 2019 host venues, World Rugby has set out a revised roadmap for the Japan Rugby 2019 organising committee to deliver key assurances regarding the successful delivery of the tournament,” it said in a statement.

Good on them. Japan was awarded both the Rugby World Cup, and the Olympics, on a bunch of false promises. Glad to see World Rugby has drawn a line in the sand and said "enough is enough". And, note, this is not a "request" like Suga twisted the IOC demand regarding the Olympic stadium the other day.

Ah well, at least this whole debacle has put rugby in the spotlight. Until it happened about 90% of my Japanese friends and students had no idea the WC was being held here!

Yokohama International Stadium (Nissan Stadium) in Yokohama has the largest seating capacity of any stadium in Japan (over 72,000 seats) and is in adequate size and position to host the Rugby World Cup. The stadium itself is host to the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and other major sporting events.