Intercept King JDV
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SourceA lucrative "clash of the hemispheres" game to determine the world's best club side looks set to be introduced from as soon as 2012.
The idea has been talked about for years but now rugby union officials are looking to capitalise on sponsorship monies which makes the match more likely.
English newspaper The Guardian reports that all the major unions are now fully behind the proposal and are redoubling their efforts to finalise a firm date for the match, which would be staged in Europe, possibly in early December.
Premier Rugby Limited, the body that represents the leading English clubs has been heavily involved in the negotiations for a match that would bolster revenues for the clubs involved.
Officials are also concerned that any delay in organising the match will leave the way clear for promoters from outside the sport to take advantage and snap up the idea.
"Our clubs, as well as those in Europe and the southern hemisphere, have had approaches from Monaco, Abu Dhabi and, most recently, from South Africa." PRL chief executive Mark McCafferty told The Guardian.
"If the stakeholders within rugby don't create this, somebody else will and we'll find an outsider coming in."
If the match went ahead immediately it would pit current Heineken Cup champions Leinster against the current Super14 champions the Bulls.
If that does not spark enough interest how about the Crusaders taking on Toulouse for a starting match based on past overall successes.
"It's us who have been pushing it," McCafferty said.
"The only issue we're trying to crack is the date. The sticking points at the moment are the dates of the new domestic competitions in the southern hemisphere, but we're still working on it.
"I think it's got to be around the autumn time, either pre or post the autumn internationals."
"That's the only time when the southern hemisphere teams are still playing and the majority of their players are in Europe."
McCafferty is well aware of how congested the rugby calendar is which will only worsen when the Super14 expands to a Super15 in 2011.
Under Premier Rugby's deal with the Rugby Football Union, the majority of England internationals, for example, would be unavailable from late October until the end of November.
The first weekend of December might be feasible if all European clubs are in agreement.
"We can manage it because, at most, only two clubs from an individual league - whether it be France, England or the Magners League - would be affected, so you're only having to rearrange one fixture," McCafferty said.
"We've developed something that isn't disruptive to existing competitions.
"Everyone has got an appetite to do it if we can just find a date. Further discussions are continuing with the southern hemisphere to see if we can find one."
In order to get the concept off the ground McCafferty does not feel that it would be beneficial to play the fixture at a neutral venue.
"You've got to do it in a rugby heartland. I don't think going to play in an empty stadium somewhere would be beneficial."
England's RFU have indicated that they would support the fixture as would the French Rugby Federation.
SANZAR who run rugby in the Southern Hemisphere have been looking for ways to raise rugby union's profile and earn more money from the game.
Finally they have started moving in the right direction, will be great to see a SH team destroying a NH team
***waiting for another SH vs NH fight to start***
...JUST JOKING
Finding a date that will suite both hemispheres will be tough though, somewhere in December sounds almost the best to me.And I think playing at a neutral venue is the way to go.
