Voss calls for World Cup every two years

Veteran Australian rugby league commentator Andrew Voss has called for the World Cup to be staged every two years.

The broadcaster, whose commentary lit up the 2013 World Cup for many UK television viewers, and he is an unabashed supporter of the international game.

“If you really want to take international league to another level, I’d have a World Cup every two years,” the broadcaster told NRL.com.

“There are athletics championships every year, golf and tennis majors every year; there is no reason why we need to follow the Olympics or soccer World Cup scheduling [with four year cycles].

“It would mean international league has more meaningful matches more often with a trophy up for grabs.

“How good would that be?

“That is why I’ve got the radical proposal to have the World Cup every two years, it helps international teams develop and stops players being lost to other codes.

“It makes representing your country a much more viable option and it certainly goes a long way to stopping the outrage of a player like Semi Radradra changing his allegiance to play for Australia.

“That can only be a good thing for the game.”

Voss also called on rugby league fans to get enthusiastically behind the 2017 tournament, the draw for which was made earlier this week.

“This is my message and I’ll deliver it bluntly: bugger what soccer fans and rugby union fans think, this is our World Cup, this is what we’ve got and from personal experience in 2013, 2008 and I can go back to 2000, it is a great sporting event to be a part of,” he asserted.

“There is something special about this tournament and you only need to look at the tears in players’ eyes as the national anthems play to show how much it means to them.

“Any league fan and doubters of international league should go in with an open mind and appreciate it for what it is, different styles of rugby league to what we are used to seeing, with plenty of passion.”