Bledisloe Cup clash in Perth on cards
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23rd January 2007, 8:45 WST
By Dave Hughes
Perth will be considered for rugby’s Bledisloe Cup if the State Government’s proposed stadium holds more than 60,000 people, Australian Rugby Union chief Gary Flowers revealed yesterday.
Flowers said the annual Wallabies-All Blacks showdown — the crown piece of the domestic rugby program — required a world-class venue to ensure it retained the cachet which has made it the most sought-after and lucrative match among Australia’s football codes, given its enormous international appeal.
Such is the importance the ARU attaches to the Bledisloe Cup that it would guarantee Perth additional Test matches over several years.
“There’s no reason it couldn’t be held in Perth in the future,” Flowers said.
“It no longer belongs only to Sydney. It is becoming a national match.”
Flowers said financial return was not the only criterion in determining the venue for the cup contest.
“If it was, we wouldn’t send it to Brisbane this year, or to Melbourne next year,” he said, mindful the world-record crowd for a Test match of 107,000 was set at Sydney’s Telstra Stadium in 1999.
Although the capacity has since been reduced, the demand for the contest in Sydney is such that ticket prices have soared.
“The issue is not simply one of money,” Flowers said. “We don’t want to hawk the Bledisloe Cup match to the highest bidder.
“We act in the best interests of rugby and its promotion.
“We are aware of the game’s enormous development in Perth and that the fans there would love to see the Bledisloe contest one day.
“In years to come it would be appropriate to send it, and even a British Lions Test, to Perth if there was a suitable new stadium.”
Flowers said the staging of a Bledisloe Cup Test in Perth would not be a one-shot wonder.
“We’d sit down with the State Government and do a package of other matches, leading up to the big game,” he said.
The return of the Tri-Nations Test against South Africa to Perth is also on the ARU’s schedule. A pattern had formed of a Wallabies-Springboks match at Subiaco Oval every second year but, after granting Perth a Test against Ireland last year, the ARU has granted WA a less-desirable encounter between Australia and World Cup pool opponent Fiji on June 9.
