Social Media Reacts To World League Reports

We have all heard of the proposed ‘World League’ or ‘League of Nations’ which was initially conceptualised as a means to have more meaningful Tests for a wider array of teams around the planet, as part of a global calendar.

Then yesterday, the NZ Herald reported that the most recent scheme was to have a closed shop of just 12 teams – the Six Nations staying as it is and Japan and the USA joining the Rugby Championship.

Related: The issues with the proposed World League

There will be much more on this in the coming days and weeks no doubt, but in the last 24 hours the plan reported by the NZ Herald has been largely criticised on social media.

Top players have also spoken out to against the plans while officials from World Rugby have described reports as inaccurate and assured the public that talks are still ongoing.

The lack of clarity on the situation is not helping matters as speculation grows.

Mixed Response: Both Farrell and Sexton have aired their concerns about the plan (Getty Images)

An initial shock yesterday arrived when some of the best players in the world spoke out.

England captain Owen Farrell said: “This proposal shows no signs of improving an already difficult situation.

“Players are definitely open to discussing a new global season but what we develop has to work with the club game in order to reduce conflict, deal with player release issues and make sure their welfare is looked after.

“The proposal presented to us at the moment doesn’t seem to have considered this properly.”

Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton said: “While players gave this idea a cautious welcome when we met at the end of last year, it now seems like a commercial deal on the future of the game is being negotiated at a rapid pace with little consideration given to the important points we raised with World Rugby in November.

“The issue of player load has never been so topical. However, it needs to be properly understood.

“To suggest that players can play five incredibly high-level Test matches in consecutive weeks in November is out of touch and shows little understanding of the physical strain this brings.”

Other players like All Blacks captain Kieran Read and Samoa captain Chris Vui also aired their concerns about the plan as you can see from the International Rugby Players Twitter account below.

Indeed the suggestion that there will be exclusion for the Pacific Island nations Samoa, Fiji and Tonga along with up-and-coming European nations like Georgia, has caused quite a stir for all the wrong reasons.

Murray Kinsella raises the another issue here in that players would have to play internationals over consecutive weeks, travelling what could be thousands of miles each time. Many want a lot more scrutiny of the potential impact on player welfare.

Amidst the backlash, the Vice-Chairman of World Rugby, Agustin Pichot, and World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper took to Twitter to try and clarify things a little, amongst others involved.

This suggests that some power brokers are pushing to have two leagues with 12 teams with promotion and relegation, however there are a plethora of issues with this right now. All of which would need to be rectified before the plan could work. Some believe that we need much more detail, even with negotiations still going on.

Where do you stand on the proposal? Is it good or bad for the game and the players themselves?

Let us know through our social media channels.

Don’t forget to follow Rugby World on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the latest rugby news.